The Last Apprentice: The Spook's Tale: And Other Horrors
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About this ebook
The Last Apprentice series follows the terrifying adventures of the Spook's apprentice, Thomas Ward. But Tom's is only one story. There are others. . . .
The Spook himself was once an apprentice. How did he begin his training?
And what of Alice, the young witch who is Tom's closest ally? How did she overcome her dark past?
What did the witch assassin Grimalkin do to become the most deadly and feared witch in the county?
And, collected in a gallery of horrors, discover the rest of the county's menacing villains and relive the vicious battles waged against them.
Enter a land where creatures of the dark creep out of the shadows. Do you dare?
Joseph Delaney
Joseph DELANEY is the author of the internationally best-selling The Last Apprentice series, which is now a major motion picture, Seventh Son. He is a former English teacher who lives in the heart of boggart territory in Lancashire, England. His village has a boggart called the Hall Knocker, which was laid to rest under the step of a house near the church.
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The Last Apprentice: A Coven of Witches Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Apprentice: The Spook's Tale: And Other Horrors Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Apprentice: The Spook's Bestiary: The Guide to Creatures of the Dark Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Last Apprentice: The Seventh Apprentice: A Novella Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
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Reviews for The Last Apprentice
62 ratings6 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Collection of short stories from the Last Apprentice series. My favorite was learning how the Spook became the Spook.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This book was really interesting. I really learned a lot about John Gregory, Alice and Grimalkin. This book tells a lot about what the author didn't write in the normal books of the series. It really feels like a behind the scenes book, or a big MEANWHILE..... It's really cool! I think the most interesting part was learning how the Spook himself decided to become a spook's apprentice, and the trouble he faced when he was still a boy. The part about Grimalkin was cool too. It showed us just how she became the Malkin clan's witch assasin, and what makes her hate the Fiend so much. I can't wait to finish the series now!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This book is more of an interlude or a supplement to The Last Apprentice series. It is well written and interesting nonetheless, but not as fantastic as a full-fledged book would have been. Although we don't have a long wait "Clash of the Demons" comes out the end of August '09.There are three stories in this book. The first details how the Spook became a Spook. This story was okay; it gives you some background around the Spook. Nothing that is really surprising, but a decent story.The second story is about what happened to Alice when she was in Pendle right before Tom came to rescue her. This was my least favorite story of the bunch. Again no surprises and a very brief story.The third story made the book worth having. This was the story of how Grimalkin became a witch assassin. I think Grimalkin is a fascinating character and found this story to be an interesting read. It made me wish that Delaney would write some books from Grimalkin's point of view...maybe he can do that after he is done with Tom Ward's story :-)Overall I enjoyed this book. It is just filler for the main event though and I am eagerly awaiting "Clash of the Demons"!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Book six of Joseph Delaney's fabulous Last Apprentice series just rocks! This series still gets me excited and when each installment gets released I can't wait to run to the store to grab my copy the first day. Delaney still delivers the goods, and doesn't stop creating sensational stories that will scare the living daylights out of you whether you are young or old. This installment, The Spook's Tale and Other Horrors is a pleasant interlude, an intermediary story that is sort of a prequel to the first book that started it all. These short stories focus on three of the main characters from the other books; The Spook himself, Mother Malkin, and our adorable Alice, Tom Ward's friend. Each segment tells how each character came to be who and what they are, good or bad, to give the reader a little insight to information we haven't yet been clued into, even though these players are mentioned in all the five other books. I was expecting something of less quality because the book is about a quarter of the size of the other novels, and with short stories I figured they'd be not up to Delaney's wonderful standard of quality story telling. For certain, I was pleasantly surprised and wrong. These quick little chapters, believe it or not, are bloodier and scarier than all the others. It amazes me how the author can manage to continually outdo himself by finding a way to write sentences and paragraphs that get more terrifying with each book he publishes. There were times in this read where my 52 yr old mouth just dropped and my