Book Review
Title: The Spook’s Destiny (The Wardstone Chronicles #8)
Author: Joseph Delaney
Genre: YA/Paranormal/Fantasy
Rating: *****
Review: After the end of the Spook’s Nightmare where John Gregory and company finally get rid of Bony Lizzie and he also learns the truth of Tom’s deal with the Fiend and the blood jar that keeps him and Alice safe, I wasn’t sure what I was expecting from this book but I do know the witch assassin, Grimalkin will be making an appearance shortly. When we re-join Alice, Tom and Mr. Gregory they are heading from Mona to Ireland since the situation there has become troubling and Grimalkin still hasn’t arrived and they haven’t heard from her either. On the boat trip a storm suddenly comes upon them and Tom thinks it is the work of a witch but isn’t sure until he sees a pair of eyes in the clouds, one blue, one green and immediately recognises it as the Celtic witch Bill Arkwright had killed while he was working with him.
Tom also has the Morrigan to fear as it is the Old God of the Celtic witches and will want some form of revenge. Upon their arrival in Dublin, they are trying to find somewhere to stay and end up at a run down inn where the innkeeper is delighted to see a Spook who can deal with the jibber problem he has. As jibbers aren’t in the County, the innkeeper explains that the manifest where someone has killed themselves and can terrorize the area and drive people mad. That night they decide to deal with the jibber who is a maid who killed herself, Tom is the first to realise that the jabbering they hear is actually a spell in the Old Tongue and Alice counters it with her own magic allowing Mr. Gregory to send the girl’s soul into the light but he isn’t happy with Alice. As the only way to free the souls is by breaking the spell the witch has placed on them using dark magic, Mr. Gregory won’t deal with any more but Tom and Alice do instead. When they deal with their second jibber, a spirit form of the Celtic witch appears swearing revenge on Tom any way she can and she is even prepared to use Alice as a way to hurt Tom but nothing seems to come of this threat as they continue to deal with more jibbers bound by the witch.
As we approach the ¼ mark in the novel, everything seems be going well when Mr. Gregory and Tom are approached by a man called Farrell Shey offering them his assistance in exchange for their own. Shey tells them that goat mages of Staigue who worship the old god Pan have learned of their arrival and sent assassins to kill them but offers them refuge in his home in exchange for their help in defeating the mages. Mr. Gregory agrees but Tom is worried as the blood jar was damaged in their encounter with the first jibber meaning its protection over them is weakening and that is shown when the Fiend enters Shey’s home leaving behind footprints but he can’t get near Tom or Alice. Tom is also suffering from nightmares about the Morrigan and it seems that the dreams are warning or premonitions of some sort as they tell Tom about a special church that is a refuge to warriors and heroes although only the worthy can enter. It is now more important than ever that Grimalkin arrives soon as they have the goat mages, the Morrigan and the Fiend to deal with and time isn’t on their side. Alice does manage to contact the witch assassin through a mirror but she has a bounty on her head and has been delayed in her own voyage to Ireland but she is on her way but this doesn’t ease Tom’s sense of foreboding one bit.
As we cross the ¼ mark in the novel, the group are heading to Killorglin to stop the ceremony to summon Pan before it even begins which involves kidnapping one of the mages for information. They manage this without much trouble, the mage, Cormac tells them that the ritual sometimes fails because of many variables however, most of the variables don’t directly affect the ritual but one does, the human sacrifices. All the lives of the sacrifices have to be willing given, the one mage Shey killed was one of these sacrifices and his death has contributed to the ritual Cormac and a witch are the other two. Mr. Gregory recommended that they fortify and stock the castle as keeping Cormac alive is the most important thing as the sacrifices can be substituted once the ritual proceedings have begun so they prepare so the siege of Ballycarbery Castle. Tom also gets another visit from the Fiend but this time it talks to him again informing him that the blood jar’s protection has almost come to an end and then he will claim his soul and take his revenge on Alice for trying to oppose his will and Tom is hoping beyond hope that Grimalkin arrives soon as she is the only one that can craft the spears that will be needed to bind the Fiend. However, he doesn’t volunteer this information to Alice or Mr. Gregory feeling that they already have so much to worry about with the mages and the possible threat from the Morrigan and I have a feeling that something bad is going to happen very soon.
