The Spook's Curse
Encyclopedia
The Spook's Curse is the second book in the Wardstone Chronicles
series. In America, it was released as the second book in The Last Apprentice series, with the title Curse of the Bane.
under the city. The demon, also known as the Bane, has already bested the Spook once and has since grown in power. The Spook makes preparations to enter the catacombs but is betrayed by his cousin, Father Cairns and is arrested by the Quisitor.
Tom enters the catacombs to slip inside the prisons undetected, but only manages to free Alice. Andrew hides them into a haunted house in town and they fall asleep. The Bane comes to tempt them both in their dreams, yet although Tom refuses him, he wakes up to find Alice at the Silver Gate, where she confesses she made a deal with the Bane so that she could help him. She helps save the Spook and the other prisoners from the execution.
Tom takes the Spook to his mother who heals him and they set out to find the cemetery of the segantii, the first people to have bound the Bane. Their leader, Naze, tells them that he too had made a pact with the Bane, so that if the Bane was to be freed and then enter his prison once again, he was to be bound there for the rest of the Bane's existence. Following this information, the Spook takes Alice back to the catacombs. Tom follows without his knowledge after opening a letter from his mother where she wrote that if he does not go too, both the Spook and Alice will die pointlessly.
After Alice summons the Bane, he whisks her away and turns into his material form to feed for the last time from her blood. The Spook being knocked out, Tom follows the Bane on his own and binds him with the silver chain that his mother gave him on his last visit. The Bane tries once again to sway him but fails and Tom kills him. He dies, as predicted by Naze, but Alice doesn't let him go and uses the power of the mark she'd made on his arm during the events in The Spook's Apprentice
to bring him back to life.
The Spook, Alice and Tom return to Chippenden where the Spook tries to put Alice into the pit he had Tom dig for her. Tom uses what he knows about Meg Skelton and the Spook to demand Alice's freedom and the Spook is swayed. He allows Alice to stay at Chippenden in exchange for her knowledge about witches and her skills with latin
.
Chapter Two: The Spook's Tale
Chapter Three: The Bane
Chapter Four: Priestown
Chapter Five: The Funeral
Chapter Six: A Pact with Hell
Chapter Seven: Escape and Capture
Chapter Eight: Brother Peter's Tale
Chapter Nine: The Catacombs
Chapter Ten: Girl Spit
Chapter Eleven: The Spook's Trial
Chapter Twelve: The Silver Gate
Chapter Thirteen: The Burning
Chapter Fourteen: Dad's Tale
Chapter Fifteen: The Silver Chain
Chapter Sixteen: A Pit for Alice
Chapter Seventeen: The Quisitor Arrives
Chapter Eighteen: Nightmare on the Hill
Chapter Nineteen: The Stone Graves
Chapter Twenty: Mam's Letter
Chapter Twenty-One: A Sacrifice
Chapter Twenty-Two: A Bargain's a Bargain
The Wardstone Chronicles
The Wardstone Chronicles is a dark fantasy series of books written by British author Joseph Delaney and published by Random House Publishing...
series. In America, it was released as the second book in The Last Apprentice series, with the title Curse of the Bane.
Plot summary
The book begins with Tom binding a Ripper in Horshaw. Although he is successful, the Ripper's victim, Father Gregory, the Spook's brother, dies from shock. He's sent to be buried in Priestown and the Spook goes there with Tom, to pay his respects and to finally deal with an ancient demon locked in the catacombsCatacombs
Catacombs, human-made subterranean passageways for religious practice. Any chamber used as a burial place can be described as a catacomb, although the word is most commonly associated with the Roman empire...
under the city. The demon, also known as the Bane, has already bested the Spook once and has since grown in power. The Spook makes preparations to enter the catacombs but is betrayed by his cousin, Father Cairns and is arrested by the Quisitor.
Tom enters the catacombs to slip inside the prisons undetected, but only manages to free Alice. Andrew hides them into a haunted house in town and they fall asleep. The Bane comes to tempt them both in their dreams, yet although Tom refuses him, he wakes up to find Alice at the Silver Gate, where she confesses she made a deal with the Bane so that she could help him. She helps save the Spook and the other prisoners from the execution.
