Reviews

While I've enjoyed the Last Apprentice series of books, they've never quite been my favorite series. They're good, but they always lacked something or had parts of the book that I didn't really enjoy. Attack of the Fiend manages to escape these issues and rise above the previous books in the series for me.

Thinking about it I think it's a combination of a few things. The first is that the Spook, John Gregory, isn't in the book all that much. I tend to think the Spook is a bit too strict and a bit condescending to Tom Ward, our protagonist, for no real good reason. When he is in the book he's more supportive and working as a team with Tom. I liked this much better than the do as I say, not as I have done or do methods he's employed in previous books.

Second, Alice is pretty solid in this book. No betrayals she is pretty resolutely on Tom's side and it's enjoyable to see. I like Alice with her walk the line kind of presentation. There is darkness in her, but there is also good. It's always interesting to watch her walk these lines.

Third, the book doesn't really let you catch your breath. There aren't really slow points to have you or the characters stop, regroup, and get a bit of a break. It's a constant realization that things are much worse than anyone quite realized. This makes for a good tense ride with some pretty high stakes involved.

This book also keeps you interested as the story is not quite as stand alone as the last books have been. The dark is not thwarted here, but rather gets the win here at least in the short term. This sets up our biggest evil yet to be the antagonist for who knows how many books. It will be very interesting to see how these parts all come together.

While I did like the book better than the previous ones, there were still a few shortcomings. Tom gets some help from an unexpected place about 3/4 through the book that feel like they do a lot of heavy lifting in order for the plot to move forward believably. I think it makes sense overall, but it is a bit too convenient feeling at times.

Also I wasn't a huge fan of the fact that we have another witch that is infatuated with Tom and wanting him to be hers. Like what is up with you Tom? You just appear and have these young witches wanting to make you theirs. It's just a bit weird and wasn't my favorite plot points in the book.

Despite these shortcomings I still enjoyed the book quite a bit and will be looking forward to reading the next in the series. Time will tell if the series will go back down to where it was previously for me or stay as enjoyable as this book was for me.