Revenge of the Witch: The Last Apprentice, #1

I’ve been reading this book in between reading Empire of the Vampire with my Fiancé, and I have thoroughly enjoyed it. I read this book when I was 13 (now 21) and I have a kid on the way. One of the things I am most excited about is to introduce my son or daughter to all the books that I love and loved growing up, so I reread this book to see if I remembered it. I absolutely loved it, it manages to be a bit scary even for an adult but not too scary for a kid. The lore about witches and monsters and the like are something that I loved as kid and still love today. I really enjoyed book 1 of the Last Apprentice, and would give it 4 out of 5 stars.

Two day.... I devoured this in two days! What a great read, learning about the spook & the supernatural world sunk me in quicker then I expected. I honestly wanted this story to be longer, if you had this on your reading list it is definitely worth the read :]

I recently saw a movie trailer for Seventh Son, an action / fantasy film. It caught my interest. Knowing that many, many movies are based on books, I did a little digging.Turns out, the movie is actually based on the first two books in The Last Apprentice (The Wardstone Chronicles, as it was originally published in the U.K.) series, written by Joseph Delaney. This book, and perhaps the series, falls into my search for the #NextYaCraze. And I can easily see it becoming a sensation.I read Revenge of the Witch (The Last Apprentice, Book 1) in one day. The basic dust jacket flap synopsis of the young adult novel states: For years, Old Gregory has been the Spook for the county, ridding the local villages of evil. Now his time is coming to an end. But who will take over for him? Twenty-nine apprentices have tried--some floundered, some fled, some failed to stay alive. Only Thomas Ward is left. He's the last hope, the last apprentice.My take. Thomas comes from a large family. He is the seventh son on a farm. His older siblings are moved out, and working, except for Jack. Jack and his pregnant wife live in the farmhouse. He is going to take over the land and continue in their father's place. It is the father's role to ensure employment for his kids. By the time he reached the seventh son, all of his favors have been used up. Old Gregory, the Spook, needs an apprentice, and only takes on seventh sons. Mam (Thomas' mom), had sent the Spook a letter, and with that Thomas will spend a month with Old Gregory to see if being a spook is something Thomas wants to do with his life.A Spook is a lot like a dentist. No body cares for dentists. Being a spook is a lonely job, where ridding towns of evil encourages nasty looks from locals. Spooks are feared. Ignored. Picked on. That is until they are needed. Thomas isn't certain he is going to appreciate such an ostracized way of life. The training consists of learning the layout of the land, dealing with a variety of evils, and keeping a journal to ensure history is recorded, and can be then called upon by future spooks.Like any apprentice, Thomas makes mistakes. Unfortunately, his mistakes do more than just put his life in danger. When he crosses paths with a witch, the errors made put the lives of Old Gregory and his family in jeopardy. Thomas is faced with two choices, man up and meet the danger head on, or run away.With help from his teacher and an unexpected ally, Thomas must figure out how to combat against powerful witches and other creatures in order to fix the mess he'd made.There are currently, and I believe only to be, thriteen novels in the series. My goal, after reading the first, and about to start the second, is to read and review them all. I say this, because I enjoyed the first book. The characters are very well drawn, and the set up to build the series is obvious.Revenge of the Witch was an easy read, and highly entertaining. There was plenty of action, and unexpected twists and turns. While it is a YA novel, the theme and implications, the lessons and situations, should be engaging enough to satisfy any fantasy / horror / YA / NA fanbase.I look forward to finishing the second novel in the series, Curse of the Bane. Then I will have an idea about the movie,Seventh Son, before I go see it in theaters next month.Phillip TomassoAuthor of Damn the Dead and Blood River

I have seen the book marketed as something you shouldn't read after dark. I thought it might be something to attract the attention of kids. Obviously it was but I do have to say it was very spooky. I was actually a bit surprised at how "intense" it was at points. I thought it was going to be one of those kids' books that tries to be scary but doesn't do it well. This book walked that "scariness line" perfectly. It wasn't too scary so younger readers can still enjoy it but it's still scary enough for those who want it. Basically it was perfect for a weenie like yours truly.The story itself was fun. [Can you call a scary story fun?] It definitely kept you on the edge of your seat. Lots and lots of action. I enjoyed getting to know more about folklore creatures in a different way and how to deal with them. The book used creatures that the reader is familiar with to an extent and simply expanded on what the reader knows.There were good characters. Tom is a good YA character. He's doing the whole `finding himself' thing but he has a lot different pressures than most kids do. I'm still on the fence about Alice. I want to like her but I think there's more of her that we're not seeing yet. The Spook is a bit cold but he's enjoyable enough. The end of the book makes me more intrigued to know more about him. I really liked Tom's mom but I have a sneaking suspicion that there's a big secret she's hiding.This was the first audio book that I've listened to since elementary school. It was a lot of fun! This was an amazing story to listen to. It was spooky. I really think having someone read the book to me added to the spookiness. It was almost like the scary stories we told as kids. At first I was worried about the narrator. I didn't like his voice but I grew to enjoy it as the story went on. I enjoyed the different voices. [Hearing the witches' voices was SO much scarier than reading them]The one things I didn't really like about the story was it sometimes got bogged down with lots of details (things I would likely skim over if reading) but it worked really well as an audio book. I can't tell you how good this worked as an audio book. If you ever have the chance of listening to this series on audio book, DO IT.

