The Dark Army audiobook

Another engaging, inventive addition to one of my favorite fantasy series! Can't wait to read the next one, though I'll be sad when the story ends as it's the last one in the series.Find more reviews and bookish fun at http://www.princessandpen.com

Still easing my way into this series. After so many books with Tom Ward, it's difficult to switch characters. Even though they are swapping perspectives, I am still on the fence. Objectively, this was a good book. Subjectively, it almost feels like the books have gotten too big. Tom defeated the devil. What in the world could be worse than that? Oh, the entire species of monsters and a new devil.YouTube | Blog | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Snapchat @miranda_reads

"I belong to the best bit of the dark... I'm an earth-witch who serves Pan. My magic comes from the ground; it comes from the elements; it comes from the Earth itself. The truth is, that's what I was always meant to be."Definitely better than the first part but still this series isn't the same as The Wardstone Chronicles. When I started reading I was afraid that The Dark Army would disappoint me just like A New Darkness did. And honestly I didn't enjoy the first part of this book. I still don't like Jenny and I missed chapters only in Tom's perspective. And then when I thought that I would really be disappointed again, Alice appeared. She saved Tom's life and at this point I felt like I was reading my beloved chronicles again. Finally I got scenes with Tom and Alice about which I've been dreaming for a long time. Dark times are coming, the final battle is just around the corner but they are together and have each other. I couldn't ask for more. "I'll tell you something now that I want you to remember. This is the truth. From the moment I first saw you I knew we were meant to be together. I loved you when we both lived with Old Gregory in Chipenden. I loved you when I was with Lukrasta. And I love you now. Either believe me or call me a liar - that's up to you. But it's the truth."So Joseph for now I like you again and I hope this won't change in The Dark Assassin.

