Book Review
Title: The Spook’s Revenge (The Wardstone Chronicles Book 13) by Joseph Delaney
Genre: Young Adult, Dark, Fantasy
Rating: 5 Stars
The Spook’s Revenge is the final book in the Wardstone Chronicles series and I was sad to finally finish it because I’ve come to love a lot of these characters and I was hoping it was a satisfying ending to the main series even though there are two spin off trilogies were we see Tom Ward again that I will be reading after this one. The Spook’s Revenge picks up right where Alice’s story left off but we are following Tom again who has been taking on more and more of Mr. Gregory’s responsibilities as a spook. Alice also pays Tom a visit to deliver the final hero blade and tells him that she and Grimalkin have found another way of defeating the Fiend although she doesn’t tell him what it is beyond that it uses dark magic and not to inform his master. Tom obviously doesn’t listen to her since he has been keeping a lot of secret from his master and come clean about the ritual and Gregory agrees that they can’t use it because it is barbaric. He also believes the appearance of Tom’s mother’s spirit might have been something else deceiving them and Tom has to reveal more secrets about his family including that his mother was the first lamia, the mother of them all and spent only a small portion of her long life in human form.
As we approach the ¼ mark in the novel, Tom is taken by Mr. Gregory to the Wardstone which is the place he was supposed to conduct the ritual on Alice. Once there he realises that the Wardstone seemingly has to power to slow down time like he and the Fiend do but he has no control over this. His master also explains about how some people have reported the stone disappearing and Tom think that the message craved into the stone could be a prophecy from the future rather than a message from the past which instils a sense of dread in him. The next night Tom awakens with a horrible sense that something terrible has happened and his master follows Tom’s instincts leading to a burnt out cottage used by witches. There they find several dead witches and one badly injured who turns out to be Grimalkin. They take the witch assassin for treatment but even if she survives she will never be the same again but Alice and the Fiend’s head are nowhere to be found. When Grimalkin regains consciousness she explains to Tom that the second they began the incantation from the Doomdryte, Lukrasta the mage who first attempted the spell and died appeared before them and attacked them. They were also attacked by the Fiend’s servants and while Grimalkin isn’t sure what happened to Alice she knows that Tom has to go after the witches that took the head of the Fiend and regain possession of it before it can reunited with the body and he does that. Tom’s conversation with Mab Mouldheel also becomes relevant as she mentions seeing something happen near Halloween and Tom is going to be in the centre of it but he has other things to concern himself with right now.
As we cross the ¼ mark in the novel, Tom begins chasing down the witches but is concerned because he knows these witches with the help of Lukrasta bested Grimalkin and doesn’t know how he will fare against them. However, one night he dreams of his mother and she explains she has unlocked another gift in his which wouldn’t have normally emerged until he was much older. This new ability grants him the power to know exactly where his enemies are without having to track them using the normal methods. He follows the witches and realises that they aren’t heading for the coast like he expected but he continues to chase them through the County and into Wales. Once there they head for a dark tower and Tom assumes they must be resting there while passage to Ireland is arranged. He soon realises that the witches aren’t intending to take the head to Ireland but they have brought the body of the Fiend to Wales. At first Tom is panicked but he remembers that the witches will have to wait for Halloween anyway to reanimate the Fiend and it will most likely be done at a magical place like the Wardstone but he can’t allow this to happen. Tom is dealt another blow when he sees Alice on the balcony but she is kissing a man he assumes his Lukrasta, Tom assumes she is under his control since he is very powerful but this might not be the case considering how close Alice was to becoming a true dark witch. In response, Tom summons the boggart, Kratch from the spook’s home in order to aid and protect him as he stated in their new agreement and forms a sort of friendship with the boggart. They decide that the best thing they can do is trick the witches into coming outside where the boggart can kill them easier before going to retrieve the head and Alice.
