Attack of the Fiend (The Last Apprentice)

The fourth book in the Last Apprentice series is a little longer than the three preceding novels, but no less enjoyable. Delaney has an excellent ability to balance the horror of his book with the lighter sides (specifically the faith that main character Tom Ward shows in his friend Alice and his master, the Spook).

In book four, our trio head to Pendle to deal with the growing danger of the three witch clans living there. The witches have grown so strong that there is an aura of fear in the area and many people have moved away. The Spook has learned that the three usually warring clans are uniting, which happens only rarely when they intend to unleash something particularly evil and has decided it is time to stop it. Tom has additional problems when he discovers that his brother, sister-in-law, and niece have been kidnapped and he must save them before it is too late. The kidnappers also stole his mother's trunks, which she left to him and told him to use under extreme circumstances. Can he save his family, stop the witches, and recover his inheritance in time?

I am ever impressed with Delaney's books. He does not shy away from the gruesome but yet he manages to always keep away from being gratuitously disgusting. Many authors find it difficult to strike that balance. He also continues to make Tom (and by extension the reader) examine their ideas of good and evil. Tom's mother, though not physically present, is a particular force for this line of thought. Who was she? Tom keeps learning more about her past but it doesn't resolve his confusion and curiosity. It's clear that there is still more to learn about her.

This is also the first time where Alice never seemed to stray from the path of good. She wasn't tempted (or forced) into using dark magic and she was willing to put her life on the line yet again for Tom. Their relationship continues to grow in complexity and closeness, which I like. The Spook doesn't trust her yet, but maybe he never will, and that's ok.

There is nothing straightforward about this series and I really have no complaints.

This is the 4th book in the Last Apprentice series by Joseph Delaney. Wow was this an excellent book!

After hearing over and over about how bad things are in Pindle; Tom and the Spook are finally going to go there to deal with the witch problem for good. Alice is along to help them, using all her witchy knowledge for good. Nothing goes as planned though when the witches strike first at the place Tom is most vulnerable. Will they be able to root out all the witches? Will the witches raise the devil himself? What is in the trunks Mam left Tom? Exactly who is Mam? All of these questions are answered to some extent.

This was a wonderfully written book; as usual. It may be one of the best books in this series yet. It is very suspenseful and spooky, there is lots of action (more than usual). Alice's character is being developed nicely and Tom really comes into his own in this book. We get to meet more of Tom's brothers; and the future looks bleaker than ever. This is the first book where the greater outside world really starts to have an influence on what is happening to Tom. Usually the books are pretty isolated to a small area, but not this one, things are more dire than ever.

It was just a great book. I was disappointed when I was finished. These are so fun to read and so well written. I love them and cannot wait to get my hands on the next one!
karissabook.blogspot.com

I just finished reading "Attack of the Fiend" last night and I was not disappointed! My eleven-year-old son and I have been waiting for this one to come out, as we have read the entire "Last Apprentice" series and absolutely love every book. As usual, Joseph Delaney did a great job of scaring the pants off of us! From the first chapter, I was on the edge of my seat, terrified for Tom, the Spook's apprentice. Several times I had to put the book down and walk away to calm my nerves, but of course, couldn't stay away for long because I just had to see what would happen next. My husband even asked once, "What is the problem? I thought this was a kids' book?" and I had to explain that reading the Last Apprentice books is like watching a terrifying movie: your stomach is clenched with worry for these characters, but you're also dying to see what trouble they'll get into next. "Attack of the Fiend" had action and suspense from beginning to end and still, left us wondering when the next book will come out so that we can find out how Tom and the Spook plan to defeat the creatures of darkness. This is great book for anyone 10-100...as long as you're not afraid of the dark!

This is a wonderful series, most especially because of the ongoing development of Tom's relationship with the Spook, and of Tom's connection to Alice. Be warned that in later volumes this development is much less pronounced and the books become more interchangeable episodic adventures. But for now, and the next volume, if you are interested in Tom's mother's history, and in Tom's development as an apprentice, this book will be very rewarding.

Further, this is the book where Alice comes into her own, as do the Pendle witches. The larger story arc begins to come into focus, but we begin to drift away from the original books' emphasis on Tom's practical development as a simple apprentice. I likes the series' focus on the day to day affairs of the County, but I imagine most readers will welcome the move to a grander fantasy plot.

