3.75*Let's get right down to it. I didn't like Grimalkin always referring to her "witchy eyes." It's a stupid complaint, but there it is.Some have expressed disappointment over a male author writing female characters. I'm not sure why that is, at least in this case. Is it because she's tough and likes to fight? Well, first of all, that was her upbringing as a witch. Witches don't exactly run around in frilly dresses and pink ribbons. And where I live and grew up, I know/have known plenty tough-as-nails women: women who carry handguns, ride motorcycles, drive trucks, hunt, and have a vocabulary that could make a sailor blush. But they are WOMEN. If they protest because Grimalkin's attitude is pretty modern about what women are capable of, well, witches, ghosts, and boggarts, real ones, are not accurate to any time era, so I think we can excuse that, I think.Third, if the Kretch healed and evolved every time it was injured, why didn't its creators turn it into a bloody pulp BEFORE setting it loose on Grimalkin? That is, if the Kretch had evolved to (almost) every injury possible beforehand, it could have taken down Grimalkin a lot sooner and easier.I thought Thorne was pretty annoying too. She begged, time and again, for Grimalkin to tell tales from her life, then act out Grimalkin like a little kid pretending to be their favorite superhero; but she's in her mid-teens. This seemed at odds with her fighting skills, her mind seeming a bit childish, because she was supposedly a virtuoso assassin (for her age). This almost seemed like Thorn's story sometimes, too.Mostly, this installment illustrates, more than any other, I think, just how hard it is to stay on the winning side when opposed by dark forces; but it's nice to spend time with Grimalkin, too. I think I would have liked it a LOT better if it was Grimalkin/Alice rather than Grimalkin/Thorne, because Thorne annoyed me, whereas I love Alice and Grimalkin. Told from the perspective of Grimalkin, this book was a new view on the familiar story of Tom Ward, the last Spook's apprentice. Grimalkin is a brutal assassin, but not without honor, and this volume gives one of the most fascinating characters in the series new depth. The present story is a little listless, though still interesting. What is most valuable in the book is the back story-how Grimalkin came to be who she was, what her motives are, and how she truly feels about the part she is to play in the destruction of the Fiend. I would recommend this book to anyone who can handle (and even would like) to read a book that is much darker than most children's literature, has a strong creepy element, but is also VERY well written, and well constructed in terms of the big picture the entire series provides. Not quite my favorite so far in the series, but certainly a delightful read. I'm sad that I'm getting towards the end of the series!
Do You like book I Am Grimalkin (2000)?
This book has a nice change where the protagonist is the source of horror
—Cheetah
This book was very gory. I don't like that so much.
—Jax
