The Spook’s Bestiary

The tome that dares to name the evil lurking in the cracks and hollows of The County and its environs finally gives us detailed information about the history, habits, strengths & weaknesses of each of the creatures encountered by The Spook and his apprentice Tom Ward, including sketches of their common appearance.  The book might find a spot on the shelf next to Arthur Spiderwick’s Field Guide.

My name is John Gregory. What follows is my Bestiary– my personal account of the denizens of the dark I’ve encountered, together with the lessons I have learned and the mistakes I have made. I have held nothing back, and my hope is that the spook who follows me will continue to keep this record of the practical ways in which we deal with the dark.

The text of this book is a compendium of the information about supernatural creatures that Delaney has written about in his books, sadly with little additional new material.  This was especially disappointing given the numerous eye-rolling plugs The Bestiary has received in the midst of ALL of the following novels, including The Starblade Chronicles.

This book immediately and painfully falls flat because of the entirely unrelated, non-sequitur illustrations within.  This was designed as a picture book, a diary of monsters with descriptions and visions of myriad horrific beasts from a nightmare world.  What you will find is pictures of lizards.  Admittedly, quite well done pictures of lizards were this a Dungeons & Dragons fantasy module, but it’s unbelievable that the publishers approved this series of illustrations for Delaney’s gothic stories of witches, abhumans, and elementals.  Witches look like lizards. Boggarts?  Skelts?  Ugly lizards.  Werewolves look more like were-dragons. Patrick Arrasmith illustrated the US versions of every other book in the Last Apprentice series with bone-chilling white-line scratchboard, why not this one?

Just in case you are unfamiliar with Arrasmith’s disturbing, yet romantic artwork, check out his portfolio. His work goes well beyond The Last Apprentice, and some of his creepiest images are from Elizabeth Bear’s New Amsterdam series.  Arrasmith’s illustrations can bring out the visceral horror in any grim story, elevating spooky circumstance into a harrowing journey that will make your soul shiver.