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The Gatekeeper Trilogy #2
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Ghost Roads
Passport to Hell
Buffy, Oz, and Angel are Europe-bound, only they're not flying any airlines. They're traveling limbo's "ghost roads" in search of Jacques Regnier. Jacques is the sole heir of the dying Gatekeeper whose Boston mansion is the supernatural barrier restraining thousands of the world's monsters. The evil Sons of Entropy will do anything to destroy the gate - even if it means trading the power-laden Spear of Longinus to the wicked vampires holding Jacques.
Back home, the ghost ship "Flying Dutchman" has set sail for Sunnydale, determined to shanghai new crewmen - dead or alive. For Willow, Xander, Cordelia, and Giles, it's an ocean of trouble, especially when the monstrous Kraken reemerges with a vengeance.
But everyone's assistance will be needed once Buffy locates Jacques, and uncovers the shocking plans the Sons of Entropy have already placed in motion - a plan that, if successful, will destroy the world and create a horrible new realm ruled by monsters.
Buffy, Oz, and Angel are Europe-bound, only they're not flying any airlines. They're traveling limbo's "ghost roads" in search of Jacques Regnier. Jacques is the sole heir of the dying Gatekeeper whose Boston mansion is the supernatural barrier restraining thousands of the world's monsters. The evil Sons of Entropy will do anything to destroy the gate - even if it means trading the power-laden Spear of Longinus to the wicked vampires holding Jacques.
Back home, the ghost ship "Flying Dutchman" has set sail for Sunnydale, determined to shanghai new crewmen - dead or alive. For Willow, Xander, Cordelia, and Giles, it's an ocean of trouble, especially when the monstrous Kraken reemerges with a vengeance.
But everyone's assistance will be needed once Buffy locates Jacques, and uncovers the shocking plans the Sons of Entropy have already placed in motion - a plan that, if successful, will destroy the world and create a horrible new realm ruled by monsters.
374 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published March 1, 1999
About the author
Christopher Golden
728 books2,715 followersCHRISTOPHER GOLDEN is the New York Times bestselling, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of such novels as Road of Bones, Ararat, Snowblind, Of Saints and Shadows, and Red Hands. With Mike Mignola, he is the co-creator of the Outerverse comic book universe, including such series as Baltimore, Joe Golem: Occult Detective, and Lady Baltimore. As an editor, he has worked on the short story anthologies Seize the Night, Dark Cities, and The New Dead, among others, and he has also written and co-written comic books, video games, screenplays, and a network television pilot. Golden co-hosts the podcast Defenders Dialogue with horror author Brian Keene. In 2015 he founded the popular Merrimack Valley Halloween Book Festival. He was born and raised in Massachusetts, where he still lives with his family. His work has been nominated for the British Fantasy Award, the Eisner Award, and multiple Shirley Jackson Awards. For the Bram Stoker Awards, Golden has been nominated ten times in eight different categories. His original novels have been published in more than fifteen languages in countries around the world. Please visit him at www.christophergolden.com
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
June 13, 2017
5 stars
Enjoyed the second novel in the Gatekeeper Trilogy. Very interesting. Hope they will be able to stop the Sons of Entropy. Always nice to see Buffy and the Scooby Gang. Hope Xander will be okay.
Can't wait to read Sons of Entropy!!!!!!!
Enjoyed the second novel in the Gatekeeper Trilogy. Very interesting. Hope they will be able to stop the Sons of Entropy. Always nice to see Buffy and the Scooby Gang. Hope Xander will be okay.
Can't wait to read Sons of Entropy!!!!!!!
September 26, 2016
05/05/09 - I enjoyed this book and give it 3.5 stars. I didn't like it as much as I did when I read it during high school. I think I've matured in my reading preferences a bit and so find books with a little more sophistication and better writing skills more enjoyable. The story was still good and one I would have really enjoyed seeing Joss make into an episode.