As we approach the halfway mark in the novel, the mages begin using their power to terrible effect and within a few days it looks like the castle will be breached so Shey wants Mr. Gregory, Alice and Tom to take Cormac with a small armed guard back to his home to keep him out of the enemy’s hand but as they make their escape one of the escorts accidently gives away their location. Facing a battle Tom and his master face their enemy but are quickly separated and Tom heads for the River Inny where they are supposed to meet. Along the way he meets a man called Thin Shaun and tells Tom he can find food and fire at his home. Upon entering he is given a bowl of gruel which makes Tom very tired and just before he gives in to sleep he realises something is very wrong but can do nothing about it. When he awaken he is face to face with the witch from his dreams, Scarabek, but not before she allows her child, Konal to feed from him. She keeps him well drugged but she has parted Tom from both his staff and his sliver chain. With Thin Shaun helping her, Scarabek finds Alice and takes them both to a barrow, a portal to the Otherworld. It turns out Scarabek has made a deal with the Fiend, she will hand Alice over to her father in return for giving Tom to the Morrigan for killing her twin sister, despite trying to reason with her the witch won’t listen and Tom has to watch as the Fiend comes and takes Alice and in that moment he realises that he loves her. Tom is suffocating under the weight of his grief for his love but as he is kept drugged there is nothing he can do to escape but I have a feeling the events of his nightmare will be unfolding very soon.
As we cross into the second half of the novel, Tom is taken to be part of the ritual to summon Pan. He spends many nights tied on the platform with the goat as Cormac is sacrificed and Tom knows that Pan has entered the body of the goat but his mind is still intact. The next night Scarabek is supposed to be sacrificed but she doesn’t turn up and the head mage, Doolan intends to kill Tom instead but Thin Shaun arrives just in time to prevent it, he tells the mages that Scarabek has been captured by an enemy unknown to them and Tom believe it is his master but Thin Shaun intends to rescue her. That night he is transported into the dark but this is Pan’s realm somewhere the Fiend can’t enter as each domain is ruled by its own god. Pan in his human form tells Tom he wants no part of the ritual as he isn’t being worshipped but used for his power. He tells Tom he will allow him to keep his sanity if he frees the goat he is now bound to and Tom agrees. He does ask Pan if there is anyway he can free Alice and Pan tells him he can’t because she is in the Fiend’s domain somewhere he can’t enter. Upon returning to his body Tom frees the goat which is controlled by Pan and he hurls it to its death, freeing Pan. Tom is then taken to the fortress of the mages where Doolan takes the power of the other mages to hunt down their enemy who craved her mark into Shaun’s forehead and it’s Grimalkin. Doolan returns later with Grimalkin’s head but it is actually Grimalkin in disguise, she frees Tom and they escape. Later he asks her the same question he asked Pan and receives the same answer, Grimalkin explains when the destroy the blood jar to summon the Fiend to Tom in order to bind him, he will leave Alice behind where she will remains for the rest of eternity and this only heightens Tom’s grief but he knows there are things that need to be done. They need to find a remote location where the Fiend can be bound which Grimalkin will also cloak with dark magic, she also returns Tom’s staff and silver chain as they prepare to head off to meet his master.
