The Saga of Darren Shan: Vampire Destiny Trilogy by Darren Shan

I seem to have been putting off this post for a while now as I finished The Saga of Darren Shan quite some time ago. Overall, I loved the entire saga; it was everything a young adult book series should be. To summarise, the series follows a young boy by the name of Darren