Book Club - by Suhaili

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The Spook's Apprentice

May 17th 2006 07:46

The Spook's Apprentice (great cover!)

Look at this fantastic cover! Why is it that children's books almost always have better covers than their adult counterparts? Look at a Stephen King cover and you'll see some murky half-lighty crap pushed into one corner of the cover by his enormous name. Better yet, look at an average literature novel's cover and you'll see some painting from the 17th century plastered across the front that has next to nothing to do with the book's plot (oh no, it's meant to be evocative of the 'mood', give me a break arseholes!) This links in to my point about judging a book by it's cover... you see, I think it's perfectly okay to judge a book by it's cover. If the author's name is ten centimetres high then you know you can probably expect some bland crap coasting along on the author's fame and boisted by their own self-assurance (read: arrogance). If the cover's illustration is depicted in a certain way, you can tell how the publisher (or author, if they have enough clout to have final decision on what goes on the cover) wishes to market the book... if it's arty then it probably reflects how they want to you to see the text. If it's stark and simplistic it might reflect the in-your-face nature of the book (think Chuck Palahniuk). The most universally highly-regarded books have next to nothing on their covers because they don't need to advertise.

Children's books seem to have the kind of cover that intrigues and instills a real sense of adventure. Don't the publishers realise that adults want to be whisked away on adventures too?

Anyway, I've crapped on about judging covers enough. 'The Spook's Apprentice' is the first in a series of books by Joseph DeLaney called 'The Wardstone Chronicles'. The second book only came out about six or so months ago. This first book kind of slipped under the radar I think, despite having such a great cover (did I mention how brilliant the cover is?) Hopefully as the series continues it'll build momentum and get the kudos it deserves, if only for it's fantastic cover.

Boggart country

It's a fairly slight book, which would make one think it was aimed at the quite young, but I'm not sure this is the case and it does get quite gruesome in parts (think baby-eating witches). Then again, kids love all that stuff don't they? I guess it depends on how much the parent in question is willing to let their handles. The Spook of the title is a remote and enigmatic figure whose job entails ridding his area of various nasty supernatural beings - witches, boggarts, etc, etc. He isn't liked by the villages he serves, mostly because of what he deals in, but he is tolerated because his job is a neccessary one. The hero of the novel is young Thomas, a seventh son of a seventh son, who is given to the Spook to be trained as his apprentice. He accidentally frees Mother Malkin - a hideous and deformed old witch hellbent on reeking havoc and revenge, and is pretty much dropped in at the deep end from there on in.

This is a great and atmospheric book for young and older readers alike. Like I said before, it's a bit gruesome in parts so it might not be for the squeamish, but young teenage boys will love it to bits. It has a really cool 'old world' feel about it and deserves to be appreciated more.

Book Club - by Suhaili

The Spook's Apprentice

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