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The Last Apprentice / Wardstone Chronicles
The Seventh Apprentice
A blood-curdling original novella from the world of the internationally bestselling fantasy adventure series that inspired the forthcoming major motion picture Seventh Son! This short novella stars the Spook's seventh apprentice, a boy named Will Johnson.
Will is a seventh son of a seventh son, the perfect candidate to train as the Spook's apprentice . . . but Will is lazy. Mr. Gregory is giving him one last chance to shape up or be sent home. When Mr. Gregory leaves to deal with some boggarts, he tells Will to catch up on his notes, practice throwing his silver chain, and not to take on any spook business of his own—under any circumstances. But when the pig butcher's son rings the Spook's bell, panicked because a witch has his father, can Will really ignore him?
73 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 31, 2014
29 people are currently reading
1066 people want to read
About the author
Joseph Delaney
59 books3,973 followersJoseph Delaney was a full time writer living in Lancashire, in the heart of Boggart territory.
He was the author of Wardstone Chronicles, Starblade Chronicles, Arena 13, Aberrations and a new book came out in April 2020, Brother Wulf. This is a new spooks story featuring Tom and Alice, but introducing a new character, a young monk called Brother Wulf.
He first got the idea for the Spooks series when he moved to the village where he lives now and discovered there was a local boggart - ‘a man like me needs boggarts around’. He made a note in his notebook ‘a story about a man who hunts boggarts’ and years later when he had to come up with an idea at short notice developed this into ‘The Spook’s Apprentice’, the first book in the series.
He continued to draw upon the folklore of Lancashire and has acquired much local knowledge over the years which he tweaks and modifies to create his fictional world. Another source of inspiration has been Lancashire's varied and atmospheric landscape. Many of the locations in the County are based on actual places in Lancashire.
In the early days of his writing career Joseph worked as a teacher at a Sixth Form College: his subjects were English, Film and Media Studies. He used to get up early and write every morning before work. That way he could write a book a year – which promptly got rejected! When the Americans bought the series he decided to give up teaching and write full time.
Prior to teaching he worked as an engineer in his twenties, completing an apprenticeship just like Tom Ward in the spook’s books.
Joseph described his method of writing as a process of discovery. He didn’t plot too far ahead and often didn’t know what is going to happen until he writes it down. In other words he made it up as he went along. He prefed writing dialogue to description, in which he said he is a minimalist and leaves much to the reader’s imagination.
Joseph had three children and nine grandchildren and was a wonderful public speaker available for conference, library and bookshop events.
The Spook's Apprentice, The Spook's Curse and The Spook's Secret have all been shortlisted for the Lancashire children's Book for the Year Award. The Spook's Apprentice is the winner of both the Sefton Book Award and the Hampshire Book Award.
www.josephdelaneyauthor.com
from publisher's website
He was the author of Wardstone Chronicles, Starblade Chronicles, Arena 13, Aberrations and a new book came out in April 2020, Brother Wulf. This is a new spooks story featuring Tom and Alice, but introducing a new character, a young monk called Brother Wulf.
He first got the idea for the Spooks series when he moved to the village where he lives now and discovered there was a local boggart - ‘a man like me needs boggarts around’. He made a note in his notebook ‘a story about a man who hunts boggarts’ and years later when he had to come up with an idea at short notice developed this into ‘The Spook’s Apprentice’, the first book in the series.
He continued to draw upon the folklore of Lancashire and has acquired much local knowledge over the years which he tweaks and modifies to create his fictional world. Another source of inspiration has been Lancashire's varied and atmospheric landscape. Many of the locations in the County are based on actual places in Lancashire.
In the early days of his writing career Joseph worked as a teacher at a Sixth Form College: his subjects were English, Film and Media Studies. He used to get up early and write every morning before work. That way he could write a book a year – which promptly got rejected! When the Americans bought the series he decided to give up teaching and write full time.
Prior to teaching he worked as an engineer in his twenties, completing an apprenticeship just like Tom Ward in the spook’s books.
Joseph described his method of writing as a process of discovery. He didn’t plot too far ahead and often didn’t know what is going to happen until he writes it down. In other words he made it up as he went along. He prefed writing dialogue to description, in which he said he is a minimalist and leaves much to the reader’s imagination.
Joseph had three children and nine grandchildren and was a wonderful public speaker available for conference, library and bookshop events.
