Grimalkin the Witch Assassin (Last Apprentice Series #9)

by Joseph Delaney, Patrick Arrasmith (Illustrator)

Overview

"I'm coming for you, and nothing living or dead can stop me."

One witch is the most feared, the most ruthless, and the most deadly of all the witches in the county. If she hunts for you, she will find you. If you have crossed her, you don't stand a chance. She is the witch assassin, and her name is Grimalkin.

Grimalkin's one alliance is with Tom Ward, the Spook's apprentice. With Tom, she plans to rid the world of the most terrifying evil, the Fiend, who once did her great wrong.

For the first time, fans of the Last Apprentice series will hear the story from Grimalkin's side, as she is hunted herself by creatures of darkness set on revenge.

Grimalkin has never been defeated. But can she survive an enemy created for the sole purpose of destroying her?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062082091
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	04/17/2012
Series:	Last Apprentice Series
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	416
Sales rank:	213,952
Lexile:	810L (what's this?)
File size:	6 MB
Age Range:	13 - 17 Years

About the Author

Joseph DELANEY is the author of the internationally best-selling The Last Apprentice series, which is now a major motion picture, Seventh Son. He is a former English teacher who lives in the heart of boggart territory in Lancashire, England. His village has a boggart called the Hall Knocker, which was laid to rest under the step of a house near the church.

Editorial Reviews

This installment deviates from The Last Apprentice's usual formula, following witch assassin Grimalkin instead of Spook's apprentice Thomas Ward after the events of Rage of the Fallen (2011). The Fiend has been bound but not killed, so his servants seek to restore him. To prevent this, Grimalkin took his decapitated head with her--it must be reunited with the bound body for the Fiend to rise again. Narrated by Grimalkin rather than presented as Tom's writing, the story is in present tense. The immediacy ratchets up tension as increasing numbers of powerful dark servants pursue Grimalkin. Although the legendary witch assassin is among the best killers to ever have lived, she is endangered by a kretch, a she-wolf/demon hybrid created by dark-magic users specifically to kill her. Forced to seek help, stubbornly self-reliant Grimalkin leaves a path of violent devastation among her allies wherever she goes, making painful sacrifices to thwart the Fiend while Tom seeks ways to kill him. The narration and short, free-verse poems at the beginning of each chapter give a complex look into Grimalkin's peculiar thought processes, and her history is unveiled through the personal stories her protégé enjoys hearing time and again. While her voice differs greatly from the familiar Tom's, the closer look makes her all the more intriguing. A good balance between dark action and emotional costs. (Fantasy. 11-15)

Kirkus Reviews