Tuesday, January 14, 2014

YA Review: The Last Apprentice: Slither (Book 11) by Joseph Delaney

Age Range: 14 and up

Genre: Fantasy/Horror

Series: The Last Apprentice (Book 11)

Hardcover: 416 pages

Publisher: Greenwillow Books (January 22, 2013)

Language: English

Source: Won in a First Reads Giveaway

My Rating: 4 of 5 stars








About the Book:

The eleventh volume in the spine-tingling, best-selling Last Apprentice series. In Slither, Joseph Delaney takes us far from the county, to a land where a spook has never set foot and where terrifying creatures of the dark thrive. Slither is one of these monsters, and Book 11 is his tale.

Slither has never heard of Tom Ward, the Spook, or Alice Deane. He thirsts for blood. He takes it from whatever he wants, animal or human. And he has his eyes on the home of a farmer and his three daughters. With his dying breath, the farmer offers Slither a bargain. If Slither will take his two youngest daughters to safety, the eldest daughter is his. A journey of horrors begins . . . and along the way Slither will meet Grimalkin, who is still searching for a way to destroy the Fiend for good.

The eleventh volume in the series that inspired the major motion picture Seventh Son, starring Jeff Bridges, Julianne Moore, and Ben Barnes.

Amazon | Goodreads | Barnes & Noble




About the Author:

Joseph Delaney formerly taught media and film studies at a high school in Blackpool, England. He lives with his family in Lancashire, in the middle of boggart territory.









My Thoughts:

I won this book in a Goodreads First Reads giveaway. I must have been in a weird mood the day I entered the giveaway because horror novels are SO not my thing. It took almost a year of staring at it on my shelf before I decided to bite the bullet and read it.

This is the eleventh book in a series, but as far as I can tell, it is only loosely connected with the rest of the books and can be read on it's own. It is told from alternating point of views between Slither, a Kobalos creature, and Nessa, the girl he inherits from a trade with her father. Trade is very important to Slither and his people, so he does his best to honor the bargain he struck with the girl's father. The thing I like about Slither is that he never pretends to be something other than the beast he is. He is a blood thirsty monster, and he doesn't apologize for it. I like the respect and almost friendship/alliance that he and Nessa develop. It makes them both grow as characters. Nessa proves to be brave and selfless almost to a fault. She defends and protects her two younger sisters at her own risk and peril, even when they don't really deserve it. 

Now, this is a horror book. It is full of declarations of blood lust and dire intentions. There are gruesome fights and lots of beheadings. Horror tends to either scare me to death or bore me to death. I will admit that the constant yearning for blood and intents to carve flesh caused me some boredom and more than a few eye rolls. But the rest of the story I actually liked. The characters were interesting. Their journey was intense and I was fascinated by the customs and traditions of the Kobalos. 

Recommended for teens ages 14 and up that like horror and fantasy. 

Content: Horror, blood and guts, violence, disturbing scenes.

FOUR STARS


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