eyes got as wide as saucers. I found myself many times not breathing at all. And once again, the show-stopping illustrations by Patrick Arrasmith are the best he's created yet. With every flip of a page I got delightfully squeamish as blood dripped, knives hacked, head's rolled in decapitation, and chains bound evil cackling cannabalistic witches! My eyes squinted too terrified to look at what was coming next. I winced time after time again with each gory episode, and at times, it was all SO much outlandish horrific fun that I found myself laughing out loud. This is a perfect example of an old fashioned "flashlight under the covers" read for ages 9 to 90! Love these, just simply LOVE THESE BLOODY BOOKS and am counting the days until Book 7 releases. We can technically only give a five star rating for the best of the best but with this I send the author all the stars in the heavens above.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The story of how John Gregory became a spook is very entertaining but I wish there had been more about why he left the priesthood and went back to train to be a spook. Eight years have elapsed between the time the story takes place and when John returns to be trained. We know that he actually became a priest but no mention is given about why he left. There was room to go into more details. At the end of this volume there are nearly 30 pages entitled The Gallery of Villains, I could have done without that entirely as I have read all the previous 7 books and this Gallery only serves to tempt the person who has not read them. If those 30 pages had gone toward explaining why John Gregory left the priesthood this volume would have gotten a higher rating.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5As a big fan of Delaney's Last Apprentice series, I had to check this book out. But readers beware: this book was published for World Book Day, and was not meant (as some have mistakenly believed) to be a continuation of the series but rather, a supplement to the series and introduction for newcomers to the Last Apprentice universe.The book consists of three short stories and a small "gallery of villains" which includes a brief description and passage from other novels about certain villains from the series. The short stories center around present day-Spook John Gregory and the events that placed him on the path to becoming a Spook, a story about Alice's origins and training as a witch, and an origin story about Grimalkin, the witch assassin.John Gregory's story easily steals the show here -it's as chilling as the other Last Apprentice novels and gives some interesting insight into John's past. Grimalkin's story falls in the middle -it's well-paced and unique, but feels like it should have been more than a short story. Alice's story bothered me the most, primarily because it took place during book four of the series, rather than before the events of the series, and, frankly, didn't seem to add much to her character.All the information here is great back story and is good for fans who are new to the series, but The Spook's Tale and Other Horrors, even with its World Book Day backdrop, left me wanting more. Not just another book in the series, but full books about John, Alice or Grimalkin. Perhaps we'll see these in the future, but until then, I can't wait for more Last Apprentice.
Book preview
The Last Apprentice - Joseph Delaney
THE LAST APPRENTICE
THE SPOOK’S TALE AND OTHER HORRORS
Illustrations by
PATRICK ARRASMITH
Joseph Delaney
Dedication
FOR MARIE
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Dedication
THE HORRORS BEGIN
THE SPOOK’S TALE
CHAPTER I: The Dead Apprentice
CHAPTER II: The Witch’s Lair
CHAPTER III: A Spook’s Bones
CHAPTER IV: The Blood Dish
CHAPTER V: The Silver Chain
ALICE’S TALE
Mouldheels and Maggots
GRIMALKIN’S TALE
The Witch Assassin
THE GALLERY OF VILLAINS
Mother Malkin
Bony Lizzie and Tusk
The Bane
Morgan
Marcia
Golgoth
Tibb
Wurmalde
Grimalkin
Bloodeye
The Fiend
About the Author
Credits
Copyright
About the Publisher
THE HORRORS BEGIN
THE LAST APPRENTICE books tell the continuing story of Tom Ward’s apprenticeship to Old Gregory, the County Spook who rids the land of boggarts, ghosts, and witches. Over the course of his journey, Tom has been befriended by Alice Deane, a girl raised by witches. He has also survived an attack by the witch assassin Grimalkin.
In The Spook’s Tale and Other Horrors, readers will learn about other adventures experienced by these people in Tom’s life. Long before he was Tom Ward’s master, John Gregory had his first confrontation with the dangers of the dark. Alice Deane relates what happened when she journeyed into the dangerous, witch- infested district of Pendle in search of Tom’s kidnapped family. And Grimalkin reveals the twisted road that the led her to become a witch assassin.
THE SPOOK’S TALE
SOME say that John Gregory is the greatest of the County spooks. Others believe that he only prepared the way for the one who was to follow. What is certain is that from an early age, he had true courage and the ability to overcome his greatest fears.
Before becoming the Spook, John Gregory faced many terrors: a malevolent witch, a bone-snatching boggart, and a tormented ghast. The Spook’s Tale
is his own account of how he took the first steps toward becoming a spook’s apprentice.
