12, 13, 14 The Last Apprentice, by Joseph Delaney

Hey, I'm back! I started a bunch of reviews 4 months ago, so I'll finish some of those and then skip around, probably not reviewing much of what I read this summer. Oh well. At least this blog is alive again.

I lost the piece of paper I used to take notes on this book, and I finished it ages ago, but we'll see what I can remember (the entire point of this blog...oh well) about what I wanted to say.

This book is the first in a series. I'm actually up to book 4 in this series now, since I started this entry early last May. So Technically this entry can be about Revenge of the Witch, Curse of the Bane and Night of the Soul-Stealer. Anyway, the series is about a kid named Thomas Ward who is the seventh son of a seventh son, which means he is eligible to apprentice as a Spook. A spook lives a solitary and terrifying life, wandering around the country and getting rid of evil things that plague everyday society. It's not any sort of secret, though. Everyone's aware of ghosts and boggarts and witches and things, and they need a spook's knowhow on defeating this kind of thing to live peacefully.

I am kind of a wimp when it comes to scary things and I will admit that I read this in my bed at night with my bankie wrapped around me tightly. It wasn't too scary, though. I really like the art in this book, too. There is a whole page for chapter art, not just below the chapter titles, so that's neat. Lots of crosshatching and sketchy linework or whatever it is that art stuff is called.

Something that is kind of annoying, though, is how the back covers proclaim that this is the ideal series for kids who've outgrown Harry Potter. Sunday Times Review, please! These books are cool, and they have neat, creatively imagined monsters and an intricate enough plotline, yes. But there's no way it's even close to as scary or complex or sad or risque as HP. I wonder how many books in this blog I compare to Harry Potter? Maybe I should read less YA fantasy. Or maybe not.
Pages: 340-500, depending on which book
Time: may-july
Rating: 7

8. Fables Vol. 1 by Bill Willingham, etc

I apparently like graphic novels a lot more than I thought I did. Owen gave me this one and neglected to tell me the premise, so it took me a second to figure out exactly what was going on. And then I was a bit skeptical, but not for too long.

Basically every character from any fable that didn't have creative rights restricting it is in this series. Snow White is more or less running this exiled kingdom of fables, who are all living in our world, as some Opponent that you don't learn much about in book 1 has invaded their homelands and kicked them out into our dimension. Other characters of note are detective Bigby (big bad) Wolf, Prince Charming (the womanizing douche), Beauty, The Beast, Jack (as in the beanstalk), etc.

The plot revolved around Rose Red (Snow White's sister, ya know)'s mysterious death. I'm not ususally much for mysteries, but it was fun. And well drawn. I especially like the art between chapters. I know it sounds lame. But it wasn't really. With everyone being immortal and all, they've all had time to sleep with everyone, create grudges, have lots of tension of all kinds, etc.

I will probably read more of the series at some point.

I am also like 5 books behind on this thing. G'damn. I'll probably write shorter reviews til I can catch up.

Pages: 120
Time: Not sure. Probably around Mar 15-17?
Rating: I am not obsessed with comic books, but for what it was, it was good. So... 7?