Status
Available
Publication
Dark Horse Books (2009), 320 pages
Description
Explores the complex relationships between fiercely independent Slayers and the dangerous people they keep closest to them.
User reviews
LibraryThing member timjones
I enjoyed reading this issue, but it was still the least satisfying volume of the series so far. It consists as usual of a four-issue arc followed by a standalone one-shot. "Time of Your Life" is an appropriate title: the main arc takes Buffy forward in time, while the one-shot takes her back to
The one-shot is superb, but, despite some interesting moments and Dawn's star turn as a ... spoiler alert ... centaur, the main arc didn't engage me. It plunges Buffy into the world of future Slayer Melaka Fray, and little concession is made to people like me who haven't read the Fray comics. The action - leaping from air-car to air-car - would have looked great on TV, but in the confines of a comic it was underwhelming.
Not the team's best work, then, but it hasn't dampened my enthusiasm for the Buffy: Season 8 comics as a whole.
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Season 1, in a print realisation of the never-completed Buffy: The Animated Series.The one-shot is superb, but, despite some interesting moments and Dawn's star turn as a ... spoiler alert ... centaur, the main arc didn't engage me. It plunges Buffy into the world of future Slayer Melaka Fray, and little concession is made to people like me who haven't read the Fray comics. The action - leaping from air-car to air-car - would have looked great on TV, but in the confines of a comic it was underwhelming.
Not the team's best work, then, but it hasn't dampened my enthusiasm for the Buffy: Season 8 comics as a whole.
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LibraryThing member AVoraciousReader
*Book source ~ Library
Buffy hops forward a few centuries and lands in future New York where there is only one slayer left in the world.
I read this and I’m completely lost. I have no fucking clue what this story is even about. Buffy must go forward in time? Why? I have no clue. It makes no sense
Buffy hops forward a few centuries and lands in future New York where there is only one slayer left in the world.
I read this and I’m completely lost. I have no fucking clue what this story is even about. Buffy must go forward in time? Why? I have no clue. It makes no sense
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to me. And the future speak? It gave me a headache. Not crazy about the illustrations either. There is a parallel story involving Twilight, but it’s minor and kinda lame. Dawn’s dumb storyline continues. All-in-all, not that impressed with this one. Show Less
LibraryThing member fyrefly98
Summary:Time of Your Life combines what's previously happened in Season Eight with what happened in the Fray comics, and assumes you've read both - not much explanation is given for folks who haven't. If you haven't read Fray, put down this review, don't even think about picking up Time of Your
Okay, everybody caught up? In Time of Your Life, Buffy is caught in a temporal disturbance that winds up transporting her to the future Manhattan, where she meets the Slayer Melaka Fray. Once there, she's forced to wonder: What happened between her time and Fray's time? How did they get from a world with hundreds of Slayers worldwide to only the single Slayer, with no sense of her history or heritage? What role did Twilight play in the creation of this future? And how - and why - is Buffy in the future, anyways? The arc mostly focuses on Buffy and Melaka's stories, but back in the present day, we do get some nice moments from the rest of our regulars, including a magical attack on the Scotland fortress, and Dawn learning yet another reason why it's a bad idea to mess around with a Thricewise. The volume rounds off with a one-off story involving Buffy dreaming she's back in high school.
Review: Woohoohoo, boy, do things get *interesting* in this volume! I can't really talk about how they get interesting without spoiling the major reveals, but suffice to say there are plenty of twists, turns, flip-flopping of sides, and familiar faces showing up (although not always in the context I had expected.) It's not clear how (or if) the main plot is related to Twilight's aims, and it still feels like we're in the set-up phase of the season... many more questions (and "it's a long story"s) are being presented than are being answered. Of course I've got faith that Joss knows where this whole thing's going, and is going to tie the pieces together eventually, but it definitely makes me antsy waiting for the next installment.
The way this installment ties together the present-day Buffyverse with the bleak future mapped out in Fray makes me wonder if Joss actually had Season 8 in mind back in 2002/3, when Buffy S7 was airing and Fray was being published. There is a long way to go between the hundreds of Slayers that Buffy and Willow raised, and Fray's world of half a Slayer, and it just seems to jive so well with Twilight's goals that either it was planned long in advance, or else there's some well-designed retconning in play. Stories involving time travel and mucking about with the future/past have to be done really carefully to avoid gaping plot holes, and I'm reserving final judgment on this one until I see how it all pans out, but so far, so good.
I think my least favorite part about this volume was the artwork. Judged on its own merits, it's totally fine, but in the context of previous volumes, it's not quite as good. Karl Moline, who also did the pencils for Fray, drew the majority of this volume, and it looks to me like he was trying to split the difference between the style of Fray and the style of the rest of Buffy Season 8. The result, however, is that a lot of the characters aren't immediately recognizable, or that they're only identifiable because of their eye-patch, or hair color, or clothing. There were even a few times (including one big reveal) where it took me several panels to figure out who a character was supposed to be. Regardless, though, Time of Your Life is a fascinating addition to the story, and now I can't wait for the next volume to come out. 4 out of 5 stars.