** spoiler alert ** The Spooks: The Dark Army, I seriously don't know where to begin or what to write as I am totally hyped after having read it. So I will write a NON-SPOILER section, however if you have decided to read this review... THERE WILL BE SPOILERS [WARNING]! And I insist that anyone who has not read the book yet leave, and read the book!Anyway, in terms of staying in the style of previous books, this particular book had a real edge of darkness, so much however, that I even felt my stomach twist! The Dark Army, for me is (in term of how dark it was) up there with The Spook's: Revenge even though I thought that TDA (The Dark Army) is superior. When it comes down to the actual style of the narrative however, it follows the same first person style, which is probably the reason why I feel so connected to the books as I feel that whilst I'm reading TDA as well as the previous books, I am Tom, and what happens to him happens to me! However, in this book just like the last book, A New Darkness, the narrative was split into two, which at first, when reading the last book, I felt like it was dragging the pace down because all I wanted to do was step back into Tom's shoes and go, although in the end of the last book (potential hint of SPOILER ahead) and in this book, I realised that finally after 13 books in which we knew that no real harm could come to Tom because it was all written from his memory at the end of each book, now, I fear for Tom, for once I am uncertain of his wellbeing and with the dark tone this book has, I feel that any character could easily drop of the plot at any moment.This Book was full of emotion and heart pounding action, and I think that if I were to put it in my list, it would be joint first with, The Spooks Battle and The Spooks Mistake. The action scenes were a lot more detailed in this book compared to the last one and the gore was well fitted in the story. Had Joseph Delaney not shown as mush gore and violence, and even some very strong scenes of abuse and torture, we as readers would not really understand how threatening the new enemy is. This is definitely a MUST READ for any fan of the series, or if you happen to like Horror/Fantasy/adventure books, then please go back to the beginning and read your way to this one. I have honestly never loved any book as much as this one, I feel so connected to it, so much that I live in it when I read it, I feel the heart ache and the happiness that Tom feels because in the end, when I read the book, I pretty much am Tom.*Just an additional note: there is a chapter that says that Jenny is narrating, obviously it was a error that was missed, the chapter is called; The Space Between Worlds, so look out for that one.So I warned in the beginning that there would be SPOILERS, so this is it... If you haven't read the book yet, then be warned, not only will you be spoiling an amazing experience, but I will personally send my Bogart over to 'tell you off'... you've been warned!Seriously though, this is the section for people who have read the book and want to see how I, a fellow reader, felt about certain parts in this book.First, Tom comes back to life, something that I though was quite obvious as the cover and the sample that Joseph Delaney had given us at halloween. But the way it happened, we find out the Tom shouldn't have died in the first place but the combined power of a witch and mage stopped Tom in his stance unable to manoeuvre away from the Shaiksa Assasin's blade, after striking its head off.Tom was A puppet control by none other than Lukrasta and his companion and current lover, Alice Dean. They had killed him and rectified him in front of all the solders during his burial in order to make all of the principalities of Polyznia unite, when Grimalkin told Tom that Lukrasta and Alice caused his terrible pain, I felt mine and Tom's past feelings for Alice surge inside me but they were quickly overturned with jealousy and anger due to Alice's betrayal in book 13, The Spooks Revenge. I felt the rivalry between Tom and Lukrasta spark once more.Tom, for the long part of this book, was a puppet to Grimalkin, Prince Stanislav, Lukrasta and Alice.Grimalkin forced Tom to head to one of the Kulads by sending his apprentice, Jenny, with Prince Kaylars probe force who went ahead, so that she could gain knowledge on how to beat the Kobalos. This was the point where i was beginning to lose my cool with Grimalkin. They made it to the Kulad and found Jenny, however, they were ambushed inside the Kulad by the second most powerful of the Triumvirate Mages, Lunklewth, who easily defeated Grimalkin with a stroke of his magic, and defeating a tired and weak Tom, who had still not recovered from his death and resurrection.Tom was sentenced to a slow agonising death from one of the Shaiksa Assassins, one that was eager to avenge his fallen assassin brother. The assassin cut Tom over and over, until someone saved him, IT WAS ALICE, she killed the assassin and gave Tom the Starblade, so Tom beat the mage back until Lunklewth vanished, Alice vanished also.I have written all that so I can get to the bits that really made this book as good as it is.Alice comes back to Tom, they talk and although Tom is still bitter over the betrayal, he learns that Lukrasta is dead by the hands of the Kobalos, at first I was kind of annoyed as i'd hoped that Tom would kill him, but then i thought that Tom would not kill an ally, no matter how much he hates them. Alice had now become and earth witch, which was something that I thought was very interesting, she had now sworn allegiance to Pan, the God of Life. So now I see that Alice isn't all bad. She even explains how she was forced to get with Lukrasta, which made me feel hope for Tom and Alice finally being together, which they do and we finally see that scene where they have a romantic moment which isn't a one second kiss followed by her running off. I think that Joseph Delaney had dealt with the relationship between Tom and Alice very well, and finally they are together, which is extremely over due!Tom's fight with Lenklewth was awesome too, and this is where I really started to fear for Alice again, although Tom epically defeats the Kobalos Mage, Alice almost dies due to the poison of the Varteki.Alice almost dies three times in this book... THREE TIMES! And its reminded me of what Tibb said in The Spooks Battle, 'she will love you, she will betray you, then she will die for you', or something along those lines, and Im really starting to worry for Alice now.There are more points that I am not going to come into as much detail but here we go, starting with one of the most shocking moments EVER in the Spooks Books! GRIMALKIN'S DEATH!!! she sacrificed her life so that Golgoth would not kill Alice! I felt like I'd just been punched in the stomach when this happened! It was a quick death perhaps too quick.. but anyway, I know that this isn't the last we see of Grimalkin.Meg, John Gregory's 'partner' had come back as a feral and aided Tom fight Golgoth which I though was pretty cool.Anyway, If I write more I'm gunna miss the deadline of one of my college essays that i need to hand in, but I thought i had to sacrifice some time to write this review.So, my last feelings of this book, are that it is very much got an 'Empire Strikes Back', where nothing has improved, everything is in fact worse and the end is near for our heroes. The ending is very much bittersweet as Tom and Alice are now together and Jenny is improving in becoming a Spook, and may I add that having Jenny in this book is really cool as she often has similar feelings as Tom's old master, John Gregory, plus she is becoming an interesting character who often casts doubt on a lot of issues. John Gregory gets a lot of mentions in this book too, which I really like. And finally Tom is now that true hunter that his Mam had foretold, and with Alice at his side, maybe they can kick Talkus' but and everything will turn out great, although something that I had realised throughout the books is that Tom's story so far, is ultimately one of tragedy, so I hope that in the end he will get the life he deserves with Alice by his side and training Young Jenny to become a great spook, but only time will tell, and hopefully, whenever we do get a climax, it will be epic and tie up all loose ends unlike The Spooks Revenge which really set up this series. Although hopefully there will be room for more stories in the future, after the Kobalos threat.5 out of 5 stars for me, I loved it.

