Spooks Nightmare

The Spook's Nightmare is the seventh installment in The Wardstone Chronicles series of fantasy novels written by British author Joseph Delaney, published in UK in 2010. It follows the Adventures of the Spook, Alice Deane and Thomas Ward on the island of Mona. Its subtitle is "Are his powers waning?" which refers to the Spook.
The Wardstone Chronicles was published as The Last Apprentice series in the USA and is a dark fantasy series of books and published in the UK by The Bodley Head division of Random House Publishing.
Main Plot
The Spook, John Gregory, his apprentice, Thomas Ward and a benevolent young witch, Alice Deane are returning to Chipenden after their past adventure but the Spook notices a few kings men and is suspicious as they have looted their village. After a short duel with them the Spook returns to his home to find it brought down to ashes and the malevolent witch Bony Lizzie, Alice's step- mother been escaped from the pit. The Spooks realizes that his library is burnt too.
So, our group follows the trail of the witch and moves towards the trail and discover that she is hidden on the Mona Island. The Spook sends Tom and Alice, who fears about the blood jar and they go together to hire a captain but they are arrested by some men who have the 'ab-human' with them tied in chains. Tom and Alice are taken to some mysterious tower where they meet the bird with Adriana who tells them about how the warlock of the town wants to marry her by force, or else she will be tried a witch and send down rolling in spiked barrels or been feed to the buggane. Upon this Tom asks her about the buggane. She barely tells him about the buggane that he just crunches the bones and eats the soul sending it to limbo forever a curse.
The net day Alice and Tom are tried with many other woman mostly who die. Adriana is sent to the buggane. Tom survives to find Alice dead, but a bit later she awakes and tells him the art of stopping the heart. Thus they both escape in the town, where they are captured by Bony Lizzie. She tells them about her immense powers and how she can help them. Bony Lizzie and Tom and Alice are again captured by the Warlock who make up a fight between Tom and the three pets and also with the witch. Tom uses his time movement and three of them escape, the Shaman lost his grim ore to Bony Lizzie. Lizzie takes them to a pit where she tells them to follow her or die escaping. As they follow her, she takes them to the castle, who the prince is bewitched by Bony. She rules the Island now and starts war with the people. After their defeat she invites them in the castle as a gentleman mocks her so that she stone kills him fast.
The spook receives this news and they all with the help of Adrian kills the witch as she drowns her and the fish eats out her heart and thus kills the witch.
The buggane yet remains. The Spook, ill of health but still with Tom, Alice and the ab-human go to the tunnels and with 'immense power' the abhuman opens the vast tunnels and in anger the buggane attacks the people and takes form of a bull. Tom somehow manages to kill it with its silver spear and it takes the shape of the caterpillar and tom climbing him defeats him and thus they sail ashore back to the Chipenden.
Reception
The Times wrote a review for The Spook's Nightmare, praising its "Alan Garner-like thread of what feels like genuine local folklore, rooted in a real Lancastrian landscape."

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