As we approach the halfway mark in the novel, Tom and the boggart complete their plan and retrieve the head of the Fiend. However, he learns that Alice has gone over to the dark and is one with Lukrasta now and feels nothing for Tom. She even leaves him a letter explaining this and Grimalkin fills in the blanks he had about the situation. The Fiend’s servants are soon after him and the injured Grimalkin comes to his rescue and escorts him back to the spook’s home where Tom helps her break and reset her leg before she begins forging a blade. Tom had been dealt a blow by Alice but they have bigger things to worry about until one night someone casts powerful sleeping magic over the spook’s home and retrieve the head of the Fiend. Tom thanks to his new gift senses this and gives chase only to realise that the person taking the head is Alice truly solidifying that she is his enemy now and belongs to the dark.
As we cross into the second half of the novel, Tom attempts to stop Alice from taking the head but her own power has grown since he saw he last and he isn’t able to stop her. He ends up discussing the situation with his master and Grimalkin who decide that this is bad news considering Halloween is very close and they are beginning to look for their enemies. The boggart had also been missing for a few days but comes to Tom asking for blood since it was almost destroyed and he agrees. He speaks to Grimalkin about this and while she warns him that dark creatures can control those they take blood from she believes that he and Kratch are forming an equal alliance. When the boggart returns again asking for blood Tom questions it and learns that it thinks of him as a brother of sorts and the exchange is equal so he provides more blood so it will be strong enough for the battle to come. Tom soon sees their enemy moving in and there is well over a thousand of them so Tom heads to collect Judd who took over from Bill Arkwright and the dogs while Grimalkin heads to gather some allies from Pendle but Halloween is less than four days away now. Upon returning Tom is given a blade by Grimalkin and while it doesn’t look like much the starblade makes Tom resistant to dark magic and it’s very strong. They decide the best way to try and stop the Fiend is for Tom to cut the head and thumbs off before they scatter and if anyone else survives then they will also take a piece of the Fiend to make it harder for him to be reassembled.
As we approach the ¾ mark in the novel, the small group is facing down an army and everyone even Tom’s brother is willing to die there. However, the new dark god Alice mentioned coming into existence at the end of the Fiend lingers in Tom’s mind as the battle begins. Grimalkin and John Gregory fight side by side forcing everyone else into action and for a time the battle doesn’t seem to be going anywhere but eventually they break through the line and charge for the Wardstone. During this battle John Gregory is killed but Tom had no idea if anyone else has died and there has also been no sign of Alice or Lukrasta. Tom makes it to the Fiend who is in one piece but seems disorientated and managed with the hero blades to cut off the Fiend’s thumbs and head. However, before he can collect them the Wardstone seems to travel through space and ends up in what I think is one of the dark’s domain where there are hordes of skelts. Tom isn’t sure what to do since the Wardstone could leave himself behind if he leaves it but he isn’t prepared to face this meant skelts so he makes the decision to draw the starblade for the first time.
As we cross into the final section of the novel, the Fiend is dead and Tom has to deal with the consequences of that decision as he is summoned but Lukrasta. Despite Alice’s pleading Tom is determined to kill the dark Mage for taking his friends and love from him. They battle and as the starblade protects Tom from magic Lukrasta had to fight with a blade. The battle is quick with Tom gaining a nasty scar and the upper hand but just as he is about to behead the Mage Alice pleads for his life and Tom relents. Lukrasta’s home is the tower of time and he has shown Tom what the world could become now the Fiend is gone but his bitterness prevents him from seeing the truth in it. He leaves to return home warning Alice not to return to the County or he will destroy her but she knows different but doesn’t press the issue. After returning to the Spook’s home he and Grimalkin bury John Gregory and the starblade alongside him as Tom is tired of killing and wants to protect the county as his master did. The series ended on a bittersweet note for me but there are still some unanswered questions which might be answered in one of the two companions trilogies to this series. If you didn’t read this as a child I’d highly recommend it as it is fast paced, dark and emotional in ways you wouldn’t expect and I had an amazing time finishing this series. I will be reading the two companion series in the future as we as some other series from my childhood like Skulduggery Pleasant and The Demonta.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
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