The County Spook is back! And with Ward's dramatic return, old allies resurface including a particular pointy shoed witch and a skilled haizda mage and more! But of course with the return of old allies, there also comes the return of old foes, as well as the rise of new opponents, and the stakes have never been higher in the next chapter of the Spooks series.Joseph Delaney takes the spot light again with the release of his second book in The Starblade Chronicles, and in my personal opinion does a superb job in continuing Tom Ward's journey and his ongoing battle with the Kabalos.At the start of the book, I do feel that there isn't really a clear beginning to the story, as this book doesn't really have an independent story to tell, but is more of a continuation of the previous book in the series. So I advise that before reading this book, to understand what is going on, you must have at least read A New Darkness, the first book in the series. Of course, if possible, I would also advise you to read the whole Spook series to have a better sense of understanding what is going on in the plot of The Dark Army.Like the previous book in the series, The Dark Army I feel has a much more darker tone in comparison to some of the previous Spook books, which I think adds more tension to the main plot of this book, and adds more menace to the book's main antagonists, the Kabalos. This I believe works well with the plot of the book, and in some moments throughout the book, the suspense and tension makes it impossible to put the book down.The pace of the book itself starts rather slowly, however, once you get the deeper into the book, the pace increases and becomes steady, not going to fast for the reader nor not too slow. This allows the story to be told in good detail, yet doesn't cause the pace of the story to be disrupted and continues throughout the rest of the book.This new book also contains a lot of character development between the main characters such as Tom Ward's alliance with Grimalkin, his friendship with Jenny, but perhaps most interesting character development of all in the book is Tom's reunion with (view spoiler)[Alice Deane (hide spoiler)], which in itself is a main part of the book as a whole. But Delaney does a great job with the characters, keeping the development between Tom and his friends and allies fresh and exciting.Overall, this book is a very enjoyable read, with great characters throughout directing the story and plot throughout the book, with many surprises and plot twists scattered through the book which will cause many Spook fans hearts to soar with joy, or break from utter shock and tragedy. For fans of this series, the book is a must read. For casual readers, I certainly recommended this book, but be sure to have read A New Darkness first.

This was a good continuation of the Starblade Chronicles. This is the second book in the Starblade Chronicles; which will be a trilogy. I enjoyed watching as all our old favorites continue to fight a new and threatening fiend from the Dark. This book is aimed at an older audience than The Last Apprentice series, more young adult than middle grade.It always takes me a bit to get back into Delaney’s writing style. His style can come off as a bit stiff or stilted sometimes, but once I get a few chapters in I get used to this style again and enjoyed it .This is a rough book for Thomas and he ends up allying with a variety of unlikely allies to protect the County from the evil that is approaching. Alice is in the story a lot more which I enjoyed; she has become a force to be reckoned with but there is also some lingering sadness here because of how deeply Alice has become involved with the Dark.About half of the book is told from Tom’s apprentice’s POV; Jenny. It is interesting to see Tom from Jenny’s point of view and see what she thinks of his actions. At times between trying to deal with his apprentice Jenny, trying to not be overwhelmed by Grimalkin’s various plots, and dealing with Alice’s descent into the Dark Tom seems tired and a bit hopeless. This made my heart ache a bit given what Tom has had to deal with. However Tom is not alone in his sacrifices...both Alice and Grimalkin have walked tough roads as well.Overall this was a good continuation of the series. I would strongly recommend reading The Last Apprentice series before reading the Starblade Chronicles. There are a lot of nuances between characters that will be missed or not understood if you did not read the Last Apprentice series. I am curious to see how things culminate in the final book of the Starblade Chronicles.

