Duo Review: Revenge of the Witch, by Joseph Delaney

Typically Trackgeek and I enjoy the same books. However, we usually grade slightly different - he usually gives a book a higher grade. Duo Reviews on Thursdays was created to 1) give Trackgeek more times to review (he is getting a PhD and doesn't do them a lot), and 2) show you are grading differences. In this case, however, we graded the same! :)


Revenge of the Witch (The Last Apprentice series), by Joseph Delaney
Juvenile, 2005

12-year-old Thomas, seventh son of a seventh son, is apprenticed to the local Spook, whose job is to fight evil spirits and witches. Thomas is forced to use his wits, and the help of his new friend, Alice, to fight an evil witch. But defeating her is only the start of Thomas's problems.

Trackgeek: Over all The Revenge of the Witch is dark. There is no other way to put it. Now, not quite to the level of disturbing as say a horror film (which I cannot stand), but it still seems to be set in a rather dark place with the ominous becoming worse in the future. The book was well written and the plot moved quickly. Over all I would have to say that I do want to read the next books, but mostly because you know that there is more to come based on the outcome of the first novel. The apprentice motif reminds me of Flanagan’s Ranger’s Apprentice series, but it is very different and I would have to say geared to a very different audience. Grade: B.

Raspberry: This book is way too scary to be in juvenile - in fact, when I recommended it to Trackgeek, I told him not to read it at night. Incredibly dark, I would only recommend it to those who have a penchant for scary stories - and can handle them. Still, the writing was decent, the plot was well done, and while I can't bring myself to read the rest of the series, I'm willing to bet they're also quite good. Graded a B.