Reviews

This book follows Alice as she journeys through the realm of the dark to find the third blade that Tom needs to defeat the Fiend.

There was so little plot to this book. 50% of it is flashbacks (I counted the pages), and while I am normally a huge fan of back stories, this was too much. It was clear that Delaney didn’t have enough content about Alice’s journey through the Dark to fill a whole book, and therefore filled the rest with backstories to explain why the people Alice was meeting in the Dark held grudges against her. The first flashback was regarding Alice’s relationship with Lizzie and Betsy and was nearly 40% of the book by itself. There seemed little point to this flashback other than to establish why Betsy would want revenge on Alice and to engrain the skelts in the story a bit more (which I did enjoy as I like the skelts as a creepy creature). The second flashback was based around Alice’s Testing to become a witch. This was far more interesting, but ultimately just used to explain why Raknid would want to kill Alice. The last chapter manages two things:

Spoiler

to simultaneously make the rest of the book pointless while hopefully making the previous book a bit more relevant.

I enjoyed the world building that Delaney added to this book. We got to see several more of the realms of the Dark which was really interesting and we got to learn a bit more about the witches and some of their methods and rituals. It is nice that he is still able to bring something new to the world in the twelfth book in the series.

There weren’t many characters in the main storyline of this book; basically just Alice, Thorne and a series of enemies trying to kill them. I was nice to see Thorne again as I quite liked her character and it was interesting to see what has happened to her since the events in I Am Grimalkin. We did get to briefly see Pan, and in payment for him helping her, Alice promises to provide him with help whenever he should need when he calls her. I expected this to become important in the final book of the series as you don’t just make promises to a god, but it is never mentioned again. Obviously the most important character in this book is Alice and it was nice to get a book from her point of view seeing as she has been such a key character in the series for so long. You get a bit more of an insight to her thinking, although it also shows how unsure she is of anything.

Overall I think this was one of the weaker books in this series and I am looking forward to returning to Tom’s story in the next book and finding out how all of this is concluded.

carrotex's review

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challenging mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

The world was pretty cool, yet the story was incredibly fast, It should've slowed down a bit, then I could've connected with the characters. ( Although, it is a kids book afterall )

novelbloglover's review

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adventurous challenging dark hopeful mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Book Review

Title: Spook's: Alice (The Wardstone Chronicles Book 12) by Joseph Delaney

Genre: Young Adult, Dark, Fantasy

Rating: 4 Stars

It has been a long while since I read Slither’s tale, book 11 in this series but with only two books left in the series I decided to jump back in and finish it after recapping my reviews. So at this point, Alice is in the dark looking for the last of the hero blades which needs to be used to stop the Fiend once and for all and she is also prepared for the horrific ritual that needs to take place. Meanwhile, Grimalkin in on the run with the head of the Fiend and she encounter Slither in the previous book so I am hoping both make an appearance to cap off the series. Tom Ward is also torn about what he is going to have to do to Alice to stop the Fiend but he is also dealing with the responsibility of being a full time Spook since he has taken over from John Gregory after the events of book 10. Things kick off with a bang as Alice enters the dark through Pan’s domain since he helped her escape before and after explaining why she is there he agrees for her to use his domain as an exit point but there will be a price to pay and Alice agrees. Shortly after entering the dark she realises that she is being hunted by the kretch. She is temporarily able to distract the kretch long enough to come across Thorne who helps Alice as she has been waiting for her. Thorne deals with the kretch but this sets Tanaki, the kretch’s father upon them and they find some refuge for the time being but they are going to be hunted relentlessly by their enemies while they dwell in the dark.

As we approach the ¼ mark in the novel, Thorne guides Alice through several different domains while they are being hunted and they eventually come to the one that the newly dead arrive in and one Thorne had to previous escape. During these travels Thorne explains a lot about the rules of the dark to Alice and in this domain the dead are hunted for blood as that is the currency of the dark and while Alice can’t be targeted because she is alive, Thorne can. They need to find the door that leads to the next domain and it turns out to be inside the basilica which means there will be a lot of enemies waiting for them inside. Thorne suggests finding some of the friends and allies that Alice has in the dark and leads her straight into the hands of Betsy who most certainly isn’t a friend and it seems that Thorne has betrayed Alice and by extension Grimalkin which is something she would never do so I am curious to see what the reason behind this is. Here we get some backstory on Alice and her history from her perspective and we learn about the time that Bony Lizzie took her to kill a spook named Jacob. We can already see that this point Alice has extraordinary talents for a witch but doesn’t share the darkness or the cruelty that Bony Lizzie tries so hard to install in her.

As we cross the ¼ mark in the novel, Alice is still recounting her life with Bony Lizzie before she met Tom Ward. After killing the old spook Lizzie finds a strange leather egg hidden in his house and both she and Alice can sense the power it contains but Alice also knows that the egg is extremely dangerous. As Lizzie took the thumb bones of the dead spook she can summon his spirit which she does in order to find out what the egg is and what is can do but the spook says nothing even when Lizzie torments him using her dark magic. However, the next night Lizzie tries again only to realise that the spook has broken free from the limbo he was trapped in and gone to the light meaning she can’t summon him anymore. Angry that the information has been taken from her she sets out to find someone else who can tell her about the egg and takes Alice with her to see the hermit Judd Atkins pointing out along the way the homes of John Gregory and Bill Arkwright and all three of these men are characters we have come to know and love throughout this series and I am still sore about Bill and those loveable dogs. I am not sure how much longer we are going to spend in the past as Alice in the present has less than four months to find what she needs and return to the above world but she knows that time passes differently in the dark so she basically has no idea how much or how little time she has and whether or not she will be in time for the ritual at all.