As we approach the ¾ mark in the novel, Grimalkin and Tom meet up with Mr. Gregory and Shey who are both unharmed and even John Gregory seems saddened by Alice’s fall into the hands of the Fiend. They quickly put together a plan, the location they have found is home to a dragon, invisible and incredibly strong, enough to keep most away and Grimalkin’s enchantments will do the rest. As she begins crafting the spears and nails they will need to bind the Fiend, Mr. Gregory asks Shey to find a stone mason and a rigger needed for the binding. However, the night before the binding Alice contact’s Tom using a mirror telling him that Pan found a doorway back to their world within the lair of the dragon and he won’t open the door for anyone but him. I immediately smelled a trap as the Morrigan hasn’t made an appearance yet but Tom is blinded by hope at getting Alice back and immediately sets off without informing the others. Tom sees Alice separated by a veil and tries to pull her through only for her to shift into Scarabek and before he can return he is dragged into the same world where he met Pan, only this is the Morrigan’s domain. He manages to evade her and find the church which offers refuge and there he meets one of Ireland’s heroes who offers his help in escaping the Otherworld and getting back. He has to do it before midnight otherwise time will leap forward and by the time he gets back everyone he knows will be dead. A fierce battle ensues but at the final moment Tom makes it back to his own world, just in time for the binding of the Fiend.
As we cross into the final section of the novel, the binding doesn’t happen immediately, Grimalkin tells Tom the sword he was given in the Otherworld which he brought back with him is called the Destiny Blade and with it he will fulfil his destiny of destroying the Fiend once and for all. She spends the next week training him on how to use the blade properly and honing his ability to stop time so he can use it against the Fiend when the time is right. When the week is up it is time to bind the Fiend, the second the blood jar is destroyed the Fiend appears but Tom is ready and stops time but the Fiend is fighting back with his own ability to stop time but thinking of Alice frees Tom from the Fiend’s influence and he drives the first of Grimalkin’s spears into the Fiend’s body. Grimalkin and Mr. Gregory quickly play their parts in injuring the Fiend and Grimalkin strikes his heart with two of the spears. After nailing him to the rock, Tom uses the Destiny Blade to cut off the Fiend’s head. The second he does that he is labelled as a hunter of the dark by all dark creatures and they will be coming after him. The trio finish binding him in the pit but keeping the head and body separate buys them more time to find a way to end the Fiend once and for all. They originally planned to bury the head elsewhere but Grimalkin decides to keep it with her and kill anyone that comes for it, eventually there will be too many and she will die but she hopes to buy Tom enough time to finish the Fiend off. After returning to Shey’s home, Tom is walking the dog one night and meets Pan again but this time Alice is with him, Pan tells Tom that once he bound the Fiend his domain was weakened and he was able to enter and free Alice but she has been changed by the dark.
Alice’s mind doesn’t seem to be her own and she tries to attack any one that comes near but they manage to sedate her. That night she escapes and Tom tries to chase her down but both are captured by Scarabek who Grimalkin let go and she intends to kill them both but Alice’s love for Tom gives her mind back and she quickly kills the witch and frees them. However, during the escape from Shey’s home she killed chickens and drank their blood but Mr. Gregory covers for them. Alice tells Tom that night that while she was in the dark many demons transformed into him to try and trick her but their arms were covered so when Scarabek ripped his shirt and she say her brand she knew it was the real Tom and it brought her back. However, she tells Tom that being in the dark has changed her as she enjoyed killing Scarabek and was overwhelmed when she escaped with the desire to drink blood and it might have changed her into a dark witch which Tom prays hasn’t happened as Mr. Gregory wouldn’t hesitate to bind her in a pit if that is the case. Despite all the changes Alice has gone through, Tom still loves her and they receive some good news that the war in the County is being won, the enemy is in retreat and they can return to rebuild the Spook’s home and library but Tom is worried about what the future holds for him and Alice. In the end, I loved the Spook’s Destiny and I am looking forward to Grimalkin’s story in the next book but the prediction made by his mother comes back to haunt me her as it mentions a girl that will love Tom, betray him and die for him and I know this is Alice. We know she loves him, but the betrayal and dying part is what I can’t figure out by now but I do remember by the end of the series, Mr. Gregory dies and I believe Alice does as well but I can’t wait to finish this series. I only have 4 books left before I reach the conclusion and I will definitely be reading the 3 books in the Starblade Chronicles immediately after.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
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