Customer Reviews

Spike & Dru : Pretty Maids All In A Row

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Few writers can take characters from a popular TV series and give them a 100 percent transition into books, as well as expand on the overall mythology. Christopher Golden is one such writer.

In "Spike and Dru: Pretty Maids All in a Row," a noirish tale of Spike and Drusilla, the Sid and Nancy of vampires, Golden fills in their long history together. The book has the feel of an Elmore Leonard novel, where the main characters are bad guys. In the Buffy-verse, you can't get any badder than the Big Bad himself, Spike! This is the Spike many know and miss before he received the behavior-modifying chip on the TV series.

The tale unfolds in World War II where in exchange for Freyja's Strand--a magical necklace allowing its wearer to shape-change--Spike and Dru most not only kill the WWII generation's Slayer, Sophie Cartensen, but all the other Slayers-in-Waiting, girls who have not yet been Chosen. Needless to say, they go on a killing spree, leaving a bloody trail of death in their wake.

Golden's characterization of Spike and Dru is spot on. You can hear James Marsters and Juliet Landau's--the actors who play the undead couple--voices in your heard when you read their dialogue. Golden also journeys into territory the show hasn't touched, giving you an inside look at the Council of Watchers and explaining, to some degree, how a Slayer is Chosen. It's too bad Golden hasn't written for the TV series.

There are also cameos and brief mentions of popular Buffy-verse characters. Golden throws in a few references to Angel and the Master. Kakistos, the vampire who debuted--and died--in "Faith, Hope, and Trick," the same episode Faith the evil Slayer made her first appearance, cuts a deal with Spike. And while Giles doesn't appear, an ancestor--also a Watcher--does. Buffy does NOT appear at all throughout the course of this novel, nor is she mentioned. This book is for die-hard fans only.

Contrary to how Amazon.com categorized this book, this is NOT for children! This story contains graphic violence and sex.

Also, this novel raises a contradiction in Buffy-verse continuity. It's been established Spike killed two Slayers, the first in the Boxer Rebellion. The second... well, the show says Spike killed a Pam Grier-esque Slayer in New York City in 1977, whereas this novel says otherwise. DON'T LET THAT STOP YOU! "Pretty Maids" is very well-written. I'm sure Golden, a gifted storyteller, can devise a way to fix this glitch without compromising his work and the episode detailing Spike's origin.

It's early 1940, and Europe is poised on the brink of World War II. But all Spike is concerned with is obtaining a magical necklace known as Freyja's Strand for Dru, to celebrate the eightieth anniversary of her rebirth as a vampire. They travel to Norway, to the lair of a demon who supposedly has the necklace. He agrees that he will give it to Spike and Dru if the two kill all the young woman currently in training to become the Slayer, as well as the current slayer herself, Sophie Carstensen, a sixteen-year-old Danish girl who has fled with her watcher, Yanna, to London, now that the Nazis have occupied her homeland. While Spike and Dru hunt down and begin to kill the potential Slayers one by one, Sophie and Yanna are dispatched by the Council of Watchers to the battlegrounds of France to kill the vampires who have gone there to feast on the dead and dying soldiers. When the Council learns of Spike and Dru's activities, they send the pair to follow them and keep them from further killing, and gather the remaining girls in the Council's London stronghold as the Blitz rages around them. I especially loved this new addition to the Buffy series because even though Buffy herself was not in it all, it combined two of my favorites, history and horror. It's a great read for Buffy fans if you don't mind the fact that she doesn't appear at all. And of course, Spike and Dru fans will especially like it. Kudos to Christopher Golden for the great job he did on this book.

This is definitely one of the better Buffy books to come along. The focus on Spike and Drusilla is especially intriguing and Golden fills in a good part of the blanks in the two characters' history (alas, a recent episode of Buffy contradicted some what Golden wrote).

Positives: the nice insight into the Slayers and Watchers of the era, Golden's ability to make Spike and Dru entertaining, if not likeable by any means, during most of the novel.

Negatives: a pair of related historical gaffes (Sweden and Switzerland under Nazi occupation in WWII - is the Buffyverse an alternate history?) and the graphic and frequent descriptions of Slayers being killed by Spike and Drusilla.

Overall, this book is definitely worth a look for Buffy fans. 3/5.

When a Buffy the Vampire Slayer novel appears in hardback you know it has to be pretty special, even if Buffy herself is never even mentioned in the book, as is the case with Christopher Golden's "Spike and Dru: Pretty Maids All In A Row." The "Pretty Maids" of the title 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 fleeter 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 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 series 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" is certain Golden's best solo effort, richly deserving the hardback treatment. 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.