Recommendation: Buffy fans will be devouring this volume with or without my recommendation, I'm sure, but I wasn't kidding: read Fray first!
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Life, and go read it. It's short; I'll wait.Okay, everybody caught up? In Time of Your Life, Buffy is caught in a temporal disturbance that winds up transporting her to the future Manhattan, where she meets the Slayer Melaka Fray. Once there, she's forced to wonder: What happened between her time and Fray's time? How did they get from a world with hundreds of Slayers worldwide to only the single Slayer, with no sense of her history or heritage? What role did Twilight play in the creation of this future? And how - and why - is Buffy in the future, anyways? The arc mostly focuses on Buffy and Melaka's stories, but back in the present day, we do get some nice moments from the rest of our regulars, including a magical attack on the Scotland fortress, and Dawn learning yet another reason why it's a bad idea to mess around with a Thricewise. The volume rounds off with a one-off story involving Buffy dreaming she's back in high school.
Review: Woohoohoo, boy, do things get *interesting* in this volume! I can't really talk about how they get interesting without spoiling the major reveals, but suffice to say there are plenty of twists, turns, flip-flopping of sides, and familiar faces showing up (although not always in the context I had expected.) It's not clear how (or if) the main plot is related to Twilight's aims, and it still feels like we're in the set-up phase of the season... many more questions (and "it's a long story"s) are being presented than are being answered. Of course I've got faith that Joss knows where this whole thing's going, and is going to tie the pieces together eventually, but it definitely makes me antsy waiting for the next installment.
The way this installment ties together the present-day Buffyverse with the bleak future mapped out in Fray makes me wonder if Joss actually had Season 8 in mind back in 2002/3, when Buffy S7 was airing and Fray was being published. There is a long way to go between the hundreds of Slayers that Buffy and Willow raised, and Fray's world of half a Slayer, and it just seems to jive so well with Twilight's goals that either it was planned long in advance, or else there's some well-designed retconning in play. Stories involving time travel and mucking about with the future/past have to be done really carefully to avoid gaping plot holes, and I'm reserving final judgment on this one until I see how it all pans out, but so far, so good.
I think my least favorite part about this volume was the artwork. Judged on its own merits, it's totally fine, but in the context of previous volumes, it's not quite as good. Karl Moline, who also did the pencils for Fray, drew the majority of this volume, and it looks to me like he was trying to split the difference between the style of Fray and the style of the rest of Buffy Season 8. The result, however, is that a lot of the characters aren't immediately recognizable, or that they're only identifiable because of their eye-patch, or hair color, or clothing. There were even a few times (including one big reveal) where it took me several panels to figure out who a character was supposed to be. Regardless, though, Time of Your Life is a fascinating addition to the story, and now I can't wait for the next volume to come out. 4 out of 5 stars.
Recommendation: Buffy fans will be devouring this volume with or without my recommendation, I'm sure, but I wasn't kidding: read Fray first!
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LibraryThing member LisaMaria_C
This is my least favorite volume of Season 8 so far. It largely involved Buffy traveling to the future where she meets Melaka Fray--the one and only slayer in her time. Apparently Whedon did some Fray comics, and maybe fans of that will find this installment has more resonance and makes more sense.
On the other hand, one thing I always liked about Whedon is he never flinches from the repercussions of things he sets up. I do like how this series is continuing to develop the consequences particularly of Willow's acts--both in bringing Buffy back and in imbuing all the potentials with the full powers of slayers. And I did love a lot of the humor--particularly Buffy's response to Fray's slang. Such as when Buffy says, "Boy the English language is just losing it. I should have treated it better."
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I found it by and large confusing--and I don't find Moline an improvement over Jeanty. I often found myself not recognizing the figures, and in the case of one of the big reveals--which I felt ambivalent about--I wasn't even sure if that's who I thought it was... In the case of another major reveal, I felt, we'd been there, done that, and I didn't much like that story arc the first time. On the other hand, one thing I always liked about Whedon is he never flinches from the repercussions of things he sets up. I do like how this series is continuing to develop the consequences particularly of Willow's acts--both in bringing Buffy back and in imbuing all the potentials with the full powers of slayers. And I did love a lot of the humor--particularly Buffy's response to Fray's slang. Such as when Buffy says, "Boy the English language is just losing it. I should have treated it better."
