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The
fact that it's been over three months since I read the second
part of Christopher Golden's Buffy serial novel doesn't
really say a lot for what's gone before.
Now
that we've discovered that the Vampire King is none other than
Giles, Golden concentrates on Sunnydale five years in the future
rather than exploring the idea of Buffy having two versions
of herself in her head. Since that problem is likely to be resolved
by some of Willow's spellcasting (this is hinted at in King
of the Dead, as is the Back to the Future idea of
Buffy returning to an earlier point in time), this is probably
just as well.
However,
the idea of a Sunnydale overrun with vamps is hardly a new idea
and to be honest, it was done a lot better in The Wish. The
fact that Golden will presumably have to restore the status
quo so that Buffy can prevent Giles from being vamped in the
first place means that there's a sense of things being dragged
out until this can occur sometime towards the end of part four.
(Although I'd like to be proved wrong on this score.)
On
the plus side, it's nice to see how the Scooby Gang - or what's
left of them - have been affected by the past five years. However,
since I wasn't really enjoying the main plot, I found myself
picking up on little things that annoyed me such as when Wesley
talks about putting a "wrench in the works" but he's
English so surely he'd say "spanner". Other elements
seemed to smack more of plot convenience than logic - the Council's
base is set in a hospital so the vamps aren't barred, and although
Giles claims he's toying with Buffy, he seems to be committing
the same mistakes that the villains did week-in week-out on
the 60s Batman TV series.
There
remains a chance that Golden might pull it all around it part
four, but based on what I've read in the first three installments,
I'm not holding my breath.
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THE
LOST SLAYER
PART THREE: KING OF THE DEAD
Written by CHRISTOPHER GOLDEN
POCKET BOOKS
$2.99 / £2.99
RATING: 5/10
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