Do not even come near this book, the biggest.............in the world Joseph Delaney the author builds up a very sweet love relation between a young boy and a girl, truly this relation is what set this series apart from other books in the same genera, we can find plentiful of witches, demons and battles in other fantasy books, but the relation between Tom and Alice the two main protagonists of this series is what made this whole series very special, and guess what happens in the final book, Alice simply leaves Tom and goes with another man simply because they locked eyes and discovered they were meant for each other, so after 5 years and 13 books Alice simply leaves Tom whom she was madly in love with and shacks up with a dark mage, sharing bed with him, kissing him in front of Tom, and causing great permanent harm to her best friend Grimalkin, and directly contributing to the situation that had Gregory Tom's Master, teacher and friend die....and the reasons that the author provides for this are as flimsy as his ethics as an author, he probably felt the heat after all the backlash from fans, but no matter what he pulls out of his......to try to redeem the story-line and to also try to remove his foot from his mouth it will never work, personally as a reader i can never forgive the Character Alice nor can I forgive the author’s blunder....there are tons of books out there that will give a good measure of bitter reality , if that is what all the fans wanted then they would have went for those other books, but we remained faithful to this series because it gave us a break from the actual hellish reality that we live day in and day out, sadly the author Joseph Delaney did not remain faithful to his fans, story Characters or even himself, choosing to sell out and ruin the ending with a "Game of Thrones" like twist at the end.....but if that is what we wanted or needed we wouldn't have stuck around for a 13 book series, to finally be mocked by the rude and cruel since of humor that Mr. Delaney has displayed…….
Summary: best aspect of the book the love relation between the two main protagonists is permanently ruined and damaged in the final book which also permanently changes the tone of the whole series from a sweet coming of age, first love, friendship and perseverance to that of a smutty cheesy soap opera...will not buy any more books from this awful Author

Tom is continuing his apprenticeship to The Spook and his education in fighting off the dark and those that work toward evil. In this installment of the series he finds out that there are three families of witches in the nearby town of Pendle that are starting to work together to raise The Fiend. The Fiend is the devil. Tom and The Spook, along with their trusted friends, must find a way to keep these witches from working together so that the County will remain safe from evil.

But Tom's worst fears are realized when he returns home to his parents house to find that the house has been destroyed, his brother and family kidnapped, and his mother's trunks stolen. He realizes that the witches are after his own family. Worse, Tom is soon separated from The Spook and must fight the evil that he encounters alone. Tom must rely on his own instinct and skills to survive.

This is the first book where Tom is alone for significant periods of time with evil. We begin to see that he will eventually replace The Spook and fight evil on his own. This book begins the transition from apprentice to Spook. It is entertaining, but these books have become entirely too formulaic. They are becoming more and more of the same plot sequence, but with different evil characters each time. As long as there is time between each book they are fun, but they are so similar that they begin to run together if read too closely to each other.

Wow! This series just gets better and better! I don't even like horror, but these books strike the right tone. Delightfully creepy (boys will love it), but not too intense for children ages 10 and up. I loooove the narrative voice. The main character's simple, matter-of-fact voice balances perfectly with the story's melodramatic horror. The main character is very endearing. You'll be cheering for him. The plot has evolved nicely from book to book. Read Book One first, and you'll eagerly turn pages to get to this one. I love the characters, love the story, love the writing style. Love it all! Can't wait for more!

I love Joseph Delaney. I ended up buying The Spooks Apprentice from the store in CD form. My MP3 device was not supported by Audible. I tried just downloading to my Windows 7 PC, but I did not have much success. So be aware that Audible does not work with Windows 7 as of 10/30/2009.

Audible's tech support answered quickly to say that my MP3 device was not supported. I still have not been able to listen to my book at this point. Hopefully I will get a resolution soon. I'll let you know how things work out.
***
11/1/2009
The tech support at Audible is very good. My device is not supported, but I can listen with iTunes. I can also burn a CD with Audible's software, or with iTunes. So I will change my review to 4 stars.

I also have to say that Audible is Windows 7 compatible. My problems were just a learning curve.
***

Todd

This series is excellent and extremely well-written. The characters are strong and the action keeps moving, building increasing suspense with each chapter. Not a single word is wasted in these books. Joseph Delaney is a terrific writer and this book is the best of a fantastic series, so far.

This series is excellent and extremely well-written. The characters are strong and the action keeps moving, building increasing suspense with each chapter. Not a single word is wasted in these books. Joseph Delaney is a terrific writer and this book is the best of a fantastic series, so far.