The Spook's Apprentice, The Spook's Curse and The Spook's Secret have all been shortlisted for the Lancashire children's Book for the Year Award. The Spook's Apprentice is the winner of both the Sefton Book Award and the Hampshire Book Award.
www.josephdelaneyauthor.com
from publisher's website
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
October 10, 2018
A short story about the seventh apprentice, the butcher son and the pig witch plus the spook....
And the one that reminds me to finish the book Circe 😊
And the one that reminds me to finish the book Circe 😊
January 5, 2015
It's worth a read if you are a fan of the spooks series like I am. But I was kind of hoping to see more of the spook, but rather we only really got a glimpse of the new characters.
It was well written and I enjoyed it, even if it was a little short (thought that is to be expected since it is a 'short story').
It was well written and I enjoyed it, even if it was a little short (thought that is to be expected since it is a 'short story').
April 6, 2015
Joseph Delaney can do no wrong and this is pre Tom Ward. It was a lovely outing to see John Gregory before he took on Tom as his last apprentice. Much in the mode of Wardstone Chronicles and enjoyable. Joseph Delaney is a great author and his novels remain an excellent read.
April 18, 2023
Gruesome. Far more gruesome than I expected. I was intrigued enough by the idea of a lazy apprentice, something unknown to any Spook’s fans well versed in the hardworking nature of Tom Ward. Then the trouble sets in and things go very very wrong, and very very weird.
For a novella I wasn’t expecting a whole lot. Delaney’s style tends to lend itself to having space and time to tell deeper stories in more detail. But there was detail enough, maybe TOO much, to make this an exciting standalone I’ll totally be reading again.
For a novella I wasn’t expecting a whole lot. Delaney’s style tends to lend itself to having space and time to tell deeper stories in more detail. But there was detail enough, maybe TOO much, to make this an exciting standalone I’ll totally be reading again.
January 22, 2017
Read this after seeing Delaney say he wanted to continue to The Last Apprentice Series, but the next book would most likely focus on Will Johnson, the main character of this novella, as it's main character, while still involving Tom/Alice. Johnson is mentioned briefly in the Starblade series, and this novella gives you some background about him. It should be interesting to see if he pursues this direction at some point.
December 14, 2016
I've read all of the books in this series as well as all of these side stories and loved them all! Managed to get through the lot of them in 3 weeks time! I just couldn't stop reading them!!!
May 31, 2019
A good book, and a very good companion to the rest of the series. I liked seeing the spook and his ways from a different apprentice’s view. A good, short story.
February 17, 2021
Quick novella for fans of the series.
October 8, 2022
A proper spooky scary read for the month of scares. Really enjoyed it !
December 10, 2017
As mentioned before I have a nostalgic love for Joseph Delaney which no other author could ever amount too. However, over the past few years I have admittedly been a bit disappointed with his novels, The Seventh Apprentice finally left me feeling hopeful for Delaney's future books!
This novella features both old and new characters who I came to love instantly. They were fun, and you definitely get to see a side of John Gregory which wasn't seen before, a more fatherly and younger side.
Delaney's dark atmosphere which originally drew me to his book was back with vengeance, there were some truly disturbing scenes which made me cringe, even one scene which made me gag. Delaney's masterful description of gore and horror never ceases to draw me in, and I will never understand how these books can be found in the children's section!
If anything this novella has made me want to re read the Wardstone Chronicles from the beginning, I'm in desperate need for some nostalgic horror now!
This novella features both old and new characters who I came to love instantly. They were fun, and you definitely get to see a side of John Gregory which wasn't seen before, a more fatherly and younger side.
Delaney's dark atmosphere which originally drew me to his book was back with vengeance, there were some truly disturbing scenes which made me cringe, even one scene which made me gag. Delaney's masterful description of gore and horror never ceases to draw me in, and I will never understand how these books can be found in the children's section!
If anything this novella has made me want to re read the Wardstone Chronicles from the beginning, I'm in desperate need for some nostalgic horror now!
July 2, 2023
Found this very difficult to get into, and to be honest - was glad to finish it.
I really didn’t enjoy this book, I though that it was a little boring compared to the others in the spooks apprentice series. I have absolutely adored reading them and wanted to carry on with the wee ‘separate’ series. If I wasn’t dedicated to reading them all, I would have put this as a DNF.
I really hoped to see more of the spook, John Gregory, and was really disappointed that he was in it for about 5 minutes. I found William very annoying, and even though he reminded me of Tom in ways, I felt myself thinking it wouldn’t be a shame if the story ended there.
Given 3 stars as I know I hoped for much more than I should have done, and I love Delaney’s writing style. Looking forward to reading the witches stories and hope they are better.