Very engaging read! Such a tangled web of information so far for this second series for Tom Ward, I can hardly wait to read what will happen next. It looks bleak, but that probably only means it will be an extra awesome battle in the end!

The starblade chronicles continued with the same gripping and exciting story with Tom ward continuing his spooks apprenticeship but really he's the chipenden spook, knowing what happens in the last instalment is a must.

Rating 4.0 starsI don't know if I like where this story is heading. Tom Ward is a spook and his job is to deal with the dark. His tools are salt, iron, a staff, and being the seventh son of a seventh son gives him some protection from the dark. He deals with witches, boggarts, ghasts and other creatures from the dark. At least, that is what he is supposed to be doing. Now that the Kabolos have arrived, he appears to be more of a sword wielding knight. He has multiple allies that are from the dark and he seems to be doing whatever they are telling him to do. He does have an apprentice, the first female spook ever, but there is not much talk about her learning. Well, that is not true, her training is talked about more in the abstract than in practice. Statements were made like " I continued to train Jenny to be a spook" instead of what specifically she was being trained to do. I know it might sound like a repeat since I read all about Toms training in the first series, but Jenny has different gifts than Tom and there really has not been much discussion of those differences. There also hasn't been much talk about Tom's other abilities. He is fighting for his life with a sword against multiple enemies and he does not use the gifts from his Mam. He does have the ability to slow time and for whatever reason, he never thinks to use this gift. How is that not always the first gift he would use while in battle. I don't remember reading about any downsides from using this gift in the previous books, which would make me understand why Tom isn't using it. I also would not classify the Kabolos as being from the dark. In the previous series there was a book written from one of the Kabolos's point of view, which makes it hard to classify them as evil. Once you see the world through someone's eyes, even an evil person, it is really difficult to see them only as one thing. So, if they are not from the dark, then they are just another invading army. If that is the case, why is Tom involved? Would he lead an army against a human enemy? This book was still very easy to read and I like the characters, it is just so different from the previous series I am not sure I can reconcile the changes in Toms mission and goals.

