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I just finished an Advanced Reader Copy of Lucy's Blade by John Lambshead and I've got to say, I've impressed. From what I've heard, Lucy's Blade came into being because Jim Baen was a big Buffy The Vampire Slayer fan. Because of that, I had somewhat mixed feelings going into it. I'm a Buffy fan myself, but often when you get an author who tries to 'write something like that' what you get is a second rate knockoff that can't stand on its own two feet.

Lucy's Blade doesn't have that problem. John Lambshead takes the basic idea, a teenage girl gifted with special powers who fights supernatural baddies and makes it his own.

First, the novel is set in Elizabethan England. Elizabeth herself makes a few brief appearances. However, the novel largely focuses on Lucy Denny, the niece of Elizabeth's spymaster Sir Francis Walsingham, and William Hawkins, Captain of a race built galleon and cousin of Sir Francis Drake and Sir John Hawkins.

The story starts out following two separate threads that come together in the middle and then move forward to the end of the book. Along the way, there is everything from a shopping trip to a battle with Aztec gods to a plot to assassinate the queen, with the odd bit of Shakespeare thrown in.

The book is not perfect. The pacing in the early chapters is a bit slow as the story is set up, and I've never been a huge fan of large passages of song lyrics in the narrative of a novel, but once the story reaches London, the pacing picks up and the story becomes so thoroughly engrossing that even the song lyrics seem to fade into the background as the characters take center stage, and Lambshead's work really begins to shine. Despite the fact that the story is largely built using what are, essentially stock characters, he gives you a look into the thoughts of the major characters and in doing so, he conveys their frustration, confusion, anger, passion, resentment and love with surprising clarity. He also does an excellent job making you believe the characters are actually from Elizabethan England.

In short, Lucy's Blade is definitely worth a read if you like fantasy, paranormal adventure stories or historical adventure and/or historical romance. There is even a good bit in there for the science fiction fan. The book's strongest point is characterization, and I'll definitely be picking up any sequels.