Curse of the Bane

****This post will contain spoilers****

       Curse of the Bane was a wonderful follow up to Revenge of the Witch.  It didn’t fall short of my expectations, and I actually was moved to vocalize my shock several times.  Two of these gasp-worthy moments were because of Delaney’s gross descriptions.  Since I wrote last post about how creepy these stories were and how I felt they were not really Middle School, I will show the passages to give an example of what I was talking about:

We find out Tom's mother's hand was nailed to a rock, and she tears it off herself!  I cannot even bare to tear scabs off!  Tearing muscle, skin, and tendons sounds gusting and highly painful!  

Also we get great detail about a squished cat.  Disgusting.  It would have been sufficient to say that the cat, and everyone else who is squished in this book was just ‘pressed’ by the Bane, but he goes on in morbid detail.  Forget eating dinner during those parts…

       I also really like the development of the antagonists in the book.  There are a few antagonists in this book.  There is the Bane: creepy, very powerful and evil, was once a god, can squash things to death, shape shift, and insert itself into your mind to try to control.  Highly creepy, but honestly I did not consider him a large threat for most of the book.  Why?  Immediacy.  The antagonist who makes the most trouble for three-fourths of the book is the Quisitor, not the Bane.

       The Quisitor is a powerful man who collects witches and warlocks and kills them by either burning or dunking.  Sound familiar?  Probably because he is the very like the Spanish Inquisition.  

       Alice tells Tom that the Quisitor is worse than the Bane, and when she says it I agreed with her.  The Quisitor tortured her and Mr. Gregory, and was going to execute Mr. Gregory.  Drowning and burning are very unpleasant long ways to die.  At least the Bane gives its victims a fast, albeit squishy, death.  

       But then you realize that the reason all the people are allowing the Quisitor to kill so many people is the Bane.  And then the Bane is set free and he threatens not only Alice, Mr. Gregory, Tom, and the rest of the County, but he hurts the boggart who guards the Spook’s house!

       I love the Boggart; he is one of my favorite characters although he is quite minor.  So let’s talk about him!  He is invisible most of the time and protects the house from anything unwanted.  And by ‘protects’ I mean it will crunch on the intruders’ bones. 

       He also makes food, and if you don’t complement the meal your next one won’t be very good…  When he appreciates Tom’s compliment he turns into an orange tabby and will rub against Tom’s leg.  Adorable.  An invisible, benevolent boggart who protects you, cooks for you, and can turn into a cat?  I want one!

       We did get a few answers to those questions I discussed for book one, and just to confuse us, we got a few more to puzzle at!

Who is Tom's Mother?

We got half an answer to this, but still I have more questions.  Is she a Lamia, or not?  Why does the sun affect her so much?  Why can she see the future?  Who are her sisters?  When will she leave?

Will Alice turn bad?

Well, Alice turned into a bad witch because of the Bane, but now she is back to good?  So we are back to square one.  Whether she will ultimately turn out to be Tom’s ally or enemy, we still do not know.

The Spook's Death

Nothing yet, but we did get a clue about his death: the curse.  Now we just have to wait for it to happen :(

The Spook's Love

What happened to her?  Is she good or bad?  Does she have any connection to Tom’s mom?

I give book two a five out of five, as it was just as good, if not better than the last book.  I will be reading book three, Night of the Soul Stealer, tomorrow.  Look for the next post!

Have you read this book?  Let me know what you thought about it!

Have a suggestion for me to read?  Suggest a title and I will add it to my To-Read List!