A review by nightshade_novels
The Spook's Battle by Joseph Delaney
4.0
So far I have found the plots of this series rather predictable, but this was not the case with this book. For once there was more to the story and plenty of plot twists that kept me interested. I certainly did not expect Tom’s Mam’s trunks to contain
The storyline, for me, was more realistic as the Spook and Tom were facing several clans of witches. Up until now they have just been facing one or a couple of enemies at a time, meaning it was fairly easy to overcome them and win. However finally they were put into a situation where things were beyond their control and skill and even though they did a good job, they did not succeed in stopping the witches from raising the Devil. This will no doubt lead onto further storylines in the next books.
This book finally introduced an enemy who had the potential to be properly scary. This was the witch assassin Grimalkin, who favours torturing people by cutting up their skin and bones using her collection of scissors and knives. In my opinion Grimalkin was underused, but as she survived this book there is potential for her to return. The one thing that annoyed me was how easily Tom seemed get the better of her near the end of the book despite her being portrayed as very strong and cunning.
There seemed to be a lot of setting up of the relationship between Tom and Alice in this book. Alice saved Tom a couple more times and he saved her, further building the trust between them. It was also revealed that when Alice dug her nails into Tom’s arm in the first book she somehow claimed him as her own so that no other witch can claim him. There was also a lot of emphasis on the prophecy that Alice will love Tom, betray him and then die for him. This seems likely as most of the other prophesies have so far come true, despite the Spook not believing in them. Something that was different in this book was that at the end of the story after Tom had signed off there was an extra chapter from Alice’s point of view. This chapter explained what happened to her when she journeyed to Pendle alone. I enjoyed this as Alice is my favourite character in the series. I like her no-nonsense approach and the way she is fighting to be good despite her dark upbringing. I also like the way that she speaks, often adding the verb at the end of the sentence instead of the beginning, for example: “Got you now, Tom, I have!” and “Ain’t good enough, that.”
This book was the best in the series so far, with some more realistic danger and interesting plot and therefore it receives four stars.
Spoiler
her two feral lamia sisters.The storyline, for me, was more realistic as the Spook and Tom were facing several clans of witches. Up until now they have just been facing one or a couple of enemies at a time, meaning it was fairly easy to overcome them and win. However finally they were put into a situation where things were beyond their control and skill and even though they did a good job, they did not succeed in stopping the witches from raising the Devil. This will no doubt lead onto further storylines in the next books.
This book finally introduced an enemy who had the potential to be properly scary. This was the witch assassin Grimalkin, who favours torturing people by cutting up their skin and bones using her collection of scissors and knives. In my opinion Grimalkin was underused, but as she survived this book there is potential for her to return. The one thing that annoyed me was how easily Tom seemed get the better of her near the end of the book despite her being portrayed as very strong and cunning.
There seemed to be a lot of setting up of the relationship between Tom and Alice in this book. Alice saved Tom a couple more times and he saved her, further building the trust between them. It was also revealed that when Alice dug her nails into Tom’s arm in the first book she somehow claimed him as her own so that no other witch can claim him. There was also a lot of emphasis on the prophecy that Alice will love Tom, betray him and then die for him. This seems likely as most of the other prophesies have so far come true, despite the Spook not believing in them. Something that was different in this book was that at the end of the story after Tom had signed off there was an extra chapter from Alice’s point of view. This chapter explained what happened to her when she journeyed to Pendle alone. I enjoyed this as Alice is my favourite character in the series. I like her no-nonsense approach and the way she is fighting to be good despite her dark upbringing. I also like the way that she speaks, often adding the verb at the end of the sentence instead of the beginning, for example: “Got you now, Tom, I have!” and “Ain’t good enough, that.”
This book was the best in the series so far, with some more realistic danger and interesting plot and therefore it receives four stars.