by The WandererAuthor: Joseph Delaney
Publisher: The Bodley Head
Genre: Middle Grade, Fantasy
Series: The Last Apprentice Book One
Pages: 325
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The first book in Joseph Delaney’s Last Apprentice Series (called The Wardstone Chronicles in Britain) doesn’t bring a whole lot to the table. The plot lacks excitement, the protagonists are bland, the villain is a tired witch cliche, and the prose can get redundant. Subtle expressions of misogyny creep into the story, too.
Revenge of the Witch may entertain some children, but I’d be willing to bet they’d be disappointed by the book if they were ever to come back to it as adults. There are some tough life lessons, but a well written book for a younger audience will manage to throw in those lessons while telling a great story. This isn’t a great story, it’s mediocre at best.
