Attack of the Fiend (Last Apprentice Series #4)

by Joseph Delaney, Patrick Arrasmith (Illustrator)

Overview

"I see your future clearly. Your master will be dead, and you will be alone. It would be better if you had never been born."

Thomas Ward is the apprentice for the local Spook, who banishes boggarts and drives away ghosts. But now a new danger is threatening Tom's world: the witches are rising and the three most powerful clans are uniting in order to conjure an unimaginable evil.

Tom and the Spook set out to stop the witches before they unleash the demon. But when Tom finds himself on his own, he wonders if he has the courage and cunning to defeat the most powerful enemy he has ever encountered.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062120915
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	12/06/2011
Series:	Last Apprentice Series
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	576
Sales rank:	54,485
Lexile:	810L (what's this?)
File size:	42 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	13 - 17 Years

About the Author

Joseph Delaney lives in Lancashire, England, right in the middle of boggart territory. His village has a boggart, called a hall knocker, which was laid to rest under the steps of a house near the church. Most of the places in The Last Apprentice series are based on real locations in Lancashire, and the inspiration behind the stories often comes from local ghost stories and legends.

Read an Excerpt

The Last Apprentice: Attack of the Fiend

Chapter One

A Visitor from Pendle

The witch was chasing me through the dark wood, getting nearer and nearer by the second.

I ran fast, frantic to escape, weaving desperately, with branches whipping into my face and brambles clutching at my weary legs. The breath rasped harshly in my throat as I drove myself harder and harder toward the edge of the wood. Beyond that lay the slope leading up to the Spook's western garden. If only I could reach that refuge, I'd be safe!

I wasn't defenseless. In my right hand I gripped my rowan staff, which was particularly effective against witches; in my left was my silver chain, coiled about my wrist, ready for throwing. But would I get even half a chance to use either? For the chain I needed a gap between us, but already the witch was close at my heels.

Suddenly the footsteps behind me ceased. Had she given up? I ran on, the waning moon now visible through the leaf canopy above, silver-dappling the ground at my feet. The trees were thinning. I'd almost reached the edge of the wood.

Then, just as I passed the last tree, she appeared from nowhere and ran at me from the left, her teeth gleaming in the moonlight, her arms outstretched as if ready to claw out my eyes. Still running, veering away, I flicked my left wrist and cracked the chain to send it hurtling toward her. For a moment I thought I had her, but she swerved suddenly and the chain fell harmlessly onto the grass. The next moment she thudded into me, knocking the staff from my hand.

I hit the ground so hard that all the breath was driven from my body, and in an instantshe was on me, her weight bearing down on me. I struggled for a moment, but I was winded and exhausted and she was very strong. She sat on my chest and pinned my arms down on either side of my head. Then she leaned forward so that our faces were almost touching, and her hair was like a black shroud touching my cheeks and blotting out the stars. Her breath was on my face, but it wasn't rank like that of a blood or bone witch. It was sweet like spring flowers.

"Got you now, Tom, I have!" Alice exclaimed triumphantly. "Ain't good enough, that. You'll need to do better in Pendle!"

With that, she gave a laugh and rolled off me, and I sat up, still fighting for breath. After a few momentsI found the strength to walk across and collect my staff and silver chain. Although she was the niece of a witch, Alice was my friend and had saved me more than once during the past year. Tonight I'd been practicing my survival skills, Alice playing the part of a witch seeking my life. I should have been grateful, but I felt annoyed. It was the third night in a row that she'd gotten the better of me.

As I started to walk up the slope toward the Spook's western garden, Alice ran to my side and matched me step for step.

"No need to sulk, Tom!" she said softly. "It's a nice mild summer's night. Let's make the best of it while we can. Be on our travels soon, we will, and we'll both be wishing we were back here."

Alice was right. I'd be fourteen at the beginning of August, and I'd been the Spook's apprentice for more than a year now. Although we'd faced many serious dangers together, something even worse was looming. For some time the Spook had been hearing reports that the threat from the Pendle witches was growing; he'd told me that we'd soon be traveling there to try and deal with it. But there were dozens of witches and maybe hundreds of their supporters, and I couldn't see how we could triumph against such odds. After all, there were only three of us: the Spook, Alice, and me.

"I'm not sulking," I said.

"Yes, you are. Your chin's almost touching the grass."

We walked on in silence until we entered the garden and saw the Spook's house through the trees.

"Ain't said anything yet about when we're off to Pendle, has he?" Alice asked.

"Not a thing."

"Haven't you asked? Don't find nothing out without asking!"

"'Course I've asked him," I told Alice. "He just taps the side of his nose and tells me that I'll find out in good time. My guess is that he's waiting for something, but I don't know what."

"Well, I just wish he'd get on with it. The waiting's making me nervous."

"Really?" I said. "I'm in no rush to leave, and I didn't think you'd want to go back there."

"I don't. It's a bad place, Pendle, and it's a big place, too—a whole district with villages and hamlets and big, ugly Pendle Hill right at its center. I've got a lot of evil family there I'd sooner forget about. But if we've got to go, I'd like to get it over and done with. I can hardly sleep at night now worrying about it."