Tom takes the Spook to his mother who heals him and they set out to find the cemetery of the segantii, the first people to have bound the Bane. Their leader, Naze, tells them that he too had made a pact with the Bane, so that if the Bane was to be freed and then enter his prison once again, he was to be bound there for the rest of the Bane's existence. Following this information, the Spook takes Alice back to the catacombs. Tom follows without his knowledge after opening a letter from his mother where she wrote that if he does not go too, both the Spook and Alice will die pointlessly.
After Alice summons the Bane, he whisks her away and turns into his material form to feed for the last time from her blood. The Spook being knocked out, Tom follows the Bane on his own and binds him with the silver chain that his mother gave him on his last visit. The Bane tries once again to sway him but fails and Tom kills him. He dies, as predicted by Naze, but Alice doesn't let him go and uses the power of the mark she'd made on his arm during the events in The Spook's Apprentice
The Spook's Apprentice
The Spook's Apprentice , written by Joseph Delaney, is the first story in the series "The Wardstone Chronicles" The plot is centred around a 13 year old farm boy named Tom who lives in the countryside of The County, loosely based on the English county of Lancashire, where the author resides with...
to bring him back to life.
The Spook, Alice and Tom return to Chippenden where the Spook tries to put Alice into the pit he had Tom dig for her. Tom uses what he knows about Meg Skelton and the Spook to demand Alice's freedom and the Spook is swayed. He allows Alice to stay at Chippenden in exchange for her knowledge about witches and her skills with latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
.
List of chapters
Chapter One: The Horshaw RipperChapter Two: The Spook's Tale
Chapter Three: The Bane
Chapter Four: Priestown
Chapter Five: The Funeral
Chapter Six: A Pact with Hell
Chapter Seven: Escape and Capture
Chapter Eight: Brother Peter's Tale
Chapter Nine: The Catacombs
Chapter Ten: Girl Spit
Chapter Eleven: The Spook's Trial
Chapter Twelve: The Silver Gate
Chapter Thirteen: The Burning
Chapter Fourteen: Dad's Tale
Chapter Fifteen: The Silver Chain
Chapter Sixteen: A Pit for Alice
Chapter Seventeen: The Quisitor Arrives
Chapter Eighteen: Nightmare on the Hill
Chapter Nineteen: The Stone Graves
Chapter Twenty: Mam's Letter
Chapter Twenty-One: A Sacrifice
Chapter Twenty-Two: A Bargain's a Bargain
Characters
- Thomas Ward Thomas Ward (the Spook's apprentice)
- John Gregory (The Spook)
- Alice (Tom's friend and a suspected familiar witch)
- Jack (Tom's brother, Ellie's husband, Mary's father)
More Characters
- Ellie (Jack's wife, Mary's mother)
- Mary (Jack and Ellie's baby girl)
- Mam (mother of Jack and Tom. suspected Lamia witch)
- The Bane (The single enemy that the spook has never been able to defeat, lives in the dark catacombs of a cathedral)
- Andrew Gregory (John's brother, a locksmith)
- Father Gregory (John and Andrew's brother)
- Father Cairns (John, Andrew and Father Gregory's cousin)
- The Quisitor (Evil dictator who captures what he thinks to be "witches and warlocks")
- Brother Peter (Gardener of Priestown Cathedral and helpful friend to Tom)
Reception
Generally well received by fans of the series. Where the through plot of the series is not yet clear, Delaney exposes the first signs of overall arc. This second book only fueled the already growing interest.Additional information
- Paperback = 6 July 2006 Published: Red FoxRed FoxThe red fox is the largest of the true foxes, as well as being the most geographically spread member of the Carnivora, being distributed across the entire northern hemisphere from the Arctic Circle to North Africa, Central America, and the steppes of Asia...
ISBN: 009945646X - Hardback = 30 June 2005 Published: Bodley Head ISBN: 0370328272
External links
- Random House Page
- The Spook's Curse on WikiaWikiaWikia is a free web hosting service for wikis . It is normally free of charge for readers and editors, deriving most of its income from advertising, and publishes all user-provided text under copyleft licenses. Wikia hosts several hundred thousand wikis using the open-source wiki software MediaWiki...
- The Spook's Curse general information on GoodreadsGoodreadsGoodreads is a privately run "social cataloging" website started in December 2006 by Otis Chandler, a software engineer and entrepreneur. The website permits individuals to sign up and register books to create their library catalogs and reading lists. It also allows users to create their own...