A review by taseenmuhtadi
Thomas Ward l'épouvanteur by Marie-Hélène Delval, Joseph Delaney

2.0

I must say I didn't find this book particularly interesting. The characters weren't fully fleshed out. And the story was rushed and patchy.

I've read the Wardstone Chronicles and loved that series. I know most of the characters, but in this book they didn't come accross as well thought-out. And the new enemy wasn't all they were being made out to be. The story didn't make a great deal of sense.

Spoiler

Throughout the previous series Spook Gregory and his apprentice Tom went further and further from regular spook's business and actually went to open war; but it fit-in in context of that series. In this series Grimalkin basically manipulates Tom, now the Chipenden spook, into joining a war. Considering what I know of characters from previous series, neither characters were likely to do that or let it happen.

The book has another major flaw. It says you don't have to know the previous series to read this book, but this book was full of flashbacks and references to the Wardstone Chronicles that would make a new reader feel out of place. I didn't like the flashbacks and references even though I've read the Wardstone Chronicles; they just weren't done properly. So overall, this new entry was not up to the mark of Joseph Delaney's preceding series.