The Last Apprentice: Revenge of the Witch. (The Spook's Apprentice, The Wardstone Chronicles)

Young adult (YA) fiction is basically my favorite type of literature. Sure, it's pretty dumbed down given the intended audience; predictable even, but it has its charms. A few weeks ago I started reading (audiobooks count) a new YA series written by Joseph Delaney called, "The Last Apprentice." I am currently on the verge of beginning the third book in the series, so as of now it seems it's a series worth investing in. You know, if you're into that kind of thing.

Also with alternate title "The Spook's Apprentice."

Revenge of the Witch, the first in Delaney's series, begins very unassumingly, but draws you into the character immediately. We are introduced to a timid boy who is the youngest of seven sons. It becomes immediately evident that his position in his family affords him very little opportunity in the adult world. His oldest brother is inheriting the family farm, all of the other brothers have scattered into their assigned professions as the father has seen fit to arrange for them, and the aging father (also a seventh son) is fast approaching a time when he will no longer be able to keep up with the demands of his farm. The narrator and main character is a 12 year old boy named Thomas Ward who, due to his place as a seventh son of a seventh son (a 7x7), can perceive supernatural forces that most others cannot. If that's all it takes it's no wonder that average family sizes have decreased over time. Who wants to see that kind of stuff all the time?

Tom is apprenticed to a man named John Gregory, but in his narration he refers to him only as "the Spook." Though he addresses the man by his name, there's always a disconnect in how he refers to him in his private thoughts and with other people. I liked this minor disconnect because it is often that someone in my life is called something different in my head than what I'll call them in person. My brother's name is Kalvin, but in my head he's always been either "Bubby" or "Henry." I can't really explain why, but I related to Tom in his detached identity of Mr. Gregory.

In this first tale, Tom is reluctant to be optimistic about his apprenticeship, but because of the bond and loyalty he has to his "mam" he is going along with it. From his side of things he just doesn't want to disappoint her, but he also sort of understands that she's not like other people. Future books in the series delve into this backstory a bit more, so I'll leave it at that for now. Overall, Tom's reluctance to be an apprentice in this field is mostly because spooks, as a profession, are not really well respected or even tolerated. Though needed and called on often, they are rejected and isolated outside of society. Accepting this apprenticeship means Tom will live a lonely and dangerous life.

As Tom begins his training with the Spook we learn very little about Mr. Gregory himself except that he has what seems to be an almost irrational distaste for women in pointy shoes. The focus of this narration is very much on Tom and his being overwhelmed by decisions he's just not prepared to be making. There's a bit of honesty in the age, too. He lies about things he knows he shouldn't and ultimately ends up in bigger trouble for it. Personally, I appreciated how his character was honest about how his withholding of vital information, or flat out fabrications, caused considerable harm even before the harm was done. "I knew I should have told the Spook everything..." but then he didn't. Classic blunder!

Basically, right off the bat Tom is a very likable and faulty character; someone you can enjoy watching get himself in and out of tough situations. There isn't much by way of development for any other characters, but for a YA series to have a well developed protagonist that doesn't make you want to gauge your eyes out with frustration is a most decided bonus. The story itself is really a backseat characteristic in the focal point of Tom Ward. He's snarky, but likable. Frustrating, but not annoying. Naive, but not innocent. He's the kind of character that is a lot more than he's given credit for and I like him a great deal.

The plot develops around Tom's inexperience in dealing with these new supernatural forces to which he's only ever understood in his periphery. He always knew things went bump in the night, but when he comes face to face with a real witch he just isn't clever enough to outwit her. He points out in his narration that the only reason he even suspected she might not be trustworthy was because of her pointy shoes (Mr. Gregory was very specific about the trustworthiness of women with pointy shoes). And so we meet Alice. Alice is a character that doesn't see a lot of real development over the course of the first book in the series, but becomes important later on. She's the one who tows the line between the dark and the light and becomes a sort of compass for Tom in a way that the Spook isn't able to be.

When Tom's unwitting ignorance lands him and his family at the mercy of a few pretty heinous witches and their meaty, mindless henchman, it's his nerve and persistence that really win out. He wins not because he gets lucky necessarily, but because he knows what mistakes he's making along the way and corrects his course accordingly. He is forced to face complicated choices and sometimes suffers for having made the wrong one (like when he chose to kill the main antagonist when he really should have just trapped her).

Oh, our antagonists. Mother Malkin is a witch the Spook has kept locked away because she's a very special kind of evil. With the help of Alice, a witch known as Bony Lizzie manages to get Mother Malkin free of her entrapment and kids start going missing. Mayhem is imminent. This is where the Spook's skills and extensive knowledge of witches would come in handy.. only.. Bony Lizzie thought of that. John Gregory has been tricked into traveling away from the area and is only accessible to Tom in the library he left behind full of journals and reference books. In taking what he knows already, Tom is able to narrow down his research pretty quickly and finds information that comes to his aid later on.

Helpful information aside, Tom still makes the near fatal mistake of actually killing Mother Malkin. Everyone knows that when you kill a witch her soul can inhabit another and bring down misery on you when you least expect it!! No? Well, Tom didn't know that either. As a result of his inexperience, Tom is forced to face Mother Malkin twice, while also having to overcome being abducted by Bony Lizze and rescued by Alice who also sort of was the reason he was in all of this mess to begin with... Oh, Alice. Making all the wrong choices for all the right reasons.

Once everything is all settled, and everyone is dead or captured that should be, Tom and the Spook conclude their first trial by enjoying a meal prepared by an invisible boggart who appears most often as a ginger cat. Oh, did I not mention that? Well, some things are just better with context. Go enjoy some boggarts, witches, ghasts, and ghouls. Picking up this series might not be for everyone, but it's certainly a gem in a pile of predictable and often formulaic YA nonsense.