The Lost Slayer

FROM THE ARCHIVES (Buffy book reviews)

The Lost Slayer

By Christopher Golden (Omnibus Edition, 2003)

RATING: 4/5 Stakes

SETTING: Season Four

T.V. CHARACTER APPEARANCES: Buffy, Willow, Xander, Anya, Oz, Giles, Olivia

MAJOR ORIGINAL CHARACTERS: Camazotz (bat demon), Lucy Hanover (ghostly Slayer), Clownface & Bulldog (vampires), Zotziloha (Camazotz's wife)

BACK-OF-THE-BOOK SUMMARY: "Buffy Summers's adjustment to life at U.C. Sunnydale has not gone smoothly. She feels awkward, insecure, and jealous that Willow's all over the college life. So when she is visited by a prophecy of impending danger, the timing couldn't be worse. There's plenty of evil afoot as it is: a unified troop of vampires has descended upon Sunnydale, and tension between Buffy and Willow gets in the way of demon hunting. Before long, a single moment of bad judgment catapults Buffy into an alternate future dimension where vampires reign supreme. Imprisoned in the body of her 24-year-old-self--and confronting friends and foes the likes of which she'd never imagined--the Slayer must uncover her past misstep and correct it, or risk facing a terrifying monster that she herself has created. . . ."

REVIEW

The Lost Slayer is an interesting and ambitious book, that takes place in two major time periods: the "real world" of Buffy Season Four and an alternate future five years later, where Giles has been turned into a Vampire King and Sunnydale and much of Southern California has fallen under his evil sway. Through some magics gone awry, Season Four Buffy inhabits the body of future Buffy, while the mind of future Buffy inhabits the mind of Season Four Buffy, leading to some interesting scenarios.

The alternate future is an interesting one, and includes much darker versions of Xander and Willow, along with some characters not otherwise present in the book like Parker, Harmony, Wesley, Spike, and Drusilla. The Season Four material is fairly well done, though it involves Buffy learning her usual lesson that it's okay for her to rely on her friends. The main bad guy--a bat demon/god of some type, and his hyped-up vampire cronies--are about average for a Buffy book.

The overall tone of the novel is dark with some brutal, well-done action scenes (a scene where future Buffy kills another Slayer is nothing short of ghastly) and believable dialogue.
All in all, this is one of the better Buffy novels that contains some nice surprises and tense scenes. It's definitely one worth picking up.

[Note that this was originally released as a "serial novel" in four separate books; the version reviewed here is the "omnibus" one.]