The Spook's Tale and Other Horrors (The Last Apprentice Series) » (Unabridged)

Joseph Delaney lives in Lancashire, England, in the middle of boggart territory.

Enter a land where creatures of the dark creep out of the shadows

The Last Apprentice series follows the terrifying adventures of the Spook's apprentice, Thomas Ward, as he learns to battle the monsters of the dark and keep the county safe. But Tom's is only one story.

The Spook himself was once an apprentice. How did he begin his training? How did Alice, a young witch and Tom's closest ally, overcome her dark past? How did the assassin Grimalkin become the most deadly and feared witch in the county? And you'll discover the rest of the county's menacing villains, collected in a gallery of horrors, and relive the vicious battles waged against them.

VOYA

Each novel in The Last Apprentice series is part of young apprentice spook Tom Ward's diary, providing readers only one perspective of what is taking place. With this newest addition to the series, Delaney fills in some of the information on several other series characters and the many villains they have encountered. This book is truly supplemental, filling in just a bit of background and excerpting from the novels some of Tom's interactions with the creatures he has fought. The longest story tells of young John Gregory's first meeting with the spook who would become his master, although it does not encompass what might be the more interesting story of why he decides to leave the priesthood years later to become an apprentice spook. Alice's story fills in what happens when she returns to her witch relatives' village to find out who has kidnapped Tom's family. The tale about the witch assassin Grimalkin is almost a tease; like Alice, she is an intriguing character struggling with good and evil, and this story of how she becomes an assassin is in sharp contrast to the later scene of her attacking Tom. The villains' pieces are pulled straight from the previous five books, accomplishing little because this book will have limited appeal to anyone who has not already read any of the other books. Series fans will find this unessential addition to the series interesting but containing little that would qualify as "horrors." Reviewer: Vikki Terrile