A review by alternbruno
Lord of the Shadows by Darren Shan
2.0
A bearable book. I suppose the intention is to draw a circle before the final confrontation, but come on. It is almost a mockery. Visiting Darren's hometown, coming across childhood friends and family. The stage is just to dull to be believable and all the scenery is tearing apart.
The unnerving final description about Darren and Steve being face to face is abusing mysticism and something downright fraudulent superstition. Also this "purge" that serves as a trope for puberty kills neurons altogether because of the lackluster of creativity it shows.
Again Steve has an evil lair, again it is filled with stakes, again he is insane and showing evilness beyond human standards. Again, he is trying to parallel himself to Darren. At this point it is just boring. What rescues the book from its inevitable doom is maybe that you get to see a parade of the characters and some of them can act a little bit impulsively. I guess that is something, right?
The unnerving final description about Darren and Steve being face to face is abusing mysticism and something downright fraudulent superstition. Also this "purge" that serves as a trope for puberty kills neurons altogether because of the lackluster of creativity it shows.
Again Steve has an evil lair, again it is filled with stakes, again he is insane and showing evilness beyond human standards. Again, he is trying to parallel himself to Darren. At this point it is just boring. What rescues the book from its inevitable doom is maybe that you get to see a parade of the characters and some of them can act a little bit impulsively. I guess that is something, right?