As we approach the halfway mark in the novel, Lizzie has learned that the egg can grant her power but only with a full coven to do the spell and the sacrifice of seven children. Lizzie doesn’t want to share this power with the Pendle witches so immediately looks to the water witches which seem to have a lower intelligence and be more animal like so easier to control. The water witches have a keeper named Betsy Gammon who isn’t a witch herself but has learnt how to control them and stop them from attacking her. Lizzie offers her and the water witches a share of the power if they help her and Betsy agrees even though Lizzie and Alice know only the holder of the egg will get power so I can see this going badly. As the water witches and Lizzie gather children ready for the full moon Alice is torn because she knows being a part of this would turn her into a dark witch but she doesn’t have the power to stand against Lizzie or escape from her, we have to remember it was Tom that helped Alice escape Lizzie in the first place and she couldn’t have done it without him. Alice is given the task of feeding the children but she goes above and beyond making them as comfortable as she can and getting to know them in the hopes that something will go wrong with the spell or be able to find a way to free the children before the sacrifice but I don’t see how that is going to be the case.

As we cross into the second half of the novel, we finally get to see the conclusion of Alice’s tale in the past as she encounters the Fiend for the first time although unknowingly and he awakens her latent power. This gives Alice enough power and confidence to defeat the water witches and put Lizzie out of action for now but she can’t kill her because they are family. She frees the children and gives them the means to return home with the exception of little Emily who she takes home herself. Emily’s mother isn’t right after her run in with Lizzie and Alice uses her magic to heal her even though she wasn’t sure it was possible. Alice’s encounter with Betsy isn’t good been as Alice drowned Betsy in order to free the children and escape before she learnt that using that power would bring her closer to the dark. Thorne eventually returns for Alice because she regrets her decision to betray her for the chance of a second life but it means they are both targets as they head for the basilica. Once there they are attacked as it is feeding time again but Wynde, one of Tom’s lamias who died defending Malkin Tower comes to their aid and leads them to another entrance on the roof and she and Thorne descend into the basilica to find the final dagger and get Alice home once and for all even though she hasn’t forgotten the fate that awaits her when she returns.

As we approach the ¾ mark in the novel, Thorne and Alice move through the basilica but it isn’t long before they walk into a trap that they seemingly have no way out. Alice has to come face to face with Lizzie, Mother Malkin and Tusk once more after helping in the deaths of each of them by helping Tom and Mr. Gregory. They are both greatly outnumbered and there is a demon with them who seeks to know why Alice is in the dark and torments her with things it knows she fears but Alice doesn’t break, not once. Eventually Thorne gets an opening to cut the thumbs from the demon and it releases its hold on the gate for Alice and Thorne to dive through it into the domain of the Fiend. They face a new challenge her as the domain of the Fiend is vast and finding the throne room isn’t going to be easy and things become even worse when they are confronted by Morwena, another of the Fiend’s children. Things don’t seem to be going well in this fight when a ton of skelts come to their aid and Alice realises they might be divided like the witches and when one is trying to get them to follow it, Alice does. The skelt leads them to the throne room where the dagger Alice needs is but it is being guarded by Raknid, a creature that Alice has faced before during her Testing and she isn’t happy to be meeting it again as spiders is one of her biggest fears and I sympathise with her.

As we cross into the final section of the novel, Alice faces Raknid again for the final hero blade and knows she has to use her power in order to defeat the spider demon. She does this and claims the blade but on the return journey she feels herself beginning to get weaker and weaker and knows she has to return to the above world soon. They face one final challenge before getting back to Pan’s domain and that is Tanaki but Alice makes easy work of him. Alice is sad she has to leave Thorne behind after all the girl has done for her but she knows one day she might see Thorne again. Pan agrees to send her home in exchange for help, help with what and when is unknown but Alice has no choice but to agree. Upon returning before she can even go to Tom she encounter Grimalkin who tells her she has found another way to destroy the friend using the most powerful grimoire, the Doomdryte. Alice knows she can use the spell by using her own magic to boost her concentration but she also knows it will push her mark to become a full moon and she will be bound to dark forever without feeling. Alice decides to take this chance because despite everything Alice doesn’t want to die and Grimalkin fears that Slither’s kind will burst free from the north and heads their way in the future so they have to plan for that as well. Overall, I really enjoyed Alice’s story but I felt that too much time was spent in the past and the action in the present didn’t get the time it deserved but I am excited to see what the final book in this series has in store for me before moving onto the two companion series.

venix's review against another edition

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adventurous dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

michaelathebookish's review against another edition

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4.0

Delaney does it again! He has produced another brilliant book.

I did take off a star because it did take me a little while to get into it, but after a few chapters, I was addicted, just like all of the previous books in the series.

I admit that at first I was worried about the book being about Alice since I love reading the series through Tom's perspective, but I need not have worried, since I ended up loving Alice's voice.

I loved the setting of the Dark, and is true to Delaney's form, being suitably creepy fulfilling the series' tagline of "Not to be read after dark".

It was great finding out about Alice's life before Tom - she certainly had a tough life, yet is the Alice that I know and love.

You will meet characters from previous books, some I was more happy to see than others, but I absolutely loved the continuity of this!

As for the ending. Well, all I'm saying is that it changes the game for the final book, which in my opinion, cannot be published quick enough!

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Reviews

Spook's: Alice by Joseph Delaney

sassblaster's review

sadscorpxo's review against another edition

rh2riordan's review

asharilan89's review against another edition

thesawyerbean's review

nightshade_novels's review

carrotex's review

novelbloglover's review

venix's review against another edition

michaelathebookish's review against another edition