spook books
Posted by u l a n on Tuesday, December 26, 2006 at 4:02 PM.
I loved this book! It's told from the point of view of 13-year old Thomas Ward, who is an apprentice to the County Spook. A spook is a man whose task is to protect the people from the creatures of the Dark like witches and boggarts. Tom, being the seventh son of a seventh son, has gifts that enable him to be in touch with the Dark. It's not a gift I'd want for myself, and Tom's shown to be half-afraid, half-accepting of it himself.
The story is deliciously spooky. There are a lot of superstitions and legends walking around in the story, set against the backdrop of Lancashire. It mentions places like Pendle (where some real-life witch-hunting took place). The way the story reads makes you really imagine a place where you wouldn't want to be after dark.
The illustrations by Patrick Arrasmith, in woodcut-print style, add to the creepiness of the plot. The illustration for chapter nine gave me quite a start when I turned the page. I didn't photograph it, so it'll be a surprise when you read it :-D
I finished book two, The Last Apprentice: Curse of the Bane
, on Christmas. And now I can't wait for the third book. The UK edition of book three (Spook's Secret) is already out (the UK editions sport different titles.) Unfortunately, only the US editions have Arrasmith's illustrations, so I'll have to wait until the US ed of book three is released.
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