When we entered the kitchen, the Spook was sitting at the table writing in his notebook, a candle flickering at his side. He glanced up but didn't say anything because he was too busy concentrating. We sat ourselves down on two stools, which we drew close to the hearth. As it was summer, the fire was small, but it still sent a comforting warm glow up into our faces.

At last my master snapped his notebook shut and looked up. "Who won tonight?" he asked.

"Alice," I said, hanging my head.

"That's three nights in a row the girl's gotten the better of you, lad. You're going to have to do better than that. A lot better. First thing in the morning, before breakfast, I'll see you in the western garden. It's extra practice for you."

The Last Apprentice: Attack of the Fiend. Copyright © by Joseph Delaney. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.

Editorial Reviews

In the fourth book of "The Last Apprentice" series, thirteen-year-old Tom Ward faces his most difficult adversary yet. Now that he has served as an apprentice for over a year, Tom's master turns his instruction to the topic of witches. The three of them—Tom, Mr. Gregory, and the young girl Alice—head off to Pendle to prevent the union of the three most powerful witch clans. They arrive to discover an even more dangerous foe—one strangely tied to Tom's mother and, more specifically, to the trunks she left him. Tom's family is in grave danger, and the question of who to trust becomes ever more complicated. Like its predecessors, this addition to the series is filled with terrifying characters, from witches to evil demons. Tom's mother, while not physically present in the story, continues to be an enigma. What kind of creature is she exactly? Like Alice, and even the Spook, she causes Tom to think deeply about what it means to be good or evil and who can or will fight against the Dark. Once again, Delaney has created a fast-paced story with an abundance of action and spine-tingling horror. Fans of the series will find satisfaction in this thrilling installment. Reviewer: Heather Christensen

Children's Literature - Heather Christensen

AGERANGE: Ages 12 to 15.

The newest volume of The Last Apprentice finds Tom Ward up to his rowan branch in witches who are attracted to him--or to the trunks given to him by his mother. On his part, Tom wants to rescue his family, who are trapped in a mansion that is soon to be captured by evil forces. Further complicating matters, Tom works in consort with a local cleric who is stabbed to death by a witch in disguise; a local official who is bewitched by the killer blames Tom for the murder instead. All of these calamities happen while Tom’s master, The Spook, is away. Will he come back in time to help Tom? Can any witches be trusted? Do the trunks portend good or evil? Can Tom himself be trusted? Tom begins to realize the truth in his mother’s saying that everyone contains both good and evil; the issue is what one decides to do. The writing continues to be fast paced and suspenseful; plenty of plot twists and character nuances engage the reader throughout this volume. Tom is just naïve enough to get himself into trouble yet maintain the reader’s empathy. This volume should be as successful as its predecessors, and the ending leaves plenty of room for continued development. Reviewer: Dr. Lesley Farmer
March 2008 (Vol. 42, No.2)

KLIATT

AGERANGE: Ages 11 to 15.

In this fourth novel about Tom Ward, the apprentice Spook, young Tom faces his greatest challenge yet. The County's three rival witch clans are working toward a truce, planning to unite in order to raise the Fiend-the devil himself-to do their bidding. What they want is Tom dead, and he must use all his wits to save himself, his family, and the County from a threat of darkness as great as any the world has ever seen. Delaney structures the series so that the completed books are Tom's journal of the events he has recently experienced. Because of this device, there continues to be a tendency to state rather than show how frightening these events are. It results in an unfortunate distancing between the reader and the story, so one is never quite as spooked as one could be. For example, when Tom comes face-to-face with the infamous witch assassin, Grimalkin, she does not come close to being the remorseless torturer the Spook warned she would be early in the book. The most intriguing character in the series continues to be Tom's Mam, now returned to her homeland of Greece, but revealed in absentia to be something more powerful and disturbing than Tom could have imagined. Fans of the series will not be disappointed, but given how thrilling the most recent of Tom's adventures could have been, perhaps readers should be. Reviewer: Vikki Terrile
April 2008 (Vol. 31, No. 1)

VOYA

Once again packaged as a doorstopper but reading as if it's half the length, the fourth episode in the harrowing training of teenaged Tom Ward as a bulwark against all that is evil and supernatural brings some disturbing revelations about his absent mother's identity. Plus there are battles with undead creatures, a trained assassin who likes to use scissors, three entire clans of witches-and not just a fiend, not just some fiend, but Old Nick himself, newly re-invited back to the world and far more powerful than all other threats combined. Fortunately (if that's the word), with help from a small but doughty crew of allies that swells with the addition of two winged, bestial vampires who turn out to be relatives, Tom pulls through; the stage is set, though, for further bloody struggles with the Devil and his minions. Dark chapter-head illustrations add a properly ominous air to the narrative, as do closing notes on each ghost, ghast, wight and worse he has met. Not recommended for beneath-the-sheets reading. (Fantasy. 11-13)

Kirkus Reviews