The Last Apprentice by Joseph Delaney

The first book in this series The Last Apprentice: Revenge of the Witch introduces Tom Ward, a twelve year old boy who has just been apprenticed to the Spook. As the seventh son of a seventh son, Tom has a special awareness for creatures of the dark - which are what spooks fight against, keeping the County safe for ordinary people. The work is not for the faint hearted - he must quickly learn about ghosts, ghasts, and how to bind the different sorts of boggarts. Perhaps most importantly, Tom will have to learn who to trust and how to get himself out of some particularly difficult situations...

In the second book, Curse of the Bane, several months of Tom's apprenticeship have passed and he has learned a lot. But now he and his master have set out to rid Priestown of a particularly old and malevolent spirit called the Bane. Although the Bane is trapped in the catacombs beneath the main temple of Priestown, it has the ability to convince those outside to do its will. Tom is worried because the last time the Spook faced the Bane, he nearly died. To make matters worse, the Quisitor, a ranking official who will burn them both at the stake as 'warlocks' if he finds them, has just come to Priestown too. Taking care of the Bane and getting out of Priestown alive will require work and some particularly good luck.

The third book, Night of the Soul Stealer, explains what happens when they move to the Spook's winter home in Anglezarke. The 'dark' is closer there and Tom and his master have more than enough work. Their biggest problem, however, is the possibility that someone will try to release an ancient god of winter, Golgoth, and bring about the destruction of everything. Tom will need everything he's learned so far to make it through the winter alive.

These are great books. I'm not usually a fan of 'horror', but these novels venture into the 'dark' without getting too caught up in the suspense and attempts to startle readers. They seem to be geared more toward younger teens, but I think they're definitely at a level that older readers can appreciate as well - the plots are fairly complex and have a level of sophistication that make them unpredictable. There's quite a bit of good characterization in these books, although some characters still have unresolved issues/motives so that readers are not entirely sure what to make of them. I enjoyed reading them and I would absolutely recommend them to fantasy readers, particularly those who prefer the books that are more about the dark aspects of fantasy, but also anyone looking for an interesting series that isn't fluffy.


Notes:

Books 4 (Attack of the Fiend) and 5 (Wrath of the Bloodeye) are also published now, but I have not yet read them.

Since Delaney is a British author, these books were also published in the UK as the "Wardstone Chronicles" with the titles The Spook's Apprentice, The Spook's Curse, The Spook's Secret, The Spook's Battle, and The Spook's Mistake.

• If these books sound interesting, consider these: Keys to the Kingdom, Dark Lord of Derkholm, or Fablehaven