Frankie Rosenberg wasn’t yet alive when her mom, Willow, her aunt Buffy, and the original Scooby Gang destroyed the Hellmouth and saved the world from the First Evil. These days, life in New Sunnydale is blissfully quiet. Frankie is just trying to survive her sophomore year at the rebuilt high school and use her budding magical powers to make the world a better place.

But that world is suddenly plunged into danger when the slayer community is the target of a deadly attack, leaving the future of the line uncertain. Then Frankie discovers she’s sort of freakishly strong. Oh, and there’s something Willow never told her about her true identity.

Cue the opening credits.

Quicker than she can carve a stake, Frankie discovers there’s more to saving the world than witty one-liners and stupid hot demons. now everyone looks to her for answers, but speaking up has never been her strong suit. And it’s hard to be taken seriously when your mom is such a powerful witch she almost ended the world once, while your greatest magic trick is recycling.

Despite the many challenges standing in her way, Frankie must assemble her own bumbling Scooby Gang, get dressed up in Buffy’s (vintage ’90s) clothes, and become a new slayer for a new generation—before whatever came for the rest of the slayers comes for her next.

Following the next generation of a beloved series is always a difficult balancing act as you don’t want to rely too much on nostalgia yet you don’t want to make the next generation copies of their parents because then what’s the point?

Blake manages to do just that, creating compelling new characters that are reminiscent of the original Scooby gang while maintaining their own personalities and difficulties.

First, let’s get to the characters.

Frankie Rosenberg is the new Slayer, imbued with strength and her mother’s magic which one would think would make her overpowered, but the narrative makes it clear that Frankie has a lot to learn. She is dealing with her own insecurities of being the inferior models of both her mother and her Aunt Buffy. She is still in her own grief over the slayers’ ambiguous deaths, guilt of being the new one and what it means that they had to die so she could take the mantle of someone she always admired, and the niggling belief that maybe they’re still alive. That last one is what holds her back the most as part of her still hopes she won’t have to take the awesome responsibility, and that Buffy will return and save the day. Hey, it happened before.

But a surprisingly heartfelt speech of wisdom from Watcher Spike, and her friends turn that doubt around. Yes, Spike is now a Watcher with tweed and everything (he hates it) and it’s hilarious with how Blake manages to keep his snarky bad boy character intact with peeks of the soul underneath as he figures out how to be more of a by-the-book Watcher because Frankie does need a lot of help.

Brings me back to Frankie and how I enjoyed the deconstruction of being a Slayer is not innate. Sure, the power is, but the skill and learning to trust her instincts are not. Frankie has been around this stuff so long, but always on the sidelines, so she’d never thought she’d have to step in. That now she’s the Slayer, it would be automatic. But every Slayer’s journey is unique and hers is even more so as she learns to connect her witchy skills and slayer instincts. Right now, Blake is focusing on the latter, but I hope to see more training in the next books of Blake conquering her magic for more than recycling.

Which brings me to her mother who seems to have returned to her sweet, s1-3 self with a little more maternal energy. However, there are hints that Willow trying to do magic again after sixteen years of dormancy may awaken Bad!Willow. Even Willow seems hesitant about it, and it makes eager to see how this will unfold in the next few books.

Frankie’s friends, the new Scoobies, also fulfill the roles of the original Scoobies but are distinct enough that they don’t feel like complete copies. Jake, Oz’s werewolf cousin has Xander’s jokey nature (without the toxicity) and his older cousin’s mellowness. Hailey, Vi’s sister is almost the Buffy of the group with her tough demeanor yet she’s also a big comic/magna nerd who becomes Frankie’s closest friend. Sigmund, the demon of the group is adorably bookish, more of Giles than Spike which is good because someone needs to do research. And I was able to buy that they could form a close group of friends in the short amount of time.

Sigmud and Hailey’s romance on the other hand, less so, but it’s clear that it’s at the getting-to-know you stage so maybe I’ll be more invested later.

There’s a surprising lack of romance outside of Hailey and Sigmund. There’s a potential something-something between Oz and Willow that could become more, but both are hesitant. Frankie is understandably busy with her new Slayerness. Although there is a potential spark between her and a centuries-old demon, but as the adults routinely remind her of Buffy’s failed love with Spike and Angelus and generally how creepy it is, I have hope Blake won’t put it in that direction.

I enjoyed how Blake created the body-horror of the Insta-demon, harking back to the show’s high school is hell theme and putting a modern spin on it. The final boss was a delightfully difficult for Frankie to slay, gleefully evil, and was unique in her strength without making it feel like a retcon of other Big Bads that one would question why she hadn’t been mentioned before.

While Buffy and the rest of the Slayers are obviously off-page, there are plenty of memories and callbacks for fans to enjoy without it feeling too gratuitous.

There were plenty of quips, heart and Blake stayed true to the original series’ mission of showing the difficulties of coming of age with an action adventure gloss and the right amount of cheese.

5 stars