March 27, 2024
Had some interesting ideas but then did absolutely nothing with them. I get that it's the middle book in a trilogy, but it shouldn't have to be pure filler. Plus all of the Scoobies are on an absolute murder spree in this one. If it's not Angel torturing a man to death, it's Oz setting people on fire. It's kind of funny considering this is ostensibly meant to take place around the show's third season, when everyone was hating on Faith for accidentally stabbing one (1) man.
That said, Buffy smuggling a rocket launcher (!) across the English Channel on a ferry has me thinking that maybe we do need those tough post-Brexit border controls after all.
That said, Buffy smuggling a rocket launcher (!) across the English Channel on a ferry has me thinking that maybe we do need those tough post-Brexit border controls after all.
March 27, 2024
A whole bunch of nothing. I would like to personally thank my boyfriend for recording an audiobook of this for me and doing an amazing impression of Drusilla. 10/10 for the voice acting, 4/10 for the actual book.
December 29, 2021
It was charming in the way the first one was, and felt good returning to familiar characters, but it was a bit slower than the first book. It felt oddly paced. Still, it was a fun read and I'm looking forward to the third book.
November 27, 2023
Unlike in the first book, I struggled to get through the second for several reasons:
- partly due to the pacing and overall story arc which was pretty much filler before the third and final book. I feel that the storyline could've been all tied up in two books.
- Was anyone else annoyed with Xander's attitude and behaviour in this book? He's always been abit rash in his decisions and actions, especially when they put his friends' safety at risk and do not listen to Giles' advice and he goes and gets himself seriously injured ... I know he won't die, but, meh, not a huge Xander fan.
In the previous book, he carried on like a pork chop when Buffy saved his life against spring-heeled jack when his life is in jeopardy and berates Buffy for it that he had everything under control, no dude, you clearly didn't since she intervened, and saved your sorry ass and you still haven't learned your lesson by the events that unfolded here. Idiot.
- Don't get me wrong, I love back stories but when there is too much of it overall it doesn't leave much room to feel empathy about these new characters.
- Spike and Dru's presence in this book as mainly prison guards to the 11 year old heir (Jacques) to the Gatehouse as leverage by aligning with the Sons of Entropy in order to obtain the power-laden by means of a trade, you hold onto the heir for the SoE until such time they destroy everything by waiting for Jacques' dad to kick the bucket before his son can restore order therefore opening the gatehouses' doors to hell open loose upon Earth.
What bothered me is the wasted potential of Spike and Dru in this book and I felt very underused, even to the point of recycling a similar motive for Spike to flip sides to Buffy again to help as the SoE had duped Spike and Dru (no surprise there), yeah ok it was great seeing Buffy work alongside Spike, but it all felt underwhelming and then ... they disappeared from the story, where did they go?
One thing I did like: was a rare team-up between Buffy, Oz and Angel as they travel the ghost roads to locate the heir to the Gatekeeper, Jacques Regnier Jacques as he's the sole heir of the dying Gatekeeper whose Boston mansion is the supernatural barrier restraining thousands of the world's monsters.
Overall, it just boring and underwhelming compared to the first book, which is a shame, let's hope the final books makes up for it in the climax.
- partly due to the pacing and overall story arc which was pretty much filler before the third and final book. I feel that the storyline could've been all tied up in two books.
- Was anyone else annoyed with Xander's attitude and behaviour in this book? He's always been abit rash in his decisions and actions, especially when they put his friends' safety at risk and do not listen to Giles' advice and he goes and gets himself seriously injured ... I know he won't die, but, meh, not a huge Xander fan.
In the previous book, he carried on like a pork chop when Buffy saved his life against spring-heeled jack when his life is in jeopardy and berates Buffy for it that he had everything under control, no dude, you clearly didn't since she intervened, and saved your sorry ass and you still haven't learned your lesson by the events that unfolded here. Idiot.
- Don't get me wrong, I love back stories but when there is too much of it overall it doesn't leave much room to feel empathy about these new characters.
- Spike and Dru's presence in this book as mainly prison guards to the 11 year old heir (Jacques) to the Gatehouse as leverage by aligning with the Sons of Entropy in order to obtain the power-laden by means of a trade, you hold onto the heir for the SoE until such time they destroy everything by waiting for Jacques' dad to kick the bucket before his son can restore order therefore opening the gatehouses' doors to hell open loose upon Earth.
