Since HBO started a show (True Blood) based on this series, I haven’t been able to keep these books in stock… which led me to believe they were good, really good. That assumption was wrong, really wrong. Thankfully, the get better (as the first one is straight up BAD) but that doesn’t mean they actually become good books.

I read all of these so I could watch the show (which I’ve been Tivo-ing) only to discover that the show is JUST AS BAD only it includes really wretched accents. Le sigh!

This is the fourth in the Last Apprentice series which is a middle school level fantasy/horror series. I can’t handle scary things so a fifth grade horror book is about as much as I can handle. This is a good series that I’ve been fond of suggestion to that age of readers.

With this new addition, I’m a little weary to recommend it because it deals a lot with believing in God. I think it’s good for children this age, but I don’t think every child’s parents would agree with me.

But it looked. Well, sitting in a tub of hot brown water might be one of the most disturbing things I have ever willingly done. I decided I would just concentrate on my book but it’s hard not to notice that you’re neck high in BROWN water. I kept lifting the book higher and higher to read it, all the while negating any soothing effects the bath might have had on my neck.

Bathing in brown water = Ewwww.
Memoirs of a teenage amnesiac = Awww.

This is the right mix of cute, light, sad, and vulnerable. It’s full of overly self conscious mixes and Ingmar Bergman references. And it tries to hard, just like every teen does. I loved it.

A customer bought this book from me two years ago and then tried to return it. She explained to me it was a reading list book (huh?) from Mr. X. I know very well the AP English teacher never assigned this semi-tawdry tale, but I was so very amused and I generally like this customer. Thus, I accepted the return. Then, I read it for myself. It was fun – like the wolverine version of Robin McKinley’s “Sunshine” but not as great.

2. If I keep reading vampire books will I lose all respect for myself? Because, to be honest, I actually quite like a lot of them.

3. I feel as if I should take a shower after that last sentence.

Why don’t I just shoot myself now?

This shoving books in by the fist fulls so that I will have things to recommend and discuss with customers during the rush of Christmas season (when I will have no time to read anything) is getting me down. To be honest, it always does. But then the season comes around and I will pine for the days when I was able to read so much, no matter what it was.

Yes, this is a children’s middle school level horror book about bogarts and witches. Yes, the witches wear pointy shoes.
Yes, I’ve searched Style Hive for some pointy shoes for myself. Yes, I’m tired and first mistyped “wear” as “where.”
Yes, as soon as I publish this entry I am going to curl into the fetal position and cry out of shame.
And, yes, this is a really good scary book for that age level which I would highly recommend if anyone of that age group ever listened to an adult who wasn’t menacingly wielding a ruler or a sharp object.