I have been struggling to find good YA books since some tween step-grandkids came into my life. I was into Tolstoy and nonfiction at that age so have no idea what normal kids like to read. So I went by high stars on here and read them before gifting to be sure I was only giving books I could recommend. The other adventure series I had high hopes for (Percy Jackson and the Olympians) was a terrible dud full of clunky writing and cringey lame attempts at sass and humor. And the Maze Runner I got a few weeks earlier I couldn't even tolerate more than a few pages. Thankfully this one was really good! I have developed chronic illness so am really groggy these days, so despite by bookworm past I think I do read at a kid level. This was so easy to read, I inhaled it in two days! After years of struggling to read more than 20p a day of normal books for grownups. I am happy to realise that this series could be as suitable for my brainfogged "spoonie" mind as it is for the teen poor reader and young ADHDer I bought it for! I am stoked to have found something I can read easily that still engages me. I've ordered the next 3 books already, yay!The plot is the usual rubbish all YA books seem required to follow- a nobody finds out they are Special and must do Heroic Things. Yawn. But compared to other books in the genre it is great. The atmosphere is vivid, and to me the setting's a nice place/time to visit. The characters are engaging and feel real, each one with weaknesses and hopes of their own. The monsters are creepy and realistic enough to be interesting but imo not so vivid as to cause nightmares. Good values are presented but not in a preachy way- paying attention and studying leads to success, confiding our self doubts in a mentor helps us find our path, secretly breaking rules leads to trouble. No grandiose message but at least it isn't sending a bad message. I'm not saying it's the best book ever but it is really good and compared to other YA series, it is really awesome.

First off, I'm an adult. I bought this book due to my interest in Lancashire history and folklore. The first thing that struck me is that it's actually quite scary. I found myself turning the pages rapidly and got the end in no time.In an adult novel I'd have liked to see more description, but as a children's story Delaney certainly knows how to tell a good story. Meshing together local myths about boggarts and witchcraft with Lancashire's hills and farms and alot of imagination this book is a non stop adventure.I felt alot of sympathy for Thomas, the protagonist. He doesn't want to be the spook's apprentice yet he is determined to make it his career in spite of the hardship. What struck me most was his growing loneliness and the sacrifices he has to make to continue in his job, in particular the effects on his family life. He's a very mature boy and makes some tough choices. He messes up and makes amends.This is a dark book and unlike in Harry Potter, there are no minor characters to bring any light. Alice, who I imagine is a future love interest, poses only more trouble. As in Wuthering Heights, the bleakness of the mood suits the landscape.I only intended to read this first book. Now I'm hooked and have just sent off for the next one!

Joseph Delaney dusts off the world of fantasy literature, stepping away from wizards and delivering an much darker, scarier but nonetheless entertaining read than Harry Potter. This first book in a series that will ultimate make up over thirteen installments, tells the tale of Tom who is apprenticed to the Spook, a grizzled old man who deals with the terrifying creatures that inhabit the dark. From ghosts to boggarts and demons to witches, the spook makes the world safe for the people of the county.Not only does Delaney here deliver a thrilling, unputdownable first installment but he paves the way for what is now my favourite series of books, just beating Harry Potter. His prose, narrated in first person by young Tom, is rich with spooky imagery and the sweeping descriptions of a fictional version of Lancashire make this an atmospheric and gripping read. The characters are well developed, particularly Tom and the Spook and the descriptions are vivid and scary, making for some thrilling set pieces and some tense, spooky moments.The first books tells the tale of Tom's experiences with the powerful witch Mother Malkin and how he must learn to control his own fear and battle alongside the Spook against the growing power of the dark.Overall, this first installment is gripping and addictive and i found myself ordering every other book in the series as soo as i'd finished. Do yourself a favour and pick this one up. Its suitable for ages 9 and up, but beware there are some tense, scary moments - though this shouldn't put you off purchasing for you or your children.

My 9 year old daughter started reading Spooks, and she raved about it so now I have been reading them too.The strength of these books lies in the fantastic storytelling of teh author who spins a tail that really will achieve that suspenful state of tension that will delight younger readers. For adults too, the story is well written and never becomes tedious. Good interesting stuff.The stories are quite original, and well constructed, but not of great depth, and some of the themes feel like they are aimed at an older age group than 9, although the stories are perhaps not sufficiently complex to be branded young adult. Nevertheless I have a hard time recommending them to 9 year olds because while this first one is just fine, there are theems in some of the later books that are downright disturbing. Without wishing to write spoilers it is hard to go into details, but there is one particular theme, several books into the series, that led me to speak to teh school about placing these in an older section of the school library. The only time I have ever behaved like such an interfering parent! So please don't hold that against me.My recommendation is that children and young adults 11 and up would love this series.

I hadn't come across Joseph Delaney's writing before, and ordered this item when I heard that there is an upcoming film. My first impressions weren't good - the fact that there was a character list at the start didn't endear the book to me, as it seemed like this might just be a lazy way to bypass character and story development. However, the story soon started to carry me along. Among the strong points for me were:1. An original story - the 'apprentice to a magical master' trope may have been used often before, but the particular way it was used and developed in this book was pleasingly different;2. Good characterisation - the main characters were well-fleshed out, but with space left and questions unanswered for later books (I hope!)3. Well-orchestrated sense of menaceI have been sufficiently impressed to purchase the next couple of books in the series, and I am looking forward to seeing how this series develops.