The Starblade Chronicles Book 2*The Dark Army* by Joseph Delaney Another well delivered book that fits to be in the Expanded Universe of the Wardstone Chronicles, namely the Starblade Chronicles, written by the same author and the premise is almost the same with the rise of the new savage race of beasts called as Kobalos and the birth of their god Talkus who deem to end all the universe and the human race. The book picks up where it was left off in its predecessor. It wasn't at all surprising to know that Thomas Ward (Tom), our apprentice was revived. Of course, we are not reading Game of Thrones here where Martin kills off our primary characters. So, yeah, Thomas Ward is back alive and seems pretty well. I would just like to pass the message that if you are taking up this series it would be a lot better if you'd just finished the Wardstone Chronicles first. There's something called as ''Connecting Link''. So the story of the book mostly takes place in the northern islands, the land of Kobalos. Grimalkin (The Witch Assassin), Tom (The County Spook) and Jennifer (Jenny, Tom's Apprentice) try to form alliances in order to wipe out the savage Mages, warriors and demons of the Kobalos. And guess what? Lukrasta and Alice appear out of nowhere and help in rallying the forces and assist Tom in surviving. There's some imprisonment where the Starblade comes into action and Tom doing some spooky stuff with Kobalos ghosts in the castles and rallying the soldiers and battling the horde of the demon army. The book concludes with Tom, Alice, Jenny, Meg (Ya! That bloody lamia), Grimalkin and Pan fighting against Golgoth, the old god and saving the County from immediate threat. Well, Grimalkin dies in the end, seems unbelievable to me. Well, Tom died in the first book, he was revived, now it's just Grimalkins turn. Okay, the plot is done, here are my opinions. The book has a steady pace, a fast and furious plat, a full fledged battle scene, spooky ghosts in huge castles, a hundred horrible ways to die, enemies and alliances, Old Gods and some recurring characters that make an appearance and surprise you. The central theme of the book is to delay the uprising of the Kobalos race and fighting off hordes of the demon army, but readers! It doesn't end here, there's a lot more character development and sub story arcs. First of all, I like the idea of how Tom was resurrected and Grimalkins theory that it could be the combined effort of Lukrasta and Alice. I also love how the author has converted his mistakes into a boon in the book through Alice's explanation of why she had to join the dark mage Lukrasta, it seems very convincing when she narrates it to Tom. Jenny, as good as ever fails to grab my attention for too much time. What can I say? She has become a secondary character, mind you, she is so good but still I wonder why the author is not giving her enough attention. In fact, Tom is not the only primary character here. Credit is due to Alice and Grimalkin as well, more in fact. Grimalkin just gets better, her battle skills and all that...but i hate the fact that she manipulates Tom but provides him with strength at the same time. I was so surprised to see Lukrasta die.(He had that coming) But what surprised me most was Alice's return, the book seems so much like the older books, Alice just brings in the relative feeling and cheers up Thomas Ward. The starblade plays a central role and it's of utmost importance in thwarting the forces of darkness. There are some many new concepts to be explored in the book such as the Earth Witch, the Kobalos army, some new battle tactics and other things that you should totally read about if you are a hardcore Wardstone Chronicles fan. I like the concept how the author gets about the story and delivers an excellent and involving narrative. There are some minor flaws in the book, but I didn't consider them when reading, I was totally engrossed. Should i dare say that the battles scenes are gory and full of bloody horrors. I was waiting for the hero crew to leave Kobalos land. It's exciting to see Alice and Tom back together and their interaction jut blows my mind off. There's a great cameo appearance of Slither and the rebellion movement of the Haizda mage. I liked Grimalkin's tactics in battle, but nonetheless, the human army was just doomed to lose in the enemies courts. Grimalkin seems very different, she's limitless and has a lot of perseverance. She just never gives up and that's gonna take a toll something. (i feel it coming, I feel it coming...). The nasty Witch assassin may be an ally but she is indeed dominating. The real fun begins when the heroes return back to the County. There's a bloody dark case that Tom solves along with Jenny and discovers that the portal to the County is being opened by the Mages and Golgoth is being teleported to the County and people are being splattered into piece. Much of the action happens here. The evergreen places such as Caster, Pendle, Chipenden and Angelzarke Moor are introduced yet again int he book. The fight in the end where Grimalkin dies fighting Golgoth is just amazing, Pan also makes an appearance. I hated the part regarding human princes, rallying the armies, war strategy and politics in the castles. They just took away all the 'Spook' atmosphere. Anyways, a nice book that gripped by attention. Many surprising events are just icing on the cake. I pity the characters, there is just too much coming up for them, I can't say everybody will survive. The book seems convincing and enchanting. Strongly recommended to people who enjoy other Spook stories. Nice Reading!

I'm not sure how much I like this second series. But the way this book ended I'm not sure it's gonna continue. But I could be wrong. Also very upset about one my favorite characters. But I won't spoil.

