Book Review
Title: Night of the Soulstealer (The Last Apprentice #3)
Author: Joseph Delaney
Genre: YA/Paranormal/Fantasy
Rating: *****
Review: After loving Revenge of the Witch and liking Curse of the Bane, I couldn’t wait to jump into Night of the Soulstealer. As always we are following Tom who has been Mr. Gregory’s apprentice for over six months now, as he and Mr. Gregory are planning to leave for his winter home in Anglezarke and Alice won’t be going with them as Mr. Gregory wants to leave her with a family who owe him some favours. However, one night a failed former apprentice; Morgan appears with a letter for Mr. Gregory and tells Tom that he will be seeing more of in Anglezarke and Tom instantly has a bad feeling about this man. On their way to Anglezarke, Tom calls in to visit his family and collect the last of Mr. Gregory’s money, his father’s health isn’t getting much better and Tom like his mother can smell the scent of death on him but there is still hope. His mother also tells him to be careful on the moors as there are dangerous things there including Golgoth, also called the Lord of Winter, although we don’t know what it is or how powerful it is.
When Tom meets Meg, the witch Mr. Gregory fell in love with, he seems to understand why the Spook has kept her secret but he also finds it hypocritical that he lectured Tom about Alice when he himself was breaking his own rules. Meg, on the other hand, seems to be relatively happy despite her living conditions when Mr. Gregory is away and he also gives her something to make her forget what she is and what she is capable of and I have a feeling it's going to come back bite him later on. The basement of the Spook’s home contains several level and on the lowest level there are several rank 1 boggarts and witches, one of which is Meg’s sister. There is also an empty pit with Meg’s name on it and Tom agrees that the herb tea which Meg’s forget is a far better fate than the pit. Tom sees the full extent of the Spook’s feeling for Meg when he comforts her that night and ends up crying himself, something Tom thought he would never see from Mr. Gregory. When he finally gets to visit Alice, she tells Tom that Morgan visits the farm a lot and that he is very cruel towards his parents. She also tells him that she spotted Morgan down by the lake late at night, seemingly talking to someone but no one was there. Upon returning Mr. Gregory tells Tom that Morgan is a necromancer and deals with the dead and that’s the reason he placed Alice on the farm in the first place, that and he didn’t feel adding another witch into the household was good for Meg. He also tells Tom he should have dealt with Morgan before but they will be dealing with him soon enough.
It isn’t long before trouble finds Mr. Gregory and Tom in the form of a nasty stone-chucker boggart who is terrorising a local farm and even killed one of their workers. Tom and Mr. Gregory deal with it temporarily but Mr. Gregory tells him that it is better to kill this one than bind it since it has already killed once and it will do it again and it isn’t long before they get the call they are waiting for. In dealing with the boggart, Mr. Gregory is injured but when a doctor is summoned he tells Tom that his master is dying of pneumonia and there’s nothing that can be done for him. However, Alice comes to the rescue and helps Mr. Gregory recovers but he soon wants to get rid of her again as he believes she is getting too close to Meg and she has made her feelings clear on that matter to Tom. Things get dark though when a letter arrives from Tom’s brother a week late telling him his father is in a very bad way and to return home. As he sets out he is cornered by Morgan who informs him his father is already dead and this is confirmed when he returns to the family farm and his mother has also left as his father said he would. Jack and Ellie also inform him that Jack didn’t inherit the whole has as his mother’s room was left to him but Tom refuses to enter until he has spoken with his mother. After a week she still hasn’t returned and Tom knows time is running out before he has to return to Mr. Gregory. When Tom returns but keeps his promise to check in on Alice first, however, when he heads upstairs he finds Morgan and not Alice. Morgan informs Tom that Alice left three days before and didn’t tell anyone where she was going and Tom is going to be his apprentice and help him get back what Mr. Gregory has of his. Obviously Tom wants to refuse but when Morgan summons back his father’s spirit and tells him that he can cause his father so much pain, Tom has to do as he asks because he loved his father dearly and can’t stand to see him suffer even in death.