What bothered me is the wasted potential of Spike and Dru in this book and I felt very underused, even to the point of recycling a similar motive for Spike to flip sides to Buffy again to help as the SoE had duped Spike and Dru (no surprise there), yeah ok it was great seeing Buffy work alongside Spike, but it all felt underwhelming and then ... they disappeared from the story, where did they go?
One thing I did like: was a rare team-up between Buffy, Oz and Angel as they travel the ghost roads to locate the heir to the Gatekeeper, Jacques Regnier Jacques as he's the sole heir of the dying Gatekeeper whose Boston mansion is the supernatural barrier restraining thousands of the world's monsters.
Overall, it just boring and underwhelming compared to the first book, which is a shame, let's hope the final books makes up for it in the climax.
August 2, 2022
This is the second book in a trilogy, and it really felt like things took a step down here.
The first book was almost self-contained, but with an open ending... This book however feels purely like a plate-spinning bridge between books one and (I assume) book three. Most of the book revolves around Buffy, Angel, and Oz travelling together... But (mild spoiler alert?) they don't really find anything until the last 50 pages of the book.
Meanwhile, in Sunnydale, nothing overly dramatic really seems to ramp up. They just keep trying to fight whatever monsters pop up... until the end, when things take a very dramatic turn, except it's a book based on a TV show, so of course the stakes are non-existent when it comes to someone being in mortal danger.
And then we have Spike and Drusilla, introduced at the end of the previous book as a twist villain... except they're not really the villains, they're just trying to basically scam the true villains. But they spend the whole book separate from the Scoobies, finally crossing paths at the end and then are basically dealt with in a really underwhelming way that uses exactly the same resolution as we saw in Becoming Part 2 (and having the characters reference to each other that they had this same arrangement in the past does't excuse the plot-recycling). It just feels like such a waste of two hugely dynamic characters, to shove them to the side and then discard them really lazily. I hope they're back in book 3 and somehow play a larger role...
One of my favourite things about the first book was that they threw in some character discourse about growing up, graduation, what The Future holds, etc... and that's basically all shoved to the side in this book, so I was a little disappointed in that.
That being said, the final 50 pages do ramp things up a bit, and set some interesting things in place for the final book. But I really think this could have worked either as an additional conclusion to book one, or just as an introduction to book three, because I don't feel there was enough plot here to make up a whole book.
The first book was almost self-contained, but with an open ending... This book however feels purely like a plate-spinning bridge between books one and (I assume) book three. Most of the book revolves around Buffy, Angel, and Oz travelling together... But (mild spoiler alert?) they don't really find anything until the last 50 pages of the book.
Meanwhile, in Sunnydale, nothing overly dramatic really seems to ramp up. They just keep trying to fight whatever monsters pop up... until the end, when things take a very dramatic turn, except it's a book based on a TV show, so of course the stakes are non-existent when it comes to someone being in mortal danger.
And then we have Spike and Drusilla, introduced at the end of the previous book as a twist villain... except they're not really the villains, they're just trying to basically scam the true villains. But they spend the whole book separate from the Scoobies, finally crossing paths at the end and then are basically dealt with in a really underwhelming way that uses exactly the same resolution as we saw in Becoming Part 2 (and having the characters reference to each other that they had this same arrangement in the past does't excuse the plot-recycling). It just feels like such a waste of two hugely dynamic characters, to shove them to the side and then discard them really lazily. I hope they're back in book 3 and somehow play a larger role...
One of my favourite things about the first book was that they threw in some character discourse about growing up, graduation, what The Future holds, etc... and that's basically all shoved to the side in this book, so I was a little disappointed in that.
That being said, the final 50 pages do ramp things up a bit, and set some interesting things in place for the final book. But I really think this could have worked either as an additional conclusion to book one, or just as an introduction to book three, because I don't feel there was enough plot here to make up a whole book.