“The dark army” by Joseph Delaney, being also the sequel to “a new darkness” is a good book, I'm just going to say right off the bat. How I found this book wasn't anything special, l was just in the library one day in the fantasy section and was like: “Oh, that looks cool.” I didn't have much to expect either since I didn't read the back or look up any reviews, so I was going in blind. Also I've read about one 3rd of the book so bare with me. The story revolves around and switches between the POV of the two main characters: Thomas Ward, a spook, which is someone who can see spirits and tries to help them move on from this world, and Jenny, his apprentice, who is leaning to do the same but can also read people's emotions just by focusing on them while nearby. Spoilers for the first chapter, so if you don't want to know what happens then read the first chapter and come back. So this was apparently started after Tom, as people call him for short, was killed by a Kobalos, the race they're fighting against, warrior while pretending to be a prince so he would be able lead an army against the kobalos. In the present story, it's at Tom's funeral where right when they start shoveling dirt on to the coffin, some shiny boul with wings floats down like the second coming of Christ ready to reenact the first T-pose but he installed a mod where he can walk on air and uses some kind of November-kinesis to lift it out of the ground, breaks the coffin apart, spins Tom around like a rag doll, then drops him back in and he starts breathing again. Call me intrigued. If I were to summarize most of the plot in just a few words from what I've read so far without spoilers, I'd call it “lots of politics and magic.” I won't say I love the book, but I like it. Nothing’s bad about it but I can't help but think it needs something more. I'm no expert on this series so maybe someone reading this can enlighten me.

(4.5 stars) As always, so much happens, but this time the small pieces finally come together with The Spook's Revenge, especially the mysteries towards Alice Deane. I really love her story. I have only two negative things to say about this series so far. Number one: the grammar/language is very annoying sometimes. Some of the sentences throughout the books just don't make sense and even though it's just a stupid mistake it's just too much and it ruins the reading experience when it happens again and again🤔😥 but if you try to look past that, the story is very good. Number two: I wish that the beginning wasn't so slow. Many things are happening but I think it's because a lot of things, like the war between the two sides and the chaos, it repeats itself (not to mention the repeats of the explanations which is okay sometimes because it's a complicated story). That's why it took me forever to finish the first 100 pages or something. But besides that, I loved this book more than the first one. And I am so happy so see Alice again, but it's also a bit sad with the characters who died. Surprisingly, I am not that angry at The Spook's Revenge as I was before. This book made up for it and that is why I love it. Throughout the book I thought about if this series even needed a new villain because I am not sure it did that much good to the story, I honestly prefer Lukrasta and Alice and the whole promise to Pan to be the new problem. Just thought it would have been a little more interesting since Tom just defeated The Fiend and he is conflicted about Alice and how powerful Lukrasta is. Anyway, I am glad that the old gods are in the story too, that just made the story a little bit more interesting, rather than the Kobalos being the only villain.😆😮

** spoiler alert ** After seeing the recent reviews of this book I think they are a bit misleading. However I can respect what they are talking about since the way the books are written since the end of the Last Apprentice series. The new Starblade series in my opinion is just as good but you have to adjust to the new style of writing and format. Which switched from a more linear problem and solution plot to a more complex web of problems that form the overall conflict. The new books still carry the same overall feel as they have had for years. Also the shift in between the different point of views of Tom and Jenny were much more smooth to me than in other books. Since the change in characters was in the same setting and not jumping from place to place needing to reestablish the setting was unnecessary. Which is often the part I find klunky in most books that switch between character point of views. The only other thing I could think of is the two major plot points, involving two loved or hated core characters Alice and Grimalkin. I can understand not liking the change in Grimalkins actions. Although it wasn’t very surprising since her motives have always been selfish, but since they were always so aligned with John and Toms motives there wasn’t much friction with them. Now, since her motive is now very different but also not different, she is much more persistent in forcing the fight and ends up using and getting Tom killed. That is where It is clear that she is not on Tom’s side but just uses him when convenient.On the other hand the return of Alice was rough since her switch to Lukrasta from Tom. Anyway that is my two cents do with it as you will.