Spike and Dru: Pretty Maids All in a Row

Rating:
Summary: What Spike and Dru did during World War II
Review: Here is a Buffy the Vampire Slayer novel where Buffy herself is never even mentioned because her parents have not even been born at this point. In Christopher Golden's "Spike and Dru: Pretty Maids All In A Row," the "Pretty Maids" are the Slayers in waiting, those young girls who have been identified by the Watchers Council as potential Slayer and trained so that when the time comes they can handle the responsibility. Hitler's Germany is about to invade France and for once in her un-dead life Drusilla has something in mind for her birthday: The necklace of the Brisings, known also as Freyja's Strand. Spike has promised her the trinket, which is supposedly in the possession of an ice-demon named Skyrmir, who is too powerful for the vampires to overcome. But Skymir is willing to make a deal: if the vampires can find out the names of all the Slayers in waiting and kill them, Dru will get her happy birthday gift.

The Slayer in this novel is Sophie Carstensen, a native of Denmark, who is forced to flee her country when her Watcher, Yanna, is also a seer. However, with the outbreak of war on the continent, all of the Vampires in Britain head for the battlefield where the pickings will be easy, and the Council orders the Chosen One to follow them, even though the bullets that cannot kill the vampires can certainly kill the Slayer. Meanwhile, Spike and Dru are starting to knock off the pretty maids one by one. When the Council sends the Slayer after the two vampires while the demon Skymir attacks the very stronghold of the Watchers with his horde, Golden's narrative arrives at a most fateful confrontation. I had a little bit of trouble getting into the book, but once the situation was laid out for me I was hooked and the conclusion is as good as anything you will find in any other Buffy novel.

Readers have to remember that the Spike they encounter within these downloaded pages is the Spike of the old days, paired up with Drusilla, and not the character's current persona on the television series. His characterization is much stronger in the second half of the book than the first, but it is Drusilla that is really fleshed out in this book. Golden provides an insane sort of logic to her wild visions and ramblings much more so than the television series has ever had time to develop. Sophie the Vampire Slayer is not Buffy to be sure, but she is certainly a Slayer appropriate to time and place with a very unique relationship with her Watcher. Plus she uses the family broadsword to cut off the heads of the vamps when she dusts them. There is even a reference or two to the Giles family's association with the Council for those who like to see the past tied up neatly with the present. I am one of those readers who think that the very best Buffy stories are penned by Golden and Nancy Holder writing in tandem, but each has proven capable of hitting the mark without the other. "Pretty Maids All In A Row," like the recent "Lost Slayer" serial novels, certainly proves Golden can go it alone.

Final warning: do not expect this story to neatly mesh with the mythology of Spike and Dru's background as revealed on this year's cross-over episodes. Once you understand that, go ahead and download this e-book in the comfort of your own lair.

Rating:
Summary: What Spike and Dru did during World War II
Review: Here is a Buffy the Vampire Slayer novel where Buffy herself is never even mentioned because her parents have not even been born at this point. In Christopher Golden's "Spike and Dru: Pretty Maids All In A Row," the "Pretty Maids" are the Slayers in waiting, those young girls who have been identified by the Watchers Council as potential Slayer and trained so that when the time comes they can handle the responsibility. Hitler's Germany is about to invade France and for once in her un-dead life Drusilla has something in mind for her birthday: The necklace of the Brisings, known also as Freyja's Strand. Spike has promised her the trinket, which is supposedly in the possession of an ice-demon named Skyrmir, who is too powerful for the vampires to overcome. But Skymir is willing to make a deal: if the vampires can find out the names of all the Slayers in waiting and kill them, Dru will get her happy birthday gift.

The Slayer in this novel is Sophie Carstensen, a native of Denmark, who is forced to flee her country when her Watcher, Yanna, is also a seer. However, with the outbreak of war on the continent, all of the Vampires in Britain head for the battlefield where the pickings will be easy, and the Council orders the Chosen One to follow them, even though the bullets that cannot kill the vampires can certainly kill the Slayer. Meanwhile, Spike and Dru are starting to knock off the pretty maids one by one. When the Council sends the Slayer after the two vampires while the demon Skymir attacks the very stronghold of the Watchers with his horde, Golden's narrative arrives at a most fateful confrontation. I had a little bit of trouble getting into the book, but once the situation was laid out for me I was hooked and the conclusion is as good as anything you will find in any other Buffy novel.

Readers have to remember that the Spike they encounter within these downloaded pages is the Spike of the old days, paired up with Drusilla, and not the character's current persona on the television series. His characterization is much stronger in the second half of the book than the first, but it is Drusilla that is really fleshed out in this book. Golden provides an insane sort of logic to her wild visions and ramblings much more so than the television series has ever had time to develop. Sophie the Vampire Slayer is not Buffy to be sure, but she is certainly a Slayer appropriate to time and place with a very unique relationship with her Watcher. Plus she uses the family broadsword to cut off the heads of the vamps when she dusts them. There is even a reference or two to the Giles family's association with the Council for those who like to see the past tied up neatly with the present. I am one of those readers who think that the very best Buffy stories are penned by Golden and Nancy Holder writing in tandem, but each has proven capable of hitting the mark without the other. "Pretty Maids All In A Row," like the recent "Lost Slayer" serial novels, certainly proves Golden can go it alone.

Final warning: do not expect this story to neatly mesh with the mythology of Spike and Dru's background as revealed on this year's cross-over episodes. Once you understand that, go ahead and download this e-book in the comfort of your own lair.