As we cross into the second half of the novel, Tom has returned to Mr. Gregory’s home only to find Meg has regained her memories and imprisoned John and he has a cell beside his. Tom doesn’t have his staff or chain but he does have his key meaning he could free himself but Meg has released her feral sister so Tom decides against it. He tries to convince Meg to let him go but she isn’t having any of it and he decides to use Plan B which despite it’s risks actually works and he heads to Andrew’s home where Alice has been hiding from Morgan. While there he gets a note from Morgan with a location to meet where he learns that Morgan is Mr. Gregory’s son who he had with Emily Burns and that Tom is running out of time to find the item Morgan wants. In addition, to this he knows he needs to get back into the house in order to deal with Meg but he can’t get in the normal way. He comes up with a plan to enter through the back bedroom but that means facing the sheer drop of the cliff in order to get his chain to bind Meg before things get really ugly.
As we approach the ¾ mark in the novel, Tom has returned to the house and free John Gregory and Alice takes him back to Andrew’s place but Tom remembers at the last moment that he needs to get the grimoire that Morgan wants in order to free his father’s spirit. As he enters the attic room he fails to notice Meg’s sister, bloating after gorging on blood, lounging in the room and quickly has to come face to face with a feral lamia witch. Jammed between the two sisters, Tom has to think on his feet and luckily he now has his silver chain. After one failed attempt he manages to bind Meg and drive off her sister with his rowan staff. He takes Meg to the pit and throws her in, but he is now dealing with one of the live witches from the basement and Meg’s sister he fends them off with salt and iron but he has trapped himself. He knows Alice and John will return for him but he has to wait several days before that happens. Once Mr. Gregory arrives he quickly takes control of the situation and tells Tom he will deal with Meg, with John occupied, Tom tries to get his hands on the grimoire but is caught in the process and has to come clean to John. John finally tells him the truth but Tom learns that Morgan isn’t his son despite what he think and he is trying to raise the Lord of Winter, they both have the feeling that before the winter is over they will have to deal with both. However, John does reassure Tom that he will see his mother again before she leaves them for good.
As we cross into the final section of the novel, Tom is captured by Morgan and taken to an underground chamber to summon Golgath. While he does manage to summon the Lord of Winter, Mr. Gregory built in a failsafe into the ritual so Golgath is bound to the summoning circle and despite his life being on the life Tom refuses to free him. Interesting it isn’t John who rescues him but the three witches, Alice tells John that Morgan has taken Tom but he can’t find them so he uses Meg and her sister to find him and dig him out. In the aftermath, he realises that things can’t be the same between him and Meg again and arrange passage for her and her sister back to their home. This parting is very sad as Meg still holds some affection for John and he still loves her but they have to part. However, he does arrange for Alice to return with them when they leave in the spring much to Tom’s surprise. As their journey comes to a close, Tom returns home and sees his mother for the final time before she leaves the County for her own home. She explains that her room must belong to Tom for the rest of his life no matter what happens to the rest of them and Jack does bend to his mother’s will. After taking Tom and Alice into her room, she explains that all the answers Tom needs are held there but to return when his heart has lifted a little, she goes on to say that the room can be used as a last defence between them and the dark but there is a price for using it. As they are young and strong they will survive the price but John wouldn’t which is why she didn’t bring him to the room. She also uses her gift to tell them that John’s time in this world is coming to an end and they are the future which John repeats later. Overall, Night of the Soulstealer had a much darker and sad tone that the previous two books didn’t and it shows where the series is going and I am eager to jump into Attack of the Fiend.
I was also made aware that this series has a different name in the UK and the USA. In the USA it is known as the Last Apprentice series and each book has a specific title e.g. Night of the Soulstealer. However, in the UK they are known as the Wardstone Chronicles and the book title follow a pattern e.g. The Spook's Secret etc. They also have very different covers. Personally, I prefer the UK titles and covers so as of book for the title and covers used in my review will be the UK ones. So, if you don't see another Last Apprentice review you will need to read the Wardstone Chronicles review as they are the same.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk
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