Thursday 28 April 2011

Review: Bec by Darren Shan


Bec by Darren Shan
(Demonata #4)
4 out of 5 stars

Published by HarperCollins Children's Books
This review may contain spoilers for the previous books in the series

While this book is often shelved as children's book, it comes with a warning: this series is Seriously Scary. And it definitely deserves this label. Darren Shan is a master in writing true horrifying stories.

Set in times where Christianity is rising and destroying the Old Fait, Bec doesn't know who her parents are. She is the sixteen-years-old priestess of a small town. When their town is being attacked by demons over and over again, she joins a small group of warriors sent off on a mission that is destined to fail.

The Demonata books are gory. There is a lot of detailed demon-slaying, and in Bec, also quite some casualties on the human side. An example of this you can find here. This really isn't a fluffy tale to read to your child as bedtime story. Unless you want him to stay awake the whole night of course.

Even for a violent book as this, the overall tone is very dark. Bec is on a mission that no one thinks will ever succeed. You start to feel for these people, their despair. Their home is raided again and again by demons, without any hope that they will stop coming. The tale of Bec's ancestors is so sad. Poor Bec.You can't help but feel sorry for the girl.

Bec is not a book that will make you bounce happily through the house when you've finished it. But it's brilliantly written, and so, so gripping.

Blurb

The fourth novel in this bonechilling series by Darren Shan, author of the New York Times bestselling Cirque Du Freak series, will keep readers turning page after horrifying page.

As demonic Fomorii ravage their land, Bec and a band of warrior companions leave their devastated rath to answer a plea for help. An orphaned priestess-in-training, Bec hopes the journey will help her solve the mysteries of her birth. But fighting demons has a steep price...

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