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Wardstone Chronicles/Last Apprentice Books In Order

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Publication Order of The Last Apprentice / Wardstone Chronicles Books

The Spook's Apprentice / Revenge of the Witch (2004)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Spook's Curse / Curse of the Bane (2005)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Spook's Secret / Night of the Soul Stealer (2007)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Spook's Battle / Attack of the Fiend (2007)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Spook's Mistake / Wrath of the Bloodeye (2008)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Spook's Sacrifice / Clash of the Demons (2008)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Spook's Nightmare / Rise of the Huntress (2010)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Spook's Destiny / Rage of the Fallen (2011)Description / Buy at Amazon
I Am Grimalkin / Grimalkin, the Witch Assassin (2011)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Spook's Blood / The Last Apprentice (2012)Description / Buy at Amazon
Slither's Tale / Slither (2012)Description / Buy at Amazon
I Am Alice / Spook's: Alice (2013)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Spook’s Revenge / Fury of the Seventh Son (2013)Description / Buy at Amazon

Publication Order of Spook’s Stories Books

The Spook's Tale: And Other Horrors (2009)Description / Buy at Amazon
Witches / A Coven of Witches (2009)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Spook's Bestiary: The Guide to Creatures of the Dark (2010)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Seventh Apprentice (2014)Description / Buy at Amazon

The Wardstone Chronicles/Last Apprentice is a series of dark fantasy novels from Joseph Delaney, a British Author. Published by Random House Publishing, the novels chronicle a young boy’s efforts to master his skills as he prepares to inherit the mantle of spook and take his place as a destroyer of evil.

+The Story

The Wardstone Chronicles/Last Apprentice series revolves around Thomas Ward. The seventh Son of a seventh son, Thomas is recruited by John Gregory, a master warrior, to fight the forces of evil.

To find his destiny, Thomas will have to apprentice under John with the aim of eventually becoming a spook, a warrior with great skill and physical strength trained to fight those supernatural forces that seek to slaughter innocent lives.

Learning to tame and contend against ghosts, boggarts, witches and the numerous other fiends that serve ‘The Dark’, Thomas’ journey isn’t without its fair share of problems, the young spook in training learning of the many apprentices that Gregory had recruited before him, all of whom had died at various stages of their training.

While initially focusing upon the characters of John and Thomas, the Wardstone chronicles/Last Apprentice series eventually begins to explore the personalities, histories and purposes of its wider cast, this including the witch Alice Deane, the story eventually progressing towards the cross road of Thomas’ destiny as either the destroyer or the savior.

The country, an important setting in the Last Apprentice series, is based on Lancashire, a location in Northern England, with numerous other modern cities such as Preston and Blackpool reincarnating in Joseph Delaney’s story at one point or another.

Thomas Ward’s story is told over a series of 13 books; and while The Spook’s Revenge technically ended The Last Apprentice, the story continues into Joseph Delaney’s other works, within which he continues to explore Thomas Ward’s character, now a full blown spook.

+Adaptations

The Last Apprentice was adapted into a live action film by Legendary Pictures in 2015; the movie was entitled Seventh Son and starred Jeff Bridges as John Gregory, with Ben Barnes playing the role of Thomas Ward.

The novels have also been adapted into audio books, with names such as Will Thorp, Daniel Weyman, Annie Hemingway and Tony Longworth lending their voices to Joseph Delaney’s story.

+The Author

Joseph Delaney is a British Author specializing in the science fiction and fantasy genres. Born in Preston, Lancashire in 1945, Joseph attended Preston Catholic College before finding work as an engineering apprentice.

Finishing his A Levels at night school before pursuing a degree at Lancaster University in 1972, Joseph eventually became a teacher of English at Blackpool Sixth Form College. He was instrumental in starting the media and film studies department at the institution.

During his earlier days as an author, Joseph published his works under the pseudonym J.K Haderack. Eventually publishing the first novel in the Wardstone chronicles/Last Apprentice series in 2004 under his real name, Joseph’s work has earned him international fame, his novels published in over 20 countries.

Upon the publication of the second book in the Last Apprentice series, Joseph finally retired from teaching to write full time. Joseph’s dream to pursue writing was inspired by authors J.R.R Tolkien and Frank Herbert.

Along with the Wardstone chronicles, Joseph has also written the Starblade chronicles which continue to explore the story of Thomas Ward, now a full blown spook, as he attempts to save the world from an unparalleled evil.

Joseph has further expanded upon the so called ‘Spook’s series’ with various Wardstone chronicles spin offs such as Interception point.

Joseph Delaney has three children.

+The Spook’s Apprentice

Thomas Ward is special. He is the Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, and he has been apprenticed to John Gregory, a local spook. As a young exorcist in training, Thomas will have to face the hardships of a job that has led to the deaths of all previous apprentices.

Thomas’ determination to master his skills, learning to contain witches and battle boggarts, is tested when he is tricked into freeing the vilest witch the country has ever seen, unleashing true horror upon the innocent people of the land.

The first novel in the Wardstone chronicles, The Spook’s Apprentice is a young adult novel with a difference. Considering the state of the literary landscape today, littered with novels targeted towards young readers, the majority of which are filled with angst-ridden characters more interested in solving their romantic complications than saving the world, The Spook’s apprentice stands out rather starkly.

Endeavoring to inject tension and elements of horror into its narrative, The Spook’s Apprentice is a pretty short read, very fast paced. Joseph is very simplistic in his writing, allowing his first novel in the Last Apprentice series to appeal to a wider section of readers.

With the chapters flowing smoothly into one another and every word designed to engage readers, the world Thomas Ward inhabits is as scary as it is thrilling, Joseph keeping readers hooked to the minutiae of his first story in the series with little to no effort.

One would be hard pressed to find a more entertaining start to a series.

+The Spook’s Curse

Thomas and Gregory are in Priestown to attend to some unfinished business. Within the catacombs of the cathedral lies a creature that Gregory could never defeat- The Bane.

As Thomas and Gregory prepare for battle, they soon learn that The Bane might not be the only foe awaiting them. The Quisitor has arrived, searching for those witches, warlocks and even spooks who meddle in matters of the Dark.

As with The Spook’s Apprentice, the second novel in the Last Apprentice series is very fast paced even while maintaining its simplicity. And Joseph continues to compound upon the dark and eerie atmosphere of the series, generating a story that is as thrilling as it is nerve wrecking.

The first novel in the series suffered from the bevy of underdeveloped characters it brought to the table. The Spook’s Curse made a concerted effort to solve this issue, exploring various characters to deeper levels even while revealing numerous unknown and unexpected facts, especially about Thomas and his family.

And as with the first book, The Spook’s curse emphasizes the fantastical and adventurous elements of its story over the romance.

Book Series In Order » Characters » Wardstone Chronicles/Last Apprentice

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