CHAPTER I
The Dead Apprentice
WHEN I was really young, perhaps no older than six or seven, I had a terrible nightmare. It began as a pleasant dream. I was sitting on a hearth rug in the small front room of our cramped row house in Horshaw. I was gazing into a coal fire, watching the sparks flicker and dance before they disappeared up the chimney. My mam was also in the room. She was knitting. I could hear the rhythmical click-click of her needles, and I felt really happy and safe. But then, over the noise of the knitting needles, I heard the dull thud of approaching footsteps. At first I thought they were outside, where my dad and brothers were working, but with a growing sense of unease I realized they were coming from the cellar. Who could possibly be down in our cellar? The sound of the heavy boots on stone grew louder. They were climbing the steps toward the kitchen, and I knew that, whatever it was, it was coming to get me. The air suddenly developed a distinct chill—not the cold that winter brings; this was something else.
In the nightmare I tried to call out to my mam for help, but I couldn’t make a sound. I was mute and paralyzed, frozen to the spot. The boots came nearer and nearer, but my mam just carried on sitting and knitting while my terror slowly increased. The fire flickered and died in the grate and the room grew colder and darker with each ominous approaching footstep. I was terrified, panic and dread building within me by the second.
A dark shadow shaped like a man entered the room. He crossed to where I cowered by the fire, and before I had a chance to move or cry out, he picked me up and put me under his arm. Then he took me back into the kitchen and began to descend the cellar steps, each clump of his big boots taking me deeper and deeper. I knew that I was having a nightmare and realized I had to wake myself up before I was taken into the absolute darkness at the foot of the cellar steps.
Struggling and straining with all my might, I somehow managed to do it just in time. I awoke, panting with fear, my brow wet with sweat, trembling at the thought of what had almost happened.
But my nightmare didn’t happen just once. It came to me time and time again over the course of several years. After a while I had to tell someone, so I confided in my brother Paul. I was afraid that he might laugh, that he might mock me for being so terrified of a dream. But to my surprise his eyes widened, and with a shaking voice, he revealed that he had been having exactly the same nightmare! At first I could scarcely believe him—but it was true! We had both been dreaming the same dream. In some ways it was a comfort, but what could this strange coincidence mean? Together we reached an important agreement.
If you were in the dream and managed to escape it, you had to wake your brother, because he might still be trapped in that nightmare, awaiting his turn to be taken down the cellar steps. Many’s the night when I was sleeping peacefully, not dreaming at all, and my brother would shake me by the shoulder. I’d wake up blazing with anger, ready to thump him. But then he’d whisper in my ear, his eyes wide, his face terrified, his bottom lip trembling:
I’ve just had the dream!
I was instantly glad I hadn’t thumped him—otherwise next time he might not wake me when I was having the nightmare and needed his help!
Although we told ourselves this was just a dream, there was one thing that terrified us both. We felt absolutely sure that, if we were ever taken into the dark at the foot of the cellar steps, we would die in our sleep and be trapped in that nightmare forever!
One night as I lay awake, I heard disturbing noises coming from the cellar. At first I thought I was in the dream, but slowly, with a shudder of fear, I realized these were waking sounds, not dreaming sounds. Someone was digging into the soft earth of the cellar floor with a shovel. I felt that strange unnatural coldness again and heard boots climbing the stone steps, just as they did in my nightmare. Covering my ears to block out the sounds was hopeless, because they didn’t stop. Eventually, scared almost witless and weeping in distress, I screamed out into the darkness.
That wasn’t the only time it happened, and my family’s patience started to wear thin. Another night, angered by the fact that I’d woken them all up again, my dad dragged me down the cellar steps, threw me into the darkness, and nailed the door shut, leaving me alone and trapped there.
Please, Dad! Please. Don’t leave me here in the dark!
I pleaded.
You’ll stay there until you learn to stop waking us up!
he retorted. We’ve all got work in the morning. Think of your brothers and your poor mam. It’s about time you grew up!
Please, Dad! Give me another chance!
I begged, but he didn’t relent.
He was a good man but also hard—that’s why he put me in that dark, terrifying cellar. He didn’t realize what I could see and hear: things other people couldn’t, things that