Rise of the Huntress by Joseph Delaney
Rise of the Huntress is the seventh of Joseph Delaney’s LAST APPRENTICE / WARDSTONE CHRONICLES popular horror series for children. The series deservedly has legions of young fans and it’s likely that nothing I, a jaded adult, has to say about a seventh book will mean anything to anybody, so I’ll make this short.
Rise of the Huntress delivers exactly what we expect. The formula has become clear by now. Each book is a scary little adventure which gives Tom and his friends an evil foe to fight while advancing the overall plot slightly. This time Tom, the Spook, and Alice flee the Spook’s house because it has been overrun by soldiers involved in the war we keep hearing about. Bony Lizzy, the evil witch that the Spook had buried in his yard, has escaped and set herself up as queen of an island kingdom. She is terrorizing people and soon Tom and his friends get pulled into her machinations and must try to stop her. They have a few allies and some powers of their own, but that doesn’t mean that they can win, or at least that if they do win they’ll do so without major casualties.
As usual, Alice tries to talk Tom into using dark magic to fight the dark while the Spook maintains that they must not resort to such measures and feels skeptical about Alice’s true nature. Meanwhile Tom worries that the Spook’s powers may be fading and wonders if he’s up to the task of taking over his job. And don’t forget that the Fiend now owns his soul and he needs to kill the Fiend before he dies. No biggie.
Rise of the Huntress is dark and scary and sometimes grisly. Young thrill-seeking fans of the series are likely to be pleased. I am getting a little tired of the formulaic feel of these novels, though. The plots are starting to feel repetitive and the good/evil dark/light issues that the characters deal with are always the same. The audio version continues to be excellent.
Other Last Apprentice Tales:
The Starblade Chronicles — (2014- ) Publisher: The first book in a chilling new trilogy from the author of the internationally bestselling Last Apprentice series! Tom Ward is an apprentice no longer—he is a full-fledged spook battling boggarts, witches, and other creatures of the dark. First in a three-book arc that introduces brand-new readers to Joseph Delaney’s haunting world. Tom Ward is the Spook, the one person who can defend the county from bloodthirsty creatures of the dark. But he’s only seventeen, and his apprenticeship was cut short when his master died in battle. No one trusts Tom’s skill, not till he’s proven himself. And a fifteen-year-old girl named Jenny knows more about the three mysterious deaths in the county than Tom does. She is a seventh daughter of a seventh daughter, and she wants to be Tom’s first apprentice—even though a female spook is unheard of. Together, Tom and Jenny will uncover the grave danger heading straight toward the county, and they’ll team up with a witch assassin to confront it. A New Darkness begins a three-book arc that will introduce new readers to Joseph Delaney’s deliciously scary imagination and electrify his longtime fans. A New Darkness is perfect for every reader who loves thrills, chills, action, and adventure—no prior knowledge of The Last Apprentice series necessary! The Last Apprentice series, the first internationally bestselling series about Tom Ward, is soon to be a major motion picture, Seventh Son, starring Jeff Bridges, Ben Barnes, Alicia Vikander, Kit Harington, Olivia Williams, Antje Traue, Djimon Hounsou, and Julianne Moore as Mother Malkin.
I take it from a couple of your sentences that the series is not complete yet.
Nope. If you click on the Joseph Delaney link below the review, you can see how many books are in the series. Not sure if I’ll finish it.
Wow, yes, that’s quite a commitment. He seems to have found a formula that pleases his audience, but I’m not sure there’s going to be much left to say about them.