This story, and the entire series...FANTASTIC.

I came to this series late, but I have to say its been an excellent ride. One question though: Has it been abandoned or are you simply taking a break from it for a while and will later return to it?

Brilliant :) I'm so glad I found this again ^.^

Scary :(
We have Buffy and the Slayers creating their own worst enemies. First Jasmine's prophet and now the First evil with soldiers and a scythe. A true example of escalation in action.
Who is going to come back in time to save them from this mistake?
Or maybe Dawn needs to get her pathfinder on and start searching out allies. I can't help but imagine some great universe's for her to find with powerful allies - maybe this can be a crossover story yet! Either way I think there is a lot of kidnapping in Dawn's future...

I liked the series up until this point. In fact, I've literally spent two days just reading this when I should be working. Not much of a loss though because it's an awesome read and I've enjoyed every moment of it. I just got to this point and disliked the OC future-child thing you've got going on... I'm sure you've gone on to write it as superbly as in the previous stories but I can't bring myself to continue, instead I'm going to commit travesty and get a life.

I love the world that you (or should that be Illyria) created; it's both complex in the multitude of plots and ideas going on but also sticks as close as it can to the canon Btvs and Angel characters. I was kinda getting bored of the slayers-with-guns vs dumb-shit-demons thing though. I can usually tolerate your average human using guns but I've always thought slayers using modern weaponry as overkill and for the most part your story offers little that can offer the slayers a decent challenge except legions of demon footsoldiers walking into machine-gun fire. I never really felt any desperation or worry as the slayer forces cut apart their enemies with ease and when in the actual series the slayers occasionally had trouble with your average vampire, it got tiresome to see so much good-guy (girls) wankage.

Maybe in a few weeks I'll finish where I left off and review again because it certainly got my attention. Enough that I even have a few fan-fanfic ideas running through my head.

cheers,
GMM

I'm glad you liked the Fic to this point and I hope you resume reading, Enyo is perhaps a more fleshed-out and important character than you might think at first.

As for the gunslayers vs. demons the demons do adapt...

Cool idea for a black scythe. Keep up the good work.

Had to level the playing field ;-)

Thanks for the review.

Buffy seems a bit bitchy in this one. Dark scythe? Mutters darkly, well I'm hoping Willow drinks the powers that be asses down... never have too many goddesses on your side. Though seriously how do you miss the scourge being double crossing demons. Poorly managed on Berith's part.

Berith grew too reliant on his psychic premonitions and now they don't work as well he's not the demon he was :-p

I haven't actually finished this book yet, and I wasn't going to write until I did, but I just really wanted to tell you that this is awesome. I haven't read a multi book series I've enjoyed this much in .. possibly ever. I love your referances, your characters voices & monologues, and your plot.
Nice job

Thanks :-)

Damn fine Full Metal Jacket reference.....

I'm a big fan of Stanley Kubrick films :-D

Hmm... after reading many of your reviews, I've concluded that anything that Kiwikatipo worries about, whines about, or doesn't like, I love. Ends, justify those means! Crush the opposition beneath your authoritarian boot!

Ave! Ave, Illyria, Deus Imperatrix!

You know Orwell's 1984 is supposed to be read as a warning not a guidebook :-p

All hail the God-Empress! ;-)

I think this fic is turning me into a fascist, because I'm starting to really like the idea of Illyria as God-Empress of Humanity. She would not be kind, or tolerant, or merciful, but these are overrated traits in a ruler anyway. What she would be, it seems to me, is just. I cannot imagine the Illyria you have created having someone tortured for the heck of it, or wiping out a village on a whim. She would certainly do either if tactically necessary, but it is *arbitrary* cruelty that one really needs to fear in a ruler.

Based on what we know of her thoughts and motivations, she truly seems to be fond of humanity, if not all humans, and considers their best interests her best interests. She is a progressivist, not interested in holding humanity back. She would be a good ruler because she would want to remain ruler indefinitely: she is well aware that a ruler hated by the people cannot maintain power forever. I also do not think that one need worry about power corrupting her, as it's not like she could be any more certain of her own power already.

She wants to rule, which is not an evil thing in itself. Her methods for doing so are questionable, but given the alternative possibilities, you've just about convinced me it would be the best thing for humanity at this point in time. Though, I'm not sure if that was your intention.

Brilliant story, by the way. Illyria's little temple dimension: is that canon, or your own creation?

Illyria's pocket dimension temple Vahla ha'nesh is canon, it's visited in episode 5:16 of Angel.

Glad you're enjoying the Fic, thanks for the review and may the God-King watch over you :-p

it would make a weird sort of sense if like Buffy and the slayers creating the very jasmine crusade enyo came back to stop, berith and WR&H inadvertently created the very scenario that lead to the corporal first evil enyo faced.

I like the irony but the origin of the corporeal First Evil is a little more prosaic, he's just from a world where an alternate Buffy lost. More on that to come in the fifth Compelled story!

More good writing in this part. However, I'm a bit worried that you makes the First too dangerous for you to find a way to deal with.

The bigger and badder they are the harder they fall ;-)

a great fic with a surprising last chapter

Glad you liked it :-)

As usual, the story kicks ass!

I do have a few questions, though:

- Why don't Buffy & Spike get together?
- Will there be more Spike in the future? (I'm not all that fond of Buffy, but I have a big soft spot for Spike)

Well, that's it for the review, I guess. Aside from 'wow', there's not much else to say. And I saw there is a number 5, gotta go read it!

The problem with having so many characters in play is that they get limited face-time I'm afraid. Spike will pop up in the storyline pretty often, often just to annoy Angel of course :-p