Spoilers abound. I mean it. But I can’t help it. So if you haven’t read this book, or this series -- and intend to -- then for the love of all that is holy, don’t read on.

Really.

Did you ever watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer? (As a reader of Geek Speak, I’m kind of gonna assume yes.) And having watched Buffy, did you manage to make it through Season 6? (Again, I’m assuming yes.) So, as a result, you would have endured the Dark Willow arc, which had our previously unassuming and generally sweet and gentle Willow (Alyson Hannigan) addicted to dark magicks, which eventually led to her almost destroying the world. The world, people!

Now, there is a burgeoning sorceress in our Chicagoland heroine Merit’s life, her former roommate and still BFF, Mallory. Mallory’s acting weird. In fact, she’s being a major, capital-B bitca. And she’s working all kinds of spells and saying stuff about how Dark Magic isn’t as bad as she’d previously thought it was, blah blah blah. Meanwhile, Merit spends much of this novel attempting to determine who is messing around with elemental forces and causing all kinds of calamitous happenings around Chicago.

Hmm.

In my interview with author Chloe Neill for this issue, I asked the question “Just how much of a fan of Buffy’s Dark Willow arc were you?” Deeming it too spoilery for inclusion in the piece (which, yes, it totally is) she answered for my benefit: “I actually didn’t think about Dark Willow at all while writing, and haven’t thought about it in years, actually, now that you mention it.” I knew, you see, that Neill was a fan of the show, as she has not only mentioned it several times in passing in the Chicagoland books, but even gave a shout out to Angel in her contribution to our comprehensive guide to vampire romance, Dead and Doing it, way back in Issue 4.

Now, this is not to suggest in any way that this storyline was knowingly ripped from another mythology’s playbook. And it is certainly not to suggest that Drink Deep is not an enjoyable book in its own right. Because, oh, it is! The series itself remains one of my favorite Urban Fantasy offerings, and I stick by my oft-stated sentiment that Merit is awesome. She’s funny, she’s clever, she’s loyal. She’s brave and determined and endearing, and exceeds the recommended daily allowance of sass in the best way possible. I love Merit, I love this series, and I eagerly await the next installment, Biting Cold, which is due out next August and which seems like a LOOONG time to wait.

But as a devotee of all things Buffy, I just found that about three chapters into this I knew exactly where we were going, even if I didn’t know exactly how we were going to get there, and while I enormously enjoyed the journey, when we finally reached our destination, it was something of an anti-climax. I kept hoping I was wrong, that this author I have come to admire so much in so short a time would deliver up something more, something better.

I believe my reaction was supposed to be something like: Gasp! Merit’s sorceress best friend Mallory is behind it all? Mallory is addicted to Dark Magic? Mallory wants to destroy the world as we know it? And hey, for any non-Buffy obsessive, maybe all of that would have come as a shock. But for me? I’m not gonna lie, it all felt a little been there, done that.

The last Chicagoland novel, Hard Bitten, came with a truly original and mind-blowing denouement, in which Merit’s on-again-off-again lover and vampire Master, Ethan, died. I mean, turned into a pile of ashes on the floor died. And as he was our heroine’s main love interest, this was not only an incredibly ballsy move from Neill, but also led to much speculation among her readers and to how/if Ethan might come back. Because surely he would come back!

And you know what? You’re already so spoiled by this point that I have no compunction about telling you that he does indeed come back. Hooray! And in this, at least, Drink Deep doesn’t evoke Buffy at all: he’s brought back to life by dark magic worked by the sinisterly magically-addicted Mallory, and there may be unintended consequences to his return...

Oh. Wait.

   -- Rachel Hyland