Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
The Last Apprentice: Wrath of the Bloodeye
Illustrator: Patrick Arrasmith
Fiction Series
For ages 12 and up
HarperCollins, 2008 ISBN: 978-0061344619
Tom Ward has made a lot of progress since he started his apprenticeship two years ago. Now his master, the Spook, wants to send Tom to apprentice for six months with another spook who is called Bill Arkwright. Bill will be able to help Tom improve his combat skills, and because he lives in an area where there are many bogs and marshes, Bill will also be able to teach Tom about water witches and other “things that come out of the water.” The Spook also hopes that Tom will be safer with Bill. Since the Fiend was brought into the world a few months ago, the Spook has lived with the fear that the “dark made flesh, the Devil himself,” will harm Tom in some way.
When he gets to Bill’s ghost ridden house, Tom soon finds out that Bill is not like the Spook. He is prone to drinking heavily, and when he is drunk he is mean and vicious. Bill is not an easy man to be around, but he certainly knows a great deal about water witches and their ways. Tom is not at Bill’s house long before they begin tracking Morwena, a terrible and dangerous water witch who has claimed dozens of innocent lives. What neither Tom nor Bill realize is that Morwena has a frightful ally, an ally whose power seems to have no boundaries.
This is the fifth book in the Last Apprentice series, and readers who have enjoyed the previous titles are sure to enjoy this thrilling, often blood chilling, account. As always, we find out new things about Tom Ward’s world. As we read about his adventures and misadventures, we come to appreciate more than ever that his chosen line of work is not for the faint of heart.
