Night of the Soul Stealer is the third book in The Last Apprentice series by Joseph Delaney and continues the adventures of young Thomas Ward during his apprenticeship with the Spook. Winter is coming and with it their move to Anglezarke and the Spook’s winter home. Shortly before their move the Spook receives a letter from a man named Morgan who threatens the Spook which unsettled Tom and Alice. They are also informed that Alice will be staying with a family that owes the Spook a favor during the winter instead of with them. Things get dangerous in Anglezarke though when they learn that Alice’s foster family were also Morgan’s family and he still has a potentially dangerous hold over them. Tom also has to deal with Meg, the labia witch that the Spook had fallen in love with years earlier and who lives in his winter house. Taking all of these together and it looks like young Tom has a long and more than likely dangerous winter ahead of him, especially when faced with threats from both Morgan and others.
This book is a good addition to what is shaping up to be a pretty interesting series even if it does play up the stereotypical myths about various supposedly evil creatures such as boggarts and witches. I may not like that aspect of the story but I do like how Tom is always pushing back on that one. He repeatedly stands up to the Spook about the way he interacts with and treats various entities and frequently in regards to Alice. In doing so he is also, at least in this particular book, calling the Spook out for being a hypocrite which I find rather amusing. It makes for some rather fascinating and complex elements and layers to the story. For instance, the Spook is always going on about how Tom should not trust Alice because she was raised a witch even if she doesn’t practice and yet he fell in love with and essentially holds captive a lamia witch. When Tom questions him about his treatment of Meg he is also bringing up, indirectly, what love should look like and also what common decency is and how to appropriately treat other human beings. I know kids probably are not going to notice this but it may still make them think about these kinds of things. On top of that the plots are getting more complex and I say that because this book seemed to have multiple plot lines being played out over the course of the story. Mind you the different storylines were mostly connected but it was overall more complex which I rather enjoyed. The author did a good job of interweaving all of them to create a complex multi-layered narrative that was also still very engaging. It was a nice, easy and enjoyable read so I am happy to give it four out of five stars.
This is a good example of a teen fantasy novel and if you happen to be a teenager who enjoys that genre you might consider trying this one. It would probably hold more appeal for younger teens than older teens though so I would suggest the eleven to fifteen age range. I highly doubt it will hold a lot of appeal for readers older than that though they are welcome to try it. While you could read this story as a stand alone I would recommend reading the previous books to have a better background and to get the full picture. There wasn’t really any questionable content unless you count the stereotypical negative portrayal of witches even though that was appropriate for the time period being portrayed. Either way it is a good series so consider sharing your thoughts in the comments if you decide to try it.