Read
April 21, 2023This one felt rather slow to me, I enjoyed the road trip adventures of Buffy, Angel, and Oz. I thought the Sunnydale stuff was hit and miss. Partly because, frankly, I am hating Xander in these books. He is awful. In the last book he was arguing with Buffy and this one he is just awful to Cordelia. I am not sure it is realistic that she would want them to go to college together, but here she is wanting to make plans and he is thinking about how he doesn’t love her and seems kind of hung up Buffy still.
Spike and Dru are fun characters but honestly, not sure what point they serve here. They’re just like demonic baby sitters.
Also having read books set later I am too much in hate of Spike to enjoy his character at all anymore. (I know I know, the entire Buffy-fandom is supposed to worship at the feet of Spike. But I can’t stand the guy).
It had the middle book problem of needing to advance the plot but can’t resolve it.
Some things that stuck out:
Buffy thinking about her afterlife while traveling the ghost roads hits different after season 6.
I like that they explained why Giles let Willow handle all the magic in this book
Seeing Buffy decapitate a clone of herself would’ve been a cool visual for tv
Funny Angel moment:
”Le Parisiennes ont toujours été réputées pour leur élégance”, intervint Angel. ”Au début du siècle, elles portaient des choses étonnantes. Si vous aviez vu leurs bustiers…”
Les deux autres le dévisageant avec surprise, il insista:
”C’étaient de très jolis bustiers.”
All in all, pretty good, interested to see how it all wraps up.
May 22, 2021
Ghost Roads definitely more plot-driven than the previous book. This is where a bulk of the action is taking place and really gets into all the things that need to happen. Due to this, it is certainly more action-packed. I feel like this was more for the people that don't care for character-driven stories. That's fine and it keeps it a relatively balanced series.
I had a good time reading it and loved the addition of Spike and Drusilla. They were my favorite from the show and I looked forward to them showing up throughout. Overall, it was a good sequel/middle book of the trilogy.
I had a good time reading it and loved the addition of Spike and Drusilla. They were my favorite from the show and I looked forward to them showing up throughout. Overall, it was a good sequel/middle book of the trilogy.
June 11, 2021
Okay, here we go. This one was well written and funny. Characters act and sound just like you would expect them to. It’s all weirdly satisfying actually. And that is the best part of the book - the witty and unique dialogue. Otherwise, the plot, well, it could have been more gripping. I didn’t really enjoy the ghost roads as a concept. Or find it plausible. Not even in Buffy. 😀
Good, solid read for a fan. 👍
Good, solid read for a fan. 👍
July 21, 2017
Pretty fun. It's really exciting seeing the characters out of Sunnydale. This one is particularly violent, going beyond most episodes in the series. One caveat is that we see Oz beating up a few demons in his human form, and I just don't ever see that happening.
August 23, 2023
C'est écrit comme la série ! Simple, accessible au plus grand nombre, avec des descriptions très visuelles. Alors certes ce n'est pas de la grande littérature mais pour les puristes de Buffy, tout y est !!
February 20, 2018
if your reading this book 1st good choice 2nd please read the first book first. no spoilers but this is a really good book. i recommend this book i recommend this author
March 11, 2018
buffy oz and angel in europe FTW
May 1, 2019
This my favourite series of Buffy novels and anyone that enjoys the show would probably enjoy this book
June 23, 2019
The great thing about this book is you don't need to have to read the first one. Gripping story telling and I could not put it down! The best one have read of the Buffy series!
October 28, 2021
Goodness, that took forever because it was really kind of boring. Buffy, Angel and Oz travel the ghost roads to find the heir of the Gatekeeper. Snooze fest.
April 17, 2020
This trilogy suffers from too much backstory about the new characters and it failed to make me have any feelings for those characters. Aside from that it was a decent read once. Ive read it twice. The Skipping the backstory you miss nothing and it improves the series.
December 30, 2009
How I Came To Read These Books: being a Buffy fan, it was only natural I turned to read some of the books. I think I also read one that was based on the series’ premiere, but I preferred the original stories. Call it published fan fic.