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LibraryThing member ironicqueery
Time of Your Life, Book 4 in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 graphic novel, was quite the disappointment. The previous book was filled with great humor and character development, whereas this book seems to take pride in creating confusion and taking the story absolutely nowhere. It actually
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jumps to the future, though it's not clear why. Perhaps this is setting up the plot for future developments, but it wasn't necessary to waste a whole book on outlining it. The story was just confusing and rambling, which was unexpected from Joss Whedon writing. This is a disappointing book, but for Buffy fans, it's still an important part of the collection that shouldn't be skipped. Show Less
LibraryThing member xicanti
If you don't know how the television series ended, you may not want to read this review.
Buffy is transported forward in time when she and Willow travel to New York in search of more information on the scythe.
If you haven't read FRAY, Joss Whedon's first comic book venture, you probably want to take
Buffy's presence in Mel's world leads to a really, really, really exciting plot twist that has to do with Twilight's aims... but I'm afraid it'd be pretty spoilerish for those of you who haven't read FRAY, so I'll resist the urge to discuss it. Let's just say that Joss thickens the plot but good. He ups the stakes, twists everything around, and leaves us (meaning me) pretty damned eager to get our hands on the next volume.
And on top of that, there's some more insight into what's going on with Dawn, Willow has some awesome scenes, and we get one hell of a WTF moment with Twilight. Personally, I'm not so convinced that we're seeing what we're seeing, if you know what I mean, but that didn't stop me from spewing a few profanities. 'Cause if we are seeing what we're seeing, this is pretty well the best thing in the history of the earth. Seriously, people, it delighted the hell out of me. Angst! Turmoil! I love it.
This's awesome stuff, my dears. Bring on PREDATORS AND PREY!
(A slightly different version of this review originally appeared on my blog, Stella Matutina).
Buffy is transported forward in time when she and Willow travel to New York in search of more information on the scythe.
If you haven't read FRAY, Joss Whedon's first comic book venture, you probably want to take
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care of that before you read this one. Melaka Fray plays a large role in this story arc, and much of the action builds directly off of what went down in her own book. Buffy's story is central, of course, but everything that happens to her is integrated with everything that happens to Mel. You could probably enjoy TIME OF YOUR LIFE without having read FRAY, but I think you'll get more out of the book if you've read them both.Buffy's presence in Mel's world leads to a really, really, really exciting plot twist that has to do with Twilight's aims... but I'm afraid it'd be pretty spoilerish for those of you who haven't read FRAY, so I'll resist the urge to discuss it. Let's just say that Joss thickens the plot but good. He ups the stakes, twists everything around, and leaves us (meaning me) pretty damned eager to get our hands on the next volume.
And on top of that, there's some more insight into what's going on with Dawn, Willow has some awesome scenes, and we get one hell of a WTF moment with Twilight. Personally, I'm not so convinced that we're seeing what we're seeing, if you know what I mean, but that didn't stop me from spewing a few profanities. 'Cause if we are seeing what we're seeing, this is pretty well the best thing in the history of the earth. Seriously, people, it delighted the hell out of me. Angst! Turmoil! I love it.
This's awesome stuff, my dears. Bring on PREDATORS AND PREY!
(A slightly different version of this review originally appeared on my blog, Stella Matutina).
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LibraryThing member BookSpot
In Volume 4 of Buffy Season 8, Time of Your Life, Buffy travels (not on purpose) 200 years into the future and meets Fray, a Slayer there. Time of Your Life’s plot is about the two of them and Buffy helping Fray fight baddies and save herself –and Buffy get herself back to the present.
If you
The art doesn’t help much, either. It’d beautiful but doesn’t work well for Buffy. Fray’s sister looks more like Buffy usually does than Time of Your Life’s Buffy does. And a big reveal at the end is slightly spoiled because it’s hard to be sure how the character actually is.
Another storyline with Dawn is interesting because we get to learn more about why she’s a giant. And it fits with the usually Buffy rules (and the consequences characters usually face).
This volume really lost me, however. It left me wondering where the girl power I love Buffy for has gone. We’ve seen some naked (or almost) girls but I really want some of that girl power back, please.
If you
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don’t read Fray or know about it already (which I did not), this will be one confusing read. There is slang that Fray uses that confuses Buffy (and unsuspecting readers) making these issues hard to understand. Buffy, and unfamiliar readers alike are thrown into a confusing world.The art doesn’t help much, either. It’d beautiful but doesn’t work well for Buffy. Fray’s sister looks more like Buffy usually does than Time of Your Life’s Buffy does. And a big reveal at the end is slightly spoiled because it’s hard to be sure how the character actually is.
Another storyline with Dawn is interesting because we get to learn more about why she’s a giant. And it fits with the usually Buffy rules (and the consequences characters usually face).
This volume really lost me, however. It left me wondering where the girl power I love Buffy for has gone. We’ve seen some naked (or almost) girls but I really want some of that girl power back, please.
