The Spook's Sacrifice

 

Image credit: Penguin Books Aus.

So I’m in an interesting place right now, as I read the sixth instalment in The Wardstone Chronicles this week and, sadly, this is the last book that is in our library. For those interested, there are thirteen books in the series, but sadly this is where the adventure stops for me… at least for a while…

After facing the wrath of one of the Devil’s daughters, the water witch Morwena, and saving fellow spook, Bill Arkwright’s life, Thomas Ward has gone back to life in Chipenden and back to his studies with the Spook. But that quiet life is short-lived when his Mam returns to the County and asks that he and the Spook come back with her to her homeland of Greece to help her fight against the dark. With a plan to deal the Fiend a weakening blow by going after another of the Old Gods, the Ordeen, Mrs. Ward rallies a force of light and dark together to end the Ordeen’s ravaging of Greece once and for all. Can Tom and the Spook really trust their enemies for the greater good? And what else does Tom not know about his Mam?

The Spook’s Sacrifice is a refreshing change of scenery and a very exciting book. While not all of its potential is brought to the foreground (e.g. more mythical monsters from Ancient Greek legends) it successfully makes the world bigger, richer, and it widens the character journeys even further. There is much drama lingering within its pages, as new enemies are fought, new alliances are made, and new (different) wars break out. 

Image credit: Goodreads

Delaney’s simple prose quickly captivates and excites, creating clear images of the world and its inhabitants as well as moving along at a perfect narrative pace. However, this is also the book where a new level of desperation and despair comes into the mix. Events take place and truths are uncovered that completely change the tone, as well as the readers’ opinions of characters and how they perceive the world of the novel: a bit like the tagline for the latest Skullduggery Pleasant book: “everything you know is wrong”. While not as blunt as that, there’s certainly a bit of a spanner thrown into the works of this book that changes the direction of the story and turns it away from what we predict. It’s very well done.

The Spook’s Sacrifice is another great novel in a fun and exciting children’s series that I have really enjoyed reading. 

Author: Joseph Delaney, 2008

Published: The Bodley Head, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books (Great Britain)

Chronicle: The Spook’s Sacrifice is the 6th book in Delaney’s The Wardstone Chronicles series