The Plot: I can’t separate these three books particularly well this late in the game, so let’s summarize. There’s a whole lot of wacky going on in Sunnydale, more than usual. Rather than one big bad, it seems a rain (of toads, quite literally) of chaos is coming down in Sunnydale, and Buffy is having a tough time handling it, especially with her watcher hospitalized abroad. The gang goes on a road trip (!) much like any Babysitters Club novel, and ends up in Boston where a ‘gatekeeper’ is watching over a psychedelic mansion with doors leading to endless rooms of ‘ghost roads’ that house things not meant for our world. Unfortunately said gatekeeper is ailing, and they need to track down his heir to take over the family business. This leads to a further trip for Buffy, Angel, and Oz to travel the ghost roads and find Jacques – all the while being thwarted by the Sons of Entropy who are hell bent on causing mass chaos. Clearly the breakdown of the mansion would satisfy this need. Back in Sunnydale apparently there are some pirates looking to recruit people to their dead or alive crew (very Pirates o the Caribbean). The final book of the trilogy is essentially the big final battle and everything that leads up to it.
The Good & The Bad: Call me uncouth, but I enjoyed this series when I read it back in the day. It took my favourite familiar characters and thrust them into a world beyond Sunnydale, something the show never accomplished. Although no one seems in quite as much mortal peril as you would hope, these books were major page turners. Really though, it’s mostly fun to see the characters out of their element (Sunnydale) and taking on the worldwide spread of evil. It was just on such a larger scale than anything the show ever did really, other than maybe Glory. The writing might not be amazing (I recall them stealing phrases from the show and using the terms “a beat” as in “waited a beat” way too many times) and the characters are flat because you’re expected to have a fan’s wealth of knowledge, plus the story is a little far-fetched and sweeping, even for a fantasy Buffy novel, but it’s still fun for fans!
The Bottom Line: Like I said…it’s like published fan fic.
Anything Memorable?: Not really
50-Book Challenge?: Nope
The Plot: I can’t separate these three books particularly well this late in the game, so let’s summarize. There’s a whole lot of wacky going on in Sunnydale, more than usual. Rather than one big bad, it seems a rain (of toads, quite literally) of chaos is coming down in Sunnydale, and Buffy is having a tough time handling it, especially with her watcher hospitalized abroad. The gang goes on a road trip (!) much like any Babysitters Club novel, and ends up in Boston where a ‘gatekeeper’ is watching over a psychedelic mansion with doors leading to endless rooms of ‘ghost roads’ that house things not meant for our world. Unfortunately said gatekeeper is ailing, and they need to track down his heir to take over the family business. This leads to a further trip for Buffy, Angel, and Oz to travel the ghost roads and find Jacques – all the while being thwarted by the Sons of Entropy who are hell bent on causing mass chaos. Clearly the breakdown of the mansion would satisfy this need. Back in Sunnydale apparently there are some pirates looking to recruit people to their dead or alive crew (very Pirates o the Caribbean). The final book of the trilogy is essentially the big final battle and everything that leads up to it.
The Good & The Bad: Call me uncouth, but I enjoyed this series when I read it back in the day. It took my favourite familiar characters and thrust them into a world beyond Sunnydale, something the show never accomplished. Although no one seems in quite as much mortal peril as you would hope, these books were major page turners. Really though, it’s mostly fun to see the characters out of their element (Sunnydale) and taking on the worldwide spread of evil. It was just on such a larger scale than anything the show ever did really, other than maybe Glory. The writing might not be amazing (I recall them stealing phrases from the show and using the terms “a beat” as in “waited a beat” way too many times) and the characters are flat because you’re expected to have a fan’s wealth of knowledge, plus the story is a little far-fetched and sweeping, even for a fantasy Buffy novel, but it’s still fun for fans!
The Bottom Line: Like I said…it’s like published fan fic.
Anything Memorable?: Not really
50-Book Challenge?: Nope
September 22, 2008
I just love it when Christopher Golden & Nancy Holder write a Buffy novel together. It's like watching an episode on TV.