Before I settle in to critique, I want to say that this is a very well written book. Golden's talents are well showcased here. However, the book is plagued with problems which writing cannot conceal. To my disappointment, this really isn't a Buffy book. Other than the appearance of Spike, Dru and the Watchers there is no real Buffy presence. Which makes sense, all the action in the book takes place in World War 2. If it weren't for the slayer mythos that it borrows, the this volume could be any occult serial killer book that has ever been written. And serial killers are what we have here. Spike & Dru are remarkably unsympathetic characters. At first their antics add a bid of humour, but as the grotesque body count mounts Spike's nastiness and Drusilla's evil hippy princess act lose their luster. For the most minor of reasons they set out on a slay ride of horrific proportions sA is often the case with the serial killer genre, the book presents an unrelieved picture of violence against women. There were points where I felt that Golden was using female people as plot gimmicks to make Spike & Dru look worse. We tolerate the violence in Buffy's books because it often serves a purpose. In this book the violence is sadly unanswered. As such this is truly noir writing. The plot gets grimmer and grimmer, with no letup or relief. Just about everyone dies, and few, if any, of the deaths serve a purpose other than to upset our digestion. While Buffy herself is a difficult heroine, mixing violence and anti-intellectualism in with her positive traits, Spike and Dru are simply Hannibal Lecter without class. Hopefully this is a short term aberration.

Christopher Golden has done the impossible. He has taken the nasty, big bad villain from the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and made him the anti-hero of an excellent novel. William the Bloody, known as Spike to his friends for the vile habit of torturing his victims with railroad spikes,wants nothing more than to please his demon lover,Dru. Together, they set off on a quest. They must simply kill all the 'slayers in waiting' young girls who are being trained because one day they might be called to be the Chosen One,the one girl in all the world born with the powers to fight the vampires. If Spike can accomplish this task, Dru will have a necklace which will allow her to see her reflection, a sight she has not seen for 80 years. It is 1940. The world is at war, as the pair travel from country to country leaving a trail of bodies in their wake. Taking pleasure in the bloody battle and each other, their journey becomes an erotic second honeymoon. When the council becomes aware of the plan they send the current slayer to hunt the hunters. The final duel is fascinating and deadly. Mr Golden combines, history, romance and horror to create this wickedly wonderful novel. I recommend this to anyone who enjoys good horror fiction even if they have never seen one episode of the TV show. For fans it fills in the back story on two of the series' favorite characters. Don't miss this book.

Spike & Dru totally rocked. It completely captures the fun of Spike and Dru. If you want more of them than you get on the shows, and especially if you miss seeing them together from the second season of Buffy, you should get this book. Spike is at the height of pre-chip evil, and Dru is loopy as ever.

Since this book is in the adult series, you don't have to worry that it's watered down or light. It has all the horror one would expect from the genre, with excellent characterizations and lots of slayer and Watcher Council history. With all its twists and turns, it's a great ride.

As a BtVS fan, and especially as a great Spike-Fan, this book was absolutly wonderful! It is not, in the strictest sense, a Buffy book, as it happens almost 50 years before Buffy's birth, but it incorporates alot of the show's mythology. As the title says, it's all about Spike and Dru and they're violent, destructive, yet wonderful relationship.
The only problem I had about the story, was the lack of continuity, when Spike killed Sophie Carstensen, the slayer. It has been mentioned on the show several times that Spike has killed 2 slayers, not 3. This story twist did disappoint me a bit, but not enough not to enjoy the book.
All in all it is a very violent, gory novel, but with Spike and Drusilla as the main characters this should be anticipated. I enjoyed reading about Spike in his evil days and also how his love for Drusilla showed (how he's always the "fool for love").
Very good read for any Buffy/Spike fan, who enjoys the wicked side of the "Big Bad".

"Spike & Dru: Pretty Maids All in a Row" was a wondrous read from page one to conclusion. Not only did it revolve about the history of WWII, but moreover, the history of Spike & Dru. We learn more of their past, their evildoings, their habits, their loyalty. Many questions are answered about the Watcher's Council and Slayers in Training, as we see how they choose waiting Slayers, train them, prepare them, and more. Spike and Dru are fabulously evil, to each other and to everyone else. Two thumbs and two stakes way up to author Christopher Golden for a delightful read and engaging story.

I didn't use to think much of the Buffy series, but I have grown to love it! I love the way this story unfolds. It is WWII, and the war is in the full in Europe. Drusilla is having her 80th year anniversary as a vampire, and asks for a special gift of Spike, her lover, and partner in crime. They go to the Demon Skrymir to ask for it. But he tells them, to get it they must kill all the slayers-in-waiting, as well as the Slayer herself, Sophie Carstensen. Her watcher Yanna, has been having visions. About Spike. She knows Sophie's end is coming. Meanwhile, Spike and Dru go on a killing spree. No to-be-slayers are safe. I loved the book, even if it didn't have anything about Buffy in it. I read the back before I bought it, and I knew who it was about. When I picked it up, I got home, and I couldn't put it down!! Anyone who likes the show, and all the characters on it, Will go for this book. It shows things I never entirely got from the show. Christopher Golden is an amazing author, and this book shows it!