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LibraryThing member A_Reader_of_Fictions
The theme of the fourth installment is most definitely time travel. The main arc of this volume has Buffy traveling two hundred years into the future, traded for a demon by some mysterious force. She has to find her way back and decide what to make of her vision of the future. The last chapter in
Apparently, the even numbers in this series and I do not get along. This story was just really weird. Neither the for serious or the for fun time travel segment struck me as particularly interesting or necessary. I mean, the former did have a key plot point, but I don't know if it needed four whole chapters to be covered.
The future world was kind of annoying, as was the art style in the past. Speaking of the art, it really drives me a little bit crazy how inconsistent the characters seem to be. Sometimes they totally look like the actors on the show, but, other times, they really hardly bear a resemblance. I can deal with either of those, but both is a little rough.
The high point of this volume was definitely centaur Dawn, which may be funnier than giant Dawn. Although giant Dawn versus mecha Dawn in the streets of Tokyo is totally in the running for my favorite moment in the series. Here's hoping the next odd-numbered volume will be awesome!
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the volume is the equivalent of one of the silly episodes of Buffy; it does nothing to move the plot along, is largely inane, and good for a couple of laughs. In that one, Buffy, in more traditional comic book art style, travels back in time to good old Sunnydale, where she gets to spend a day being young and, relatively, carefree again.Apparently, the even numbers in this series and I do not get along. This story was just really weird. Neither the for serious or the for fun time travel segment struck me as particularly interesting or necessary. I mean, the former did have a key plot point, but I don't know if it needed four whole chapters to be covered.
The future world was kind of annoying, as was the art style in the past. Speaking of the art, it really drives me a little bit crazy how inconsistent the characters seem to be. Sometimes they totally look like the actors on the show, but, other times, they really hardly bear a resemblance. I can deal with either of those, but both is a little rough.
The high point of this volume was definitely centaur Dawn, which may be funnier than giant Dawn. Although giant Dawn versus mecha Dawn in the streets of Tokyo is totally in the running for my favorite moment in the series. Here's hoping the next odd-numbered volume will be awesome!
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LibraryThing member Rhinoa
Buffy is sent into the future where she meets Fray (she has her own spin off comic). Fray is a future Slayer and was called after the Slayer line was dormant for many decades. There is only one Slayer in the future, so what happened to all the other Slayers Buffy awakened? There is an enemy in the
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future that Buffy must defeat once and for all, but can she make herself do it... Show Less
LibraryThing member Dawn94
While I don't really care for the format, this graphic novel had a decent story line involving time travel, among other things. There were a couple of unexpected twists. But, ultimately, the comic book format only allows for so much in the way of story development. It always leaves me feeling
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dissatisfied. However, as I am a huge fan, I can't resist the draw of reading more Buffy. :) Show Less
LibraryThing member alwright1
I had a hard time following this one at times, but I enjoyed the Dark Willow plot.
LibraryThing member bookwormteri
Mmmmm...Just okay for this one. Didn't understand the whole Fray sideline for the plot. Eager to see where it goes though!
LibraryThing member karinnekarinne
I might have liked Time of Your Life a little better if I'd read Fray first. That whole storyline seemed confusing, then hand-wave-y, then rushed. Also I spent too many minutes trying to remember why I hated Kennedy so much. Maybe I should have rewatched season seven first, too.
I did enjoy the Big
(four-and-a-half stars)
I did enjoy the Big
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Reveal, though.(four-and-a-half stars)
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LibraryThing member EmScape
This volume of Buffy Season 8 was quite confusing for me. First, there's a different penciller, so I had to figure out who everyone was all over again (he draws Dawn the best). Then, a lot of it took place in the future with Fray and it really wasn't explained very well. By the time I figured out
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what was going on, I was halfway through and had to go back and start over. Not that I minded, much, though, because I am just whipping through these and might prefer to savor them a bit. Show Less
LibraryThing member burnit99
Warren and Amy concoct a plan that involves Buffy being sent two centuries into the future, where she confronts the lone slayer of her time, her evil twin brother and Willow gone dark again. Also, Dawn changes from a giantess to a centaur. The main story is followed by a hoot of a story in which
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Buffy goes back to her high school days (or dreams it, who knows?). Show Less
LibraryThing member shannonkearns
Awesome. Whedon and co. never disappoint. Loved it.
LibraryThing member melissarochelle
Read on December 27, 2016
Not my favorite volume. I'm not entirely sure that anything really happened to move the story forward other than discovering who one of the Twilighters is (and that isn't surprising at all. Such a tool.).
And the dream at the end. It was like one of those rando-season
Not my favorite volume. I'm not entirely sure that anything really happened to move the story forward other than discovering who one of the Twilighters is (and that isn't surprising at all. Such a tool.).
And the dream at the end. It was like one of those rando-season
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ending episodes. Show Less
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2009-05
Physical description
136 p.; 6.64 inches
ISBN
1595823107 / 9781595823106
Local notes
graphic novels