Slither

This book is a marked departure from all the others in this series. This biggest change is that Tom Ward, the titular last apprentice, isn't even in the story. The only pre-established character from the series that appears is Grimalkin, and she only appears well into the second half of the story. Slither is a Kobalos haizda mage (there's an extensive glossary in this book). He's has three human women as his property and they're having a real bad time. The story is interesting and becomes much more so when Grimalkin enters the picture. But it was a bit off-putting to find this entry to be so different from all the other books in this series.