Thursday, June 14, 2012

Book Review: Brothers to the Death by Darren Shan


Title: Brothers to the Death (The Saga of Larten Crepsley #4)
Author: Darren Shan
Publisher: Harper Collins UK

The fourth and final instalment in the epic saga of Larten Crepsley – vampire, hero and victim of fate…

Just as Larten is finding a new place for himself in vampire society, trying to help vampires escape the Nazi menace, horrifying tragedy falls on his own family, thanks to the nefarious Vampaneze.

With his old friend Wester calling for war against the ancient enemies of vampires, Larten finds himself a figurehead of the campaign.

But there are more evil things than just the Vampaneze stirring. And soon, Larten might find himself grieving again – as he faces the worst and final betrayal…


This is the last book in a series about Mr Crepsley, a character we have known about since a long time ago, and I should be sad because I will read no more bout my favoirte orange-haired friend. However, this is not the case. I have just finished reading this book. I am not sad. I read the last few pages with a smile on my face.

This perhaps is/will be my favorite Darren Shan book. Not only because of the main story, but also because of many other reasons.

Before I dicuss the reasons this book is great, I'd like to review the story.

This book was heart-stirring. Seriously. I felt extremely attached to the characters. I felt like I was where Mr Crepsley, Gavner, Vancha...etc were. Darren Shan perfectly captures a scene. He makes it so real, so believable. I felt like I was witnessing the disasters of the second World War. What's even more astonishing is that Darren Shan is not a vivid describer. I have no idea what technique he uses, but he has just mastered creating something unbelievable.

The title. This title resembles the story so perfectly. Brothers to the Death. In fact its giving me the shivers because I still cannot believe what happened. It was insane. That twist was, what can I say? I never ever saw that coming, and I couldn't ever have. EVER. I can't believe it.

The emotions. It is the first time I connected this deeply with a character written by Darren Shan. I felt sad when Mr Crepsley was sad. Happy when he was happy.

The setting. I was extremely captivated by the countries Darren Shan chose for writing Mr Crepsley's story. Paris, Berlin, New York. All magnificent places. I've been to Paris and Berlin, and they're beautiful. I am really glad Darren Shan chose to tell a story in those places.

Finally, I'd like to talk about why this book made me smile.

First of all, the character of Mr Crepsley made me smile. I admired how experienced he was, how light-hearted he was, how hurt he was. All bundled in one person, or in this case, vampire.

Second, I glorify Darren Shan's way of slipping some life experiences into the book. He teaches us essential life lessons. It shows how much he has experienced during his writing process since he first started.


I think that Darren Shan should be applauded for writing such a book because it is not just a tale of vampires, but something much deeper.


2 comments:

  1. Hi! I tagged you for the Liebster Blog Award! Check out the following link for more info:

    http://ravenfic.blogspot.in/2012/06/liebster-blog-award.html

    ReplyDelete
  2. hey thanks for doing that...what should i do? :)

    ReplyDelete