Lord Loss (Book One of The Demonata): Book 1

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It's been the biggest argument starter all my life. Mum and Dad don't put pressure on me to do well in school or at other games, but they press me all the time at chess. They make me read chess books and watch videotaped tournaments. We have long debates over meals and in Dad's study about legendary games and grandmasters, and how I can improve. They send me to tutors and keep entering me in competitions. I've argued with them about it - I'd rather spend my time watching and playing football - but they've always stood firm. Smoking's dumb," he says. We're in the kitchen (I haven't been out of it since Mum dragged me home from school early, except to go to the toilet). "It's disgusting, antisocial and lethal. Why do it, Grubbs? I thought you had more sense." Do you think it's clever? Filling your lungs with rubbish, killing yourself? We didn't bring you up to watch you give yourself cancer! We don't need this, certainly not at this time, not when - " I can come downstairs for meals, and bathroom visits are allowed, but otherwise I'm a prisoner. I can't even go out at the weekends. A present to make up for getting you grounded," she says, and lays it on my bed. She glances out of the window. The curtains are open. A three-quarters moon lights up the sill. There are some chess pieces on it, from when I was playing earlier. Gret shivers, then turns away.

Lord Loss is a fast paced, brutally executed book filled with gore, friendship and coming to terms with a family curse. I read this when i was 13/14, and I’m now 26 & I can still say for certain it still holds up as one of my favorite horror books/series. It’s fun, its gross, and the characters are so loveable and relatable. I'm not going to leave her alone with Mum and Dad to face whatever trouble they're in. Like I told myself earlier - we're a family. Dad's always said families should pull together and fight as a team. I want to be part of this - even though I don't know what 'this' is, even though Mum and Dad did all they could to keep me out of 'this', even though 'this' terrifies me senseless. I'm a Humanitarian: Demons seem to regard everything as potential food, including each other, and humans are no exception. Kirilli, the cowardly stage magician eager for attention, but only managing to be the target of most of Dervish’s (and everyone else’s) verbal insults. She deserved it!" I cry. "She's done worse to me! She told Mum about me smoking - I know it was her! And remember the time she melted my lead soldiers? And cut up my comics? And - "Don't make jokes like that!" Dad snaps with unexpected venom. I stare at him, hurt, and he forces a thin smile. "Sorry. Hard day at the office. I'll arrange it with Kate, then."

Brown Note: When Grubbs sees Lord Loss slaughter his family, Grubbs is literally so terrified that he's driven insane. It's implied that if Dervish had not shown up to tell Grubbs that there were people who believed him, and to just play along with the psychiatrists, he would have wasted away and died. I adore the humour in this novel, it’s lighthearted, it doesn’t take away from the stress/pain of what the characters are going through, and it’s got the perfect balance of soft moments & hard moments. There’s a specific point at the end of the book that devastated me, but the humour really lifted things up, but didn’t take away the fact that something horrific just happened, it eases you into a sense of feeling safe, like you can breathe. As the story goes on the scope is expanded greatly. While at times the first book was more focused on horror the series gradually moves more towards epic fantasy, however Shan maintains his famously brutal style throughout. The death of Grubb’s friend Loch around book 3 and Bill-E’s involvement was a haunting, horrifying piece of writing and Bill-E’s death several books later as a result was a brilliant example of a story tying together while also being a deeply moving moment In keeping with the traditions of epic fantasy 2 new POV characters are introduced. This was done in a really bold way as Shan completely focused on establishing these new characters in later books, with Erikson-esque departures from the main storyline. One of these characters I recall as being extremely similar to the previous MC; a teenage boy who discovers magical powers after his family was killed, raising the question why Shan even bothered with it.Lord Loss does not appear in this book, except for speaking through Cadaver's mouth. It is the first book of the series he has not appeared in person. The landing. Not as cold as downstairs. I try my bedroom, then Gret's. Empty. Very warm. The chess pieces on Gret's board are also missing. Mine haven't been taken, but they lie scattered on the floor and my board has been smashed to splinters. Then the book really gets interesting. I just got glued to my ebook reader's screen. I finished this half in one sitting.

I stop laughing instantly - a mouthful of rotten rat guts wasn't part of the grand ��ber-joke! "Get off!" I roar, lashing out wildly. Mum and Dad suddenly recover and shout at exactly the same time. This series had a pretty good ending that was in keeping with the brutal tone throughout while also managing to be optimistic…Which was nice after 10 books of demonic dismemberment. While the book outshines in its creepiness, it's also unexpectly vulnerable at times. You DO really start to feel for the characters, no matter how bad they act in the beginning. There's beautiful moments in this. Darren Shan is really good at writing mentor relationships where the main character gets a second father. It works really well in this series.Mum's staring at me with open disgust. Dad's shooting daggers. I sense that I'm the only one who sees the funny side of this.