By: Noah Rand

The “Last Apprentice” series is thrilling and chilling at the same time. You’ll never get bored reading this book, it’s a page -turner. The story is about Tom Ward, the apprentice to Old Gregory, the county spook. They rid the county of Witches, Bogart's, and Ghosts. In the first book, Tom begins his apprenticeship and in the end kills Old Mother Malkin, a powerful malevolent witch who feeds on the blood of children. In the second book, they face the Bane, a creature of darkness that was worshipped as a god. Tom and the spook must prepare for the battle of their lives.

Very little is known about this dark creature. When it was free in the ancient times, it terrorized the Seganti, little people that lived ages ago. It was so powerful that not even their powerful king Hays could defeat it. The Bane demanded the king to sacrifice his seven sons, one each year. However, the last son, Naze, managed to imprison the Bane behind a silver gate in the catacombs. Sadly, the Bane pressed Naze to death after he was bound. Century's passed. At first there was almost nothing there. As the years increased, mysterious deaths increased. Death increases continue to the present day.

Tomas J. Ward has been apprenticed to the county spook for a few months now. It is wintertime, and they are just about ready to go to the winter house. Then Tom receives a mysterious letter addressed to the spook. It’s from Morgan, the spooks former apprentice who has turned to the dark. Then the spook decides to go to the winter house. Unfortunately, Morgan follows them and demands a favor from Tom. Morgan wants Tom to steal a special ritual book from the spook’s library. However, this is no ordinary spell book. It contains the ritual for summoning Golgoth, the most powerful of the old gods and lord of the winter. If Morgan awakens Golgoth, winter will last for years and

years to come. If this happens, food will be lost and everyone will starve. It’s up to the spook to make sure Golgoth isn’t awakened.

In the ancient times there were 7 gods. The most powerful of these gods was Golgoth, the lord of the winter. He was so powerful that he could make winter last forever. To prevent this, a group of men sealed him away in a chamber. Only a certain ritual could awaken him, but it had to be perfect. The hard part is that a sacrificed animal would certainly die of fright, so a human must be used instead. This sacrifice demands 100% perfection. Not even the slightest amount of dirt is allowed where the sacrifice takes place. Legend states that during the winter, Golgoth sometimes stirs in his sleep. Due to this, the spook fears that he could awaken soon.

The Last Apprentice III

The Last Apprentice V