I really didn’t enjoy this book, I though that it was a little boring compared to the others in the spooks apprentice series. I have absolutely adored reading them and wanted to carry on with the wee ‘separate’ series. If I wasn’t dedicated to reading them all, I would have put this as a DNF.
I really hoped to see more of the spook, John Gregory, and was really disappointed that he was in it for about 5 minutes. I found William very annoying, and even though he reminded me of Tom in ways, I felt myself thinking it wouldn’t be a shame if the story ended there.
Given 3 stars as I know I hoped for much more than I should have done, and I love Delaney’s writing style. Looking forward to reading the witches stories and hope they are better.
January 1, 2015
It was a fast and fun read , I'm a huge fan of Wardstone Chronicles and I love Joseph Delaney's writing .
However , I didn't have big expectations for such a book and after I finished reading it , it proved to be true . Joseph Delaney can do a lot better , this book is very short and the plot is very simple , it be described very easily .
I wouldn't recommend you to read it if you are not a fan of the series . It's forgettable and clearly the least inspired story in the series . William , John Gregory's seventh apprentice , is not an interesting protagonist and what I particulary didn't like was that sometimes it reminded me too much of Tom Ward .
Even if I love Joseph Delaney's books , I can easily give the book two stars .
However , I didn't have big expectations for such a book and after I finished reading it , it proved to be true . Joseph Delaney can do a lot better , this book is very short and the plot is very simple , it be described very easily .
I wouldn't recommend you to read it if you are not a fan of the series . It's forgettable and clearly the least inspired story in the series . William , John Gregory's seventh apprentice , is not an interesting protagonist and what I particulary didn't like was that sometimes it reminded me too much of Tom Ward .
Even if I love Joseph Delaney's books , I can easily give the book two stars .
April 25, 2016
This is a short little story based in the last apprentice universe, in it we meet Will the spooks lazy seventh apprentice and how a series of events ends up with his life in danger and pigs everywhere. Overall it was an OK story but the main character was kind of a moron…I mean your training to fight evil so let's just do everything my master tells me not to do…moron. I did enjoy the witch in the story and to be honest that alone was worth the time to read it. Anyone that likes the series should check it out.
January 10, 2024
Astonishingly, this book was the best of the series I ever read.
For the first time in this series, there were credible situations and there was not a hero fallen from the sky at the right moment.
Plus, this book was so freaking ! I was scared, really scared with all the adventures that Will had to deal with.
And at last, I really felt a bound between Will and I. I identified myself from the first words I read.
What a pity that I've never felt like this with the whole series... (I precise that I don't still have read the last one. Can I hope to feel the same as this one ?...)
For the first time in this series, there were credible situations and there was not a hero fallen from the sky at the right moment.
Plus, this book was so freaking ! I was scared, really scared with all the adventures that Will had to deal with.
And at last, I really felt a bound between Will and I. I identified myself from the first words I read.
What a pity that I've never felt like this with the whole series... (I precise that I don't still have read the last one. Can I hope to feel the same as this one ?...)
June 4, 2024
John Gregory's seventh apprentice, Will Johnson, doesn't take his training seriously. And when he finds himself in trouble, Will wishes that he had.
It's been a while since I've been in the world of the Last Apprentice, and it is so easy to get back into. I didn't realize how much I missed it until I read this novella. It is a nice companion to the main series. If you love the series, you will enjoy this novella.
It's been a while since I've been in the world of the Last Apprentice, and it is so easy to get back into. I didn't realize how much I missed it until I read this novella. It is a nice companion to the main series. If you love the series, you will enjoy this novella.
January 14, 2015
ALways Good read!
Delaney is an awesome writer. I've read the entire series and loved every book. When I first started reading the Last Apprentice, I kept saying they should make a movie out of this wondrous tale...sooooo glad my wish will be reality soon. Please continue this magical story Mr. Delaney.
Delaney is an awesome writer. I've read the entire series and loved every book. When I first started reading the Last Apprentice, I kept saying they should make a movie out of this wondrous tale...sooooo glad my wish will be reality soon. Please continue this magical story Mr. Delaney.
January 19, 2015
For fans of The Last Apprentice this Novella is a great revisit back to the world of Will and the Spook.
Full Review can be found on my blog: http://libraryoftheseen.blogspot.com/...
Full Review can be found on my blog: http://libraryoftheseen.blogspot.com/...
March 12, 2016
Good quick read. If you are a fan of the series I recommend the book.
May 11, 2015
Could Joseph Delaney write more books? Seriously, they are just so addictive!
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews