Scan barcode
A review by dullshimmer
The Last Apprentice: Curse of the Bane (Book 2) by Joseph Delaney
4.0
Curse of the Bane is the second book in the Last Apprentice series of books. It continues the story of Tom Ward, who has become the apprentice of the local Spook. A Spook is a profession that fights against the Dark and takes out various monsters and supernatural forces that terrorize the land.
This book starts out with Tom having to face a threat on his own since the Spook, John Gregory, has been severely ill and unable to handle it. This gives us a chance to see how Tom has grown since we left him last book and we see that even though he has only been an apprentice for about a half a year that he seems very capable
Unfortunately, a victim of the threat is John's brother who was a priest and trying to take care of the threat himself. Preists don't seem to be very effective at fighting the dark in the world of the Last Apprentice so it wound up costing him his life. Despite not talking to his brother for many years, John decides to go to his funeral at Priestown to see the funeral and take care of a dark creature there known as the Bane that almost killed John earlier in his life.
The Bane has been growing in power over the year and has started corrupting the priests or driving them mad over time. However, the Bane isn't the only threat in Priestown, the Quisitor has also arrived in Priestown. The Quisitor is man who is cruel and accused people of being witches or warlocks without any evidence and takes great joy in torturing and killing them. He also becomes rich by selling the belongings and property of those he accuses. He also thinks that Spooks are in league with the Dark and are actually Warlocks.
I like the Last Apprentice series pretty well, but I wouldn't call them my favorites. I do like the dark fantasy setting and the interesting battle between Spooks and the forces of darkness. I also like the world building as it creates an interesting world of good and evil even if it often feels a bit like a bleak one. I am interested in learning more about the world and what else awaits our heroes in the future.
My problem is mainly the characters. I really like Tom and he seems to have an overall good head on his shoulders, except maybe when it comes to Alice, but I do understand his conflict regarding her. I also really like Tom's Mam, although I am intrigued to learn more about who she is and just how powerful she is.
The ones that are much more mixed are The Spook and Alice. The Spook is just so gruff and seems to operate with a do as I say not as I do mentality, which just kind of grates on me with time. I mean he definitely is capable and can be likable, he's also rather stubborn and headstrong about certain things that he maybe should know better about. He also has quite a few secrets and who knows how many more there are that Tom doesn't find out about in this book.
Alice is also rather frustrating. I like much of Alice, but she always seems to make some questionable choices in the course of each book. She's one who dabbles a bit too close to the Dark and it makes her hard to fully trust her motivations. I think she does genuinely care for Tom, but she's just a character who is hard to completely embrace.
My other complaint about the book is that I thought the Bane was killed maybe a bit too simply. I mean it appears as this big mystery of how to deal with the Bane, but the resolution to that was a bit more simple than I thought it would be. I wished there was a bit more complexity to defeating it. The battle against it at the end was interesting even without it being a clever or complex way of taking it down, so I guess that's good enough.
Overall I enjoy the world and story these books bring to the table. I have some trouble really connecting or liking some of the characters, but I do really like the main character. While it may not be a series I would consider my favorite, I do consider it a good read and will be looking forward to seeing where the other books take me.
This book starts out with Tom having to face a threat on his own since the Spook, John Gregory, has been severely ill and unable to handle it. This gives us a chance to see how Tom has grown since we left him last book and we see that even though he has only been an apprentice for about a half a year that he seems very capable
Unfortunately, a victim of the threat is John's brother who was a priest and trying to take care of the threat himself. Preists don't seem to be very effective at fighting the dark in the world of the Last Apprentice so it wound up costing him his life. Despite not talking to his brother for many years, John decides to go to his funeral at Priestown to see the funeral and take care of a dark creature there known as the Bane that almost killed John earlier in his life.
The Bane has been growing in power over the year and has started corrupting the priests or driving them mad over time. However, the Bane isn't the only threat in Priestown, the Quisitor has also arrived in Priestown. The Quisitor is man who is cruel and accused people of being witches or warlocks without any evidence and takes great joy in torturing and killing them. He also becomes rich by selling the belongings and property of those he accuses. He also thinks that Spooks are in league with the Dark and are actually Warlocks.
I like the Last Apprentice series pretty well, but I wouldn't call them my favorites. I do like the dark fantasy setting and the interesting battle between Spooks and the forces of darkness. I also like the world building as it creates an interesting world of good and evil even if it often feels a bit like a bleak one. I am interested in learning more about the world and what else awaits our heroes in the future.
My problem is mainly the characters. I really like Tom and he seems to have an overall good head on his shoulders, except maybe when it comes to Alice, but I do understand his conflict regarding her. I also really like Tom's Mam, although I am intrigued to learn more about who she is and just how powerful she is.
The ones that are much more mixed are The Spook and Alice. The Spook is just so gruff and seems to operate with a do as I say not as I do mentality, which just kind of grates on me with time. I mean he definitely is capable and can be likable, he's also rather stubborn and headstrong about certain things that he maybe should know better about. He also has quite a few secrets and who knows how many more there are that Tom doesn't find out about in this book.
Alice is also rather frustrating. I like much of Alice, but she always seems to make some questionable choices in the course of each book. She's one who dabbles a bit too close to the Dark and it makes her hard to fully trust her motivations. I think she does genuinely care for Tom, but she's just a character who is hard to completely embrace.
My other complaint about the book is that I thought the Bane was killed maybe a bit too simply. I mean it appears as this big mystery of how to deal with the Bane, but the resolution to that was a bit more simple than I thought it would be. I wished there was a bit more complexity to defeating it. The battle against it at the end was interesting even without it being a clever or complex way of taking it down, so I guess that's good enough.
Overall I enjoy the world and story these books bring to the table. I have some trouble really connecting or liking some of the characters, but I do really like the main character. While it may not be a series I would consider my favorite, I do consider it a good read and will be looking forward to seeing where the other books take me.