This is the second book in "the Gatekeeper Trilogy" and the story just keeps getting better and better.
Buffy, Angel and Oz are travelling ghost roads to try and find the dying Gatekeepers only heir Jacques who they believe has been kidnapped by the evil sorcerer Fulcanelli. Fulcanelli's evil henchmen "the sons of Entopy" are causing all sorts of chaos in Sunnydale and have also kidnapped Joyce Summers. Breaches are opening up all over releasing hell Demons into our world, and to top it all off Spike and Dru are mixed up in it all.
Great story that really leaves you hanging in the end and needing to get your hands on the third book so you can read the conclusion.
This is the second book in "the Gatekeeper Trilogy" and the story just keeps getting better and better.
Buffy, Angel and Oz are travelling ghost roads to try and find the dying Gatekeepers only heir Jacques who they believe has been kidnapped by the evil sorcerer Fulcanelli. Fulcanelli's evil henchmen "the sons of Entopy" are causing all sorts of chaos in Sunnydale and have also kidnapped Joyce Summers. Breaches are opening up all over releasing hell Demons into our world, and to top it all off Spike and Dru are mixed up in it all.
Great story that really leaves you hanging in the end and needing to get your hands on the third book so you can read the conclusion.
October 16, 2013
This book is the second one of a trilogy based on the tv series. The first one should be read to understand this one. Buffy, Oz, and Angel are trying to stop Il Maestro while the rest of the gang is in Sunnydale trying to keep everything in order. I enjoyed this one. The authors depicted the characters correctly and it had a good storyline. Although some of the creatures are a little on the fantastic side, I overlooked this because the story kept me interested. Even if you were not a fan of the show, I think you will enjoy this trilogy.
March 17, 2015
As a fan of Buffy through the years, I have loads of Buffy books on my book shelf. I've just started to read the Gatekeeper Trilogy and they are good. I've just finished reading 'Ghost Roads'. The book is really good, the plot is good with loads of twists and turns on every page. Though the book is good it took me over two weeks to read it. I just couldn't get into the book, as soon as I picked it up I put it down. It just wasn't a book I could really get into, towards the end it felt more of a chore to read it that reading it for my own enjoyment.
March 24, 2013
I've read more than a several (can I say that?) Buffy books - out of the jillion written. This was my favorite. Walking the ghost roads from CA to Boston to France was the most original work of fantasy I've ever read. And I've read more than I should have. The monsters. The lost souls. The Gatehouse unnoticed right on Beacon Hill. The gatekeeper and the army of magic users attacking him. But count on Buffy and the Scoobies. Then back in time for HS. Hey!
March 14, 2012
I read this book and the two others in the trilogy when I was watching Buffy for the first time in middle school. Truthfully, I don't remember a whole lot about the plot or writing, but I do know they kept me engaged enough to read the other two books.
Since I remember enjoying them as a kid, I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt and a 3/5.
Since I remember enjoying them as a kid, I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt and a 3/5.
November 26, 2015
Believe I read the whole Gatekeeper trilogy during the latter part of 2002, as it was then that I bought them as a boxed set.
Although I remember little about the storyline 13 years on, I do recall that the author did a good job in bringing the TV characters to life on page. I admired his original plot ideas, yet I was engaged by the story, rather than enthralled.
Although I remember little about the storyline 13 years on, I do recall that the author did a good job in bringing the TV characters to life on page. I admired his original plot ideas, yet I was engaged by the story, rather than enthralled.
March 18, 2012
I read this so long ago I can't do a true review but I do remember enjoying it.
April 24, 2012
Full of action
February 25, 2019
Really enjoying this trilogy so far
September 13, 2015
An enjoyable second book in a trilogy- I'd definitely recommend this series for Buffy fans.
July 1, 2016
Just because I'm a major Buffy fan...I have to devour anything Buffy related. Even if the writing is eh.
It's a treat to read more scenes with Spike, Oz, and Cordelia. <3
It's a treat to read more scenes with Spike, Oz, and Cordelia. <3
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews