writeaway.org.uk | 07 March 2009 | Kelley Townley
The eighth book in the DEMONATA series. Back to Grubbs and the werewolf problem. Please note this review contains spoilers.Review: This is not Darren Shan's best book by far. I wonder if he had a certain plot for this book and had to do a lot of padding to make it a full novel (I have wondered previously if this series is getting a bit overstretched). I know a number of people who didn't finish this one and I too put it down for a few months. Having said that, when I did pick it up again I didn't put it down until the end.Grubbs and werewolves seems like an unlikely combination to get wrong and there is certainly lots of lovely werewolf action – the book really comes into its own when Grubbs gives in to his inheritance – but the middle just seems to drag on endlessly. As usual the violence and gore is well up there (particularly for the poor soldiers who are continuously getting eaten, blown up and/or ripped apart) and it's nice to see some interesting new characters, especially Timas (a psychopathic genius). I hope we see him again.Worth ploughing through just to see Grubbs go Wolfy, but the last two books will hopefully bring this series to a satisfying conclusion. For 12yr+ readers with a soft spot for werewolves.
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