The Last Apprentice: Revenge of the Witch

Today’s post is on The Last Apprentice: Revenge of the Witch by Joseph Delaney. It is 343 pages long and is published by Greenwillow Books. The cover is dark with the shadowy figure of a man walking towards the reader. The story is told from first person point of view of the man character Tom. There is no sex or language but there is some violence and scary stuff so younger readers be aware. The intended reader is younger about the age of 10 and up with the younger enjoying this more than the older. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the dust jacket- Capturing Witches Binding Boggarts Driving away Ghosts.
For years, Old Gregory has been the Spook got the county, ridding the local villagers 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.
Can Thomas succeed? Will he learn the difference between a benign witch and a malevolent one? Does the Spook’s warning against girls with pointy shoes include Alice? And what will happen is Thomas accidentally frees Mother Malkin, the most evil witch in the county…?

Review- When I started reading this I thought that this was The Witcher for kids but it really not. It is its own story with some influences like The Witcher and other stories with things that go bump in the night and those that fight them. It is well written but nothing really special. The cast is pretty average with self-doubting young man who will grow into some power, a harsh teacher with a heart of gold, and a mysterious young girl who may or may not be good or bad. For a younger reader this would have been fun, scary, and new but to someone who has read as much as I have nothing really new here. I would recommend it for a kid who is looking for a way into horror. I do not think that reluctant readers would be drawn to this because of the length and the long(er) chapters. All in all nothing really new but nothing against it either. Tom has compassion, he listens to others, but he makes decisions himself. If you have a young one who like Goosebumps and wants to move up in the horror world then this is a good way to go.

I give this book Three and half stars out of Five. I get nothing for my review and I borrowed this from my local library.