Scary Books

The Last Apprentice: Revenge of the Witch by Joseph Delaney

Official Description / Back cover: "Capturing witches Binding boggarts Driving away ghosts  For years, Old Gregory has been the Spook for the county, ridding the local villages of evil. Now his time is coming to an end. But who will take over for him? Twenty-nine apprentices have tried–some floundered, some fled, some failed to stay alive.  Only Thomas Ward is left. He's the last hope; the last apprentice.  Can Thomas succeed? Will he learn the difference between a benign witch and a malevolent one? Does the Spook's warning against girls with pointy shoes include Alice? And what will happen if Thomas accidentally frees Mother Malkin, the most evil witch in the county ... ?"

Where I found it: I found The Last Apprentice: Revenge of the Witch in the school library where I work.

Why I am highlighting it: Because it is an international bestselling Dark Fantasy / Horror series specifically written for (and remains popular with) middle schoolers.

House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland

Official Description / Back cover: "Iris Hollow and her two older sisters are unquestionably strange. Ever since they disappeared on a suburban street in Scotland as children only to return a month a later with no memory of what happened to them, odd, eerie occurrences seem to follow in their wake. And they're changing. First, their dark hair turned white. Then, their blue eyes slowly turned black. They have insatiable appetites yet never gain weight. People find them disturbingly intoxicating, unbearably beautiful, and inexplicably dangerous. But now, ten years later, seventeen-year-old Iris Hollow is doing all she can to fit in and graduate high school on time--something her two famously glamourous globe-trotting older sisters, Grey and Vivi, never managed to do. But when Grey goes missing without a trace, leaving behind bizarre clues as to what might have happened, Iris and Vivi are left to trace her last few days. They aren't the only ones looking for her though. As they brush against the supernatural they realize that the story they've been told about their past is unraveling and the world that returned them seemingly unharmed ten years ago, might just be calling them home."

Personal book review: I am almost not sure what I can say about this book seeing that it describes itself quite well early on, so I will say the phrase I instantly and correctly sensed would characterize the whole story: "it is where a fairy-tale meets a nightmare in a fever dream." Beyond that, I could and still cannot tell whether the tale made me feel interested or ill, lines which for me have never been so seamlessly or sickeningly meshed before, and I employ such terms because at times the book made me want to wash myself. Yet it kept me engaged – of that there is no doubt. For a book so stiff with profanity, I actually never wanted to stop reading it, which is no small feat seeing as the last and only other author to accomplish this was George R.R. Martin. I was equally, paradoxically, glad and sorry to finish it.

Where I found it: My father read and loved it, so then I read it and had the above reaction.

Why I am highlighting it: Because, aside from being a critically acclaimed bestseller, it is the only Horror novel I have ever read. You will find it in a Sci-Fi Fantasy section and indeed House of Hollow was a nominee for Best Young Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction in 2021, but do not let that fool you. It is also classified as a Horror book and has earned every inch of that distinction.

At the Mountains of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft

Official Description / Back cover: "As a new expedition to Antarctica is planned a dark tale emerges of a previous, life-threatening adventure. Revealing hidden secrets, lost civilizations and alien origins, master storyteller H.P. Lovecraft indulges his talent for the macabre and horrific. In a gripping tale of fast-paced discovery an entire alien ecosystem is uncovered, and an ancient and bloody battle into which the adventurers have been drawn. It is only through sheer luck that two of them manage to escape, leaving the gnarled bodies of their companions, and live to tell the tale as a warning for all those who come after."

Where I found it: Everywhere, for H.P. Lovecraft is a titan of Horror fiction.

Why I am highlighting it: Because several of my students last year expressed an interest in Lovecraft when I told them that his Cosmic Horror novels were used as inspiration for many of the elder things, tentacled terrors, and eldritch abominations that appear in modern video games.