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A review by mackle13
The Last Apprentice: A Coven of Witches by Joseph Delaney
3.0
A collection of short stories, we see a glimpse into the different lives and backstories of some of the characters including Alice and the Spook - specifically Alice's earliest days with Lizzy and a story from the story of how the Spook met Meg. We also get a story from a witch's perspective, and one from Tom during his time with Bill Arkwright - though where that fits into the novel version of his time with Bill, chronologically speaking, isn't entirely clear.
Anyway - the stories were interesting, especially Alice's and the Spook's - but they didn't have the slow build up of creepiness and dread the full-length novels have, probably just because the length didn't lend itself to it.
But I did like seeing things told from perspective's aside from Tom's - and I did feel that Delaney managed to capture fairly well the different voices of the characters within their particular stories.
(Considering that one of my main complaints of the series has been that while Tom has gone from 11 to 15, the writing and maturity level have stagnated. I was getting concerned that the author couldn't bring more to the table, but now I have hope that maybe he can.)
But, anyway, don't look for anything here which progresses the story going on in the series in any way. This is all back-story and history - interesting for what it is, but a side-dish to the over-arching plot.
p.s. There are some spoilery things in this collection for previous stories, so I would definitely recommend reading it after Book 6.
Anyway - the stories were interesting, especially Alice's and the Spook's - but they didn't have the slow build up of creepiness and dread the full-length novels have, probably just because the length didn't lend itself to it.
But I did like seeing things told from perspective's aside from Tom's - and I did feel that Delaney managed to capture fairly well the different voices of the characters within their particular stories.
(Considering that one of my main complaints of the series has been that while Tom has gone from 11 to 15, the writing and maturity level have stagnated. I was getting concerned that the author couldn't bring more to the table, but now I have hope that maybe he can.)
But, anyway, don't look for anything here which progresses the story going on in the series in any way. This is all back-story and history - interesting for what it is, but a side-dish to the over-arching plot.
p.s. There are some spoilery things in this collection for previous stories, so I would definitely recommend reading it after Book 6.