I really enjoyed this entry in the series. The last one was a little underwhelming and repetitive. I thought that maybe I was just getting tired of the whole thing, but I really liked the new types of witches/monsters. I feel luke-warm about the overarching plot with the fiend, and even though this book was technically dealing with that plot, I found it so much more interesting because we got some new baddies to learn about. ( )

Book #10. Tom and the Spook travel to the town of Todmorden to retrieve some books for their new library, but find the town terrified by foreigners from the other side of the river. Romanian demons are trying to summon one of the Ancients (Siscoi) to aid them in rescuing the Fiend's head from Grimalkin. Meanwhile, Tom Ward is visited by his mother's spirit who tells him that Alice must go back into the dark to recover the third sword needed to forever defeat the Fiend, and the Alice must be sacrificed. Tom rescues the Spook from capture, but is eventually captured by Siscoi, only to discover Tom has now surpassed his master. ( )

As creatures of the dark hunt for the witch assassin Grimalkin, who carries the captured Fiend's head, Spook's apprentice Tom tries to find a way to finish this terrifying evil once and for all.

As we get closer to the end of the series, the stakes get more and more dire. We've now learned in this book from Tom's Mam exactly what Tom must do to rid the world of the Fiend forever, but it is a truly horrible sacrifice. Will he be able to do it? Will he have to?

(And for parents, I would advise that in these later books I think the age level is definitely going up from the earlier books. They are getting scarier, and much more serious in content. Will include a spoiler at the end for those who really want to know what I mean by that.)

Joseph Delaney has introduced new characters in this book and new villains to fight, Romanian witches and other Romanian entities. They are harder to fight than past entities. There is betrayal, illusion, and Tom and the Spook are finally realizing they must sometimes compromise and work with the dark at times to defeat the dark--which in the past the Spook had always been dead set against. The Spook is getting older and weaker.

This book continues to be extremely well written. I commend Mr. Delaney for his continued deft talent for writing description. I don't think there is any author out there who can describe place and feeling as well as he can and put me *right there* with him and his characters. He uses the minimum amount of words with the maximum amount of effect, and I never have the desire to skip over paragraphs of "fluff" in his books. All of his writing is necessary and part of the story.

Also, when his characters get hurt, they stay hurt until they recover. None of this magical healing in an hour nonsense. I don't want my children reading that people who get in fights don't get hurt. There is cause and effect. This should show in books. It always does in his. (And Derek Landy's as well.)

I really cannot wait to see how this ends, yet I never want it to end. This is one of the best book series I can remember reading.

May Hollywood not completely ruin the Spook.(PLEASE)




Spoiler space:
Don't scroll down if you don't want to know one of the surprises from the book ahead of time. I reveal it here, as an indicator for age appropriateness of the book. Look if you are a parent and feel it would help you judge this, also feel free to write me and ask (I'm a librarian I don't mind answering book questions.) If you plan to read the book, best not to look...


















For Parents: In this latest book, Tom's Mam advises him that he must kill his best friend to rid the world of the Fiend. We do not know yet if he must actually *do* it, but that he must contemplate killing his best friend is a pretty adult concept which is discussed several times in the book. I would think this might be difficult for younger children to read without adult supervision/input. I did read this with my 10 year old daughter, however we read the books aloud and discuss them so we talk over the concepts as we go and I can watch her for any discomfort.
















( )

I was fairly disgruntled when I started this installment, because of the point of view coming from Grimalkin in the last book. She is a character I can enjoy while it is coming from Tom's perspective, but not her own. I understand her character much better now though. I don't think I would have if I hadn't read book 9.
Anyhow though I was taken aback by how the plot came about for this installment. You wouldn't ever expect so much peril from going book shopping unless it was Black Friday.
Also why is the Spook's head in a box on the cover? You'll just have to find out for yourself by reading, because I'm not giving that one away.
I'm also glad that Alice's involvement was minimal in this book, to me she is a nails on chalkboard type of character and that there really is something about her that spells disaster for the series. I don't know what it is, but I'm sure I'll find out in the next book.
Until then cheers pretties! ( )