As a fan of Buffy this was delicious. ( )

Even with the full extra star given to anything related to Joss Whedon or Buffy the Vampire Slayer this book rates only four stars. I would be very dismayed if Ms. Stafford has ever had any other thing she's written published and it makes me sad that her treatment of this very intelligent and ground-breaking series was the one published. She writes like an over-enthusiastic tenth-grader talking to her friends about how super awesome her favorite show is. Compound sentences are rife with subject-verb disagreement, she relies excessively on the same transitional phrases, and spelling and grammar errors can be found on an inordinate number of pages for a professionally published book. I also take issue with the fact that her "Episode Guides" are more like reviews, showcasing her personal opinion and copious amounts of "nitpicks." These nitpicks are sometimes laughable, in that I could come up with several perfectly reasonable explanations for much of what she seems to find contradictory about the events of the show.
I find the most egregious of her excessively belabored opinions to be that Riley is "boring" and his relationship with Buffy has no chemistry. I might actually be a little more critical of her because of this opinion, because I really love that Joss gave Buffy the opportunity to see how she would related with a "nice, normal" guy. If Buffy's only relationships in the show had been with men who had superhero powers and "darkness" in them, we would never know (and neither would she) if she could have a "normal" relationship. It's precisely because the Riley relationship did not work out that we are able to accept Buffy and Spike together.
On a more positive note, the actor bios were very thorough, it was interesting to read about the Posting Board Parties (I think BtVS might be the first show to truly embrace the online fans), and the quiz was appropriately challenging. I was a little confused by the chapter on "Little Willow" who is a prominent member of the posting board and runs many of the official websites of the cast. It was interesting to read about her, but I don't know that she is due an entire chapter in a book like this. I would be more interested in the Posting Board member who was eventually hired as a writer on Angel. I would also have liked more on Andy Hallett, Mercedes McNab, Adam Busch, Danny Strong, and Tom Lenk. In fact, I think that as the most "recurring" recurring character on Buffy, Danny definitely deserved a bio.
Having said all that; however, this is a welcome addition to any Buffy fan's collection of reference material. ( )

more Sarah Michelle Gellar and less Buffy. Though i am fond of Sarah Michell Gellar, i am not as fond of fan books, which is pretty much what this is (it was also published early in the series so it is not overly helpful... ( )

I'd heard that Nikki Stafford's unofficial guides to Buffy and Angel were among the best and I've gotta say, the reviewers didn't steer me wrong. This was an awesome book.

Stafford has organized the book into three rough segments. First off, we've got bios for every major character on both BtVS and Angel. These are fairly detailed, and include personal information along with all the essentials on each actor's career. Personally, I'm not the kind of fan who needs to know everything about their favourite actor (or writer, or director, or whatever), but I still found these segments interesting.

Next up is fandom stuff, including coverage of every Posting Board Party organized for and by fans who posted at the official Buffy message board; info on the Buffyverse online; a bio of a particularly well-known Buffy fan called Little Willow; and hardcore trivia intended for only the most obsessed fans. These segments are a lot of fun, and add a personal slant to the material. This isn't just a guide to Buffy; it's also an appreciation of the show and a celebration of the fans who love it so much.

Finally, we have the absolute best part of the book: the episode guide. Now, y'all have probably read episode guides before. They're pretty damned boring, right? Wrong! Stafford is very much a fan critic, and it shows. She summarizes each episode in such a way that her affection for the show shines right on through. Each summary ends with notes on what Stafford considers to be the highlight of the episode, along with interesting facts, nitpicks, bad cuts, a Willow Wicca Watch, and a breakdown of the music used in the episode. It's great stuff. I found myself reevaluating my response to each episode in light of Stafford's more critical approach to the material.

All in all, the book was fantastic. It was the perfect weekend reading. I whipped right along through it, fast as anything, and would highly recommend it to Buffy fans. Since my edition was published, Stafford has also released a third edition that covers all seven seasons; however, don't despair if you can only get your hands on the second edition. ONCE BITTEN, Stafford's unofficial guide to Angel, also includes a detailed episode guide for the seventh season of Buffy, presented in the same format as the guide in BITE ME!. I'm not sure how much the supplementary material differs between the two editions, but if you can get your hands on ONCE BITTEN as well, you should be fine on the episode guide front.

(A lengthier version of this review originally appeared on my blog, Stella Matutina). ( )

Nikki Stafford's two Buffyverse guides, are IMO the best two single volume guides one can have regarding Whedon's two awesome series. They're both unauthorized; therefore while Ms Stafford was doing her research for these books she could not officially call upon Fox or Mutant Enemy to provide here access. My opinion is completely biased since Nikki's opinions on the series agree with mine to a very large degree.

Nikki's book has some extra's in addition to the obligatory episode guides, cast bios, story of the series gensis, etc. There's a section on the annual Bronze Posting Parties, a section on BtVS and the online world, and a short section on Little Willow (if you need to ask Little Willow is a fan who largely through her own efforts built much of the presence of Buffy in the online world, and she created and manages the websites for several Buffy cast members (Amber Benson, Danny Strong, Tom Link as examples)). "Bite Me" has an appendix that covers Angel the Series for epiodes (through end of season 3, "Tomorrow") synopses.