Return to Chaos

infobox Book |
name = Return to Chaos
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = First edition cover
author = Craig Shaw Gardner
illustrator =
cover_artist =
country = United States
language = English
series = Buffy the Vampire Slayer
genre = Horror novel
publisher = Pocket Books
release_date = December 1998
english_release_date =
media_type = Print (Paperback)
pages = 293 pp
isbn = ISBN 0-671-02136-2
preceded_by = Resurrecting Ravana (Buffy novel)
followed_by = Visitors (Buffy novel)

Return to Chaos is an original novel based on the U.S. television series Buffy.

Plot summary

When four Druids arrive in town everyone knows that something is going on. Three of the Druids are brothers and the other is their uncle. They're in town to try a spell on a certain night to close the gateway in the Hellmouth so that demons would not be allowed to pass through. They'd done it a year before with their father but the spell was not completed and the brothers lost their father in the midst of the spell. Giles is a little put off by the uncle and feels that he's not being told everything that he should know. Also gathering is a large community of vampires run by Eric and his apprentice Naomi, who has been playing nasty tricks with Cordelia's mind by hypnotizing her. Things start to go wrong; magic appears everywhere and the brothers turn against their uncle. On the night of the spell Buffy must manage to fix the spell or deter the uncle from his task as well as figure out what is going on with Eric and his gang.

Trivia

*Tagline: 'Under the cover of darkness'.
*Characters include: Buffy, Joyce, Giles, Xander, Cordelia, Willow, Oz and Angel
*Drusilla is found to be a user of a spell that would explain her ease in killing Kendra.

Continuity

*Supposed to be set late in Buffy Season 3. This is one of the many of the Buffy novels set in an alternative Buffy Season 3 (Spring 1999). They tend to break established Buffyverse canon in four major ways: (1) The threat of the Mayor and Faith is not a major concern. (2) Xander and Cordelia remain an item. (3) Buffy and Angel remain an item. (4) Giles accepts Angel, whilst according to established canon, tension remained between the two throughout this time.

Canonical issues

:main|Buffyverse canon

:Buffy comics such as this one are not usually considered by fans as canonical. Some fans consider them stories from the imaginations of authors and artists, while other fans consider them as taking place in an alternative fictional reality. However unlike fan fiction, overviews summarising their story, written early in the writing process, were 'approved' by both Fox and Joss Whedon (or his office), and the books were therefore later published as officially Buffy merchandise.

Timing

*Stories that take place around the same time in the Buffyverse:

ee also

*Buffy books
*Angel books
*“Tales of the Slayer”

External links

Reviews

* [http://litefoot1969.bravepages.com/sf/buffy/novels2/02.htm "Litefoot1969.bravepages.com" - Review of this book by Litefoot]
* [http://www.teen-books.com/Return_to_Chaos_Buffy_the_Vampire_Slayer_0671021362.html "Teen-books.com" - Reviews of this book]
* [http://www.nika-summers.com/Library/novelreturnto.php "Nika-summers.com" - Review of this book by Nika Summers]
* [http://www.shadowcat.name/book0112.html "Shadowcat.name" - Review of this book]