Language English No. of books 13 Genre Dark fantasy Country United Kingdom | Published 2004–2014 Number of books 13 | |
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Illustrator UK - David Wyatt & Julek Heller
U.S. - Patrick Arrasmith & Tim Foley & Julek Heller Publisher UK - The Bodley Head division of Random House & Red Fox
U.S. - Greenwillow Books division of HarperCollins Followed by The Starblade Chronicles Books The Spook's Apprentice, The Spook's Curse, The Spook's Secret, The Last Apprentice: Attack of t, The Spook's Mistake | ||
The Wardstone Chronicles, published as The Last Apprentice series in the U.S., is a dark fantasy series of books written by British author Joseph Delaney and published in the UK by The Bodley Head division of Random House Publishing.
Contents
- Plot
- The Wardstone Chronicles
- The Starblade Chronicles
- Related books
- Illustrations
- Drama script
- Characters
- Reception
- Adaptation
- Audiobooks
- References
Plot
The Wardstone Chronicles follow Thomas "Tom" Ward, the seventh son of a seventh son who is apprenticed to John Gregory to become a Spook - a master fighter of supernatural evil. John Gregory is the Spook for "the County" and gives Tom practical instruction on tackling ghosts, ghasts, witches, boggarts, and all manner of other things that serve "The Dark". Tom soon discovers that most of John Gregory's apprentices have failed for various reasons, including being killed in the process of learning how to be a Spook. As the Chronicles progress the focus expands to other characters such as the assassin Grimalkin and the young witch Alice Deane; overall the series develops the plot line of Tom being destined to either save the world or destroy it.
"The County" referenced in the Chronicles is based on Lancashire in the North of England. Various County fictional towns are thinly-veiled modern day cities; for example, the town of Priestown is based on Preston (where author Delaney was born); Caster is school; Black Pool is Blackpool; Chipenden is Chipping.
The Wardstone Chronicles concluded in 2014, and are followed by The Starblade Chronicles, which are a planned trilogy following the continued adventures of Tom Ward, who has finished his apprenticeship and is now a Spook in his own right dedicated to fighting an unparalleled evil threatening the County, and the world.
The Wardstone Chronicles and The Starblade Chronicles are jointly referred to as The Spook's Series.
The Wardstone Chronicles
- The Spook's Apprentice (U.S. - The Last Apprentice: Revenge of the Witch) - 2004
- The Spook's Curse (U.S. - The Last Apprentice: Curse of the Bane) - 2005
- The Spook's Secret (U.S. - The Last Apprentice: Night of the Soul Stealer) - 2006
- The Spook's Battle (U.S. - The Last Apprentice: Attack of the Fiend) - 2007
- The Spook's Mistake (U.S. - The Last Apprentice: Wrath of the Bloodeye) - 2008
- The Spook's Sacrifice (U.S. - The Last Apprentice: Clash of the Demons) - 2009
- Spook's Nightmare (U.S. - The Last Apprentice: Rise of the Huntress) - 2010
- Spook's Destiny (U.S. - The Last Apprentice: Rage of the Fallen) - 2011
- Spook's: I Am Grimalkin (U.S. - The Last Apprentice: Grimalkin The Witch Assassin) - 2011
- The Spook's Blood (U.S. - The Last Apprentice: Lure of the Dead) - 2012
- Spook's: Slither's Tale (U.S. - The Last Apprentice: Slither) - 2013
- Spook's: Alice (U.S. - The Last Apprentice: I Am Alice) - 2013
- The Spook's Revenge (U.S. - The Last Apprentice: Fury of the Seventh Son) - 2014
The Starblade Chronicles
- Spook's: A New Darkness - 2015
- Spook's: The Dark Army - 2016
- Spook's: The Dark Assassin - 2017
Related books
Illustrations
The illustrator for the original and UK releases is David Wyatt, providing the original series covers and the illustrations for each chapter. A noteworthy feature of the U.S.-released books are the illustrations by Patrick Arrasmith; in addition to the cover art, Arrasmith designed pen and ink drawings which precede every chapter in the books.
Drama script
In 2014, Stephen Delaney, Joseph Delaney's son, adapted The Spook's Apprentice into a 160-page play script; it is published under the title The Spook's Apprentice - Play Edition.
Characters
Reception
The Wardstone Chronicles are published in 26 countries: UK, U.S., Brazil, China, Czech Republic, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Spain, Sweden, Norway, Thailand, and Turkey. Sales of the Chronicles have exceeded 1 million copies.
Critical reception of the series has been positive, with two of the books in the series making the ALSC's 2006 list of "Notable Videos/DVDs, Recordings, Software, and Subscription Services" and the YALSA's list of "Fabulous Films & Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults" for 2009. The Spook's Apprentice was the winner of both the Sefton Book Award and the Hampshire Book Award.
Adaptation
A film adaptation of The Spook's Apprentice was produced by Legendary Pictures in 2015 and directed by Sergey Bodrov and entitled Seventh Son. Ben Barnes starred as the main protagonist Thomas Ward. The other cast members were Jeff Bridges as John Gregory (the Spook), Julianne Moore as Mother Malkin, Alicia Vikander as Alice Deane, Kit Harington as Billy Bradley, Djimon Hounsou as Radu (an original character), and Antje Traue as Bony Lizzie.
Audiobooks
Audiobook versions of the series (unabridged) have been released in both the UK and the U.S.. The UK audiobooks were produced by Random House Audio. Jamie Glover read Book 1 and Will Thorp read Book 2. Thomas Judd read Books 3 through 8 and Book 10. Gabrielle Glaister read Book 9, Toby Longworth and Kate Harbour jointly read Book 11, and Annie Hemingway read Book 12. Random House Audio also produced an abridged version of The Spook's Apprentice which is read by Daniel Weyman.
The U.S. audiobooks were produced by Harper Audio. Christopher Evan Welch read Books 1 through 10, and he was joined by Angela Goethals in reading Book 11. Welch also read the short story collection The Spook's Tale And Other Horrors. Welch died of lung cancer in 2013. Angela Goethals read Book 12 and Alexander Cendese read Book 13.