Spike & Dru : Pretty Maids All In A Row (Hardcover)

by Christopher Golden (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Bored by the monotonous 1940s New York City nightlife, longtime lovers and vampires Spike and Drusilla venture to war-ravaged Europe in search of Freyja's Strand, an ancient gold necklace that allows its wearer to shift forms, in Golden's (Immortal) fourth Buffy: The Vampire Slayer thriller. Acquiring the coveted artifact, however, requires doing the bidding of the comically portrayed ice demon Scrymir, who possesses the necklace yet is oblivious of the trinket's priceless powers. In order to transform the world into a realm of darkness in which he will be the ruler, Scrymir instructs Spike and Dru to kill all the Slayers-in-Waiting, a group of 20 or so girls spanning the globe who are trained to assume the role of Vampire SlayerDif and when the current slayer, Sophie Carstensen, should die. A number of suspenseful, gory battles occur as the charismatic Spike and his simpering girlfriend track each potential slayer and finally confront their greatest challengeDSophie herself. Meanwhile, an impatient Scrymir strikes the Council of Watchers (a group of seers who train slayers) in a frightful yet banal display reminiscent of numerous cartoon battles. Although Golden's characters are only marginally developed and his details at times unnecessarily gruesome, the narrative's swift momentum and engaging action sequences make for breezy entertainment. Avid fans of the series will buy the book, of course, but word of mouth could also bring newcomers to this mysterious world of dark creatures and cruel intentions. Agent, Lori Perkins. (Oct.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Spike and Drusilla, perhaps the most popular of the colorful cast of villains on television's Buffy the Vampire Slayer , star in a novel that predates the series by about 50 years. The happy-go-lucky vampires are seeking a powerful necklace that is in the possession of an ancient demon, Skrymir. In exchange for the necklace, Skrymir wants Spike and Drusilla to seek out and kill potential slayers: girls who might become vampire slayers if the current slayer, Sophie, is killed. The pair happily accept the task, and in scenes that manage to be both chilling and humorous, hunt down and kill these potential slayers, until their fight brings them face to face with the current slayer herself. Fans of the series will be thrilled to see Spike and Dru wreaking havoc in their pre-Buffy days; the fact that the novel stands on its own without most of the Buffy principals is a testament to the strength of these characters. Kristine Huntley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 305 pages
• Publisher: Simon Spotlight Entertainment; Book Club (BCE/BOMC) edition (October 3, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743400461
• ISBN-13: 978-0743400466
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (63 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,122,440 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Good Book About The Big Bad, February 25, 2001

By	Kurt Anthony Krug (Livonia, MI.) - See all my reviews

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.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellant prequal novel set during World War II., September 25, 2000

By	Rebecca Herman (USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good look at the Big Bad..., November 16, 2000

By	Paul Leone (Orchard Park, NY USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.