The Last Apprentice (12) I Am Alice

The Last Apprentice: I Am Alice by Joseph Delaney, illustrated by Patrick Arrasmith, Harper Collins Books, New York, 2014.  This story is told from the perspective of Alice, the friend of the apprentice Tom Ward.  Alice is the daughter of a bad witch (previously killed) and the Fiend.  She travels to the realm of the dark, to retrieve a knife, which Tom is to use to sacrifice Alice in order to destroy the Fiend.  In this book we see the afterlife of the damned, and the world in which they life.  It is a strange world, and Alice fights many of her old foes.  And there are some old foes who turn out to be on her side.   She even faces gods of the dark.  And of course there is her own mother, and water witches and creatures too many to mention.  Many of them are seeking revenge.  Thorne, Grimalkin's apprentice lost her life when her thumbs were removed becomes an ally, and then a betrayer, and then ally again.  They must travel into the throne room of the fiend, who of course is not there as he is bound.  This is a book of peril, and gross monsters.  Just when all is lost, Alice finds a most unusual ally.  We also understand a bit more where Alice's powers come from and who teaches her to use them.  I=She is always wary that if she uses them too much she will go to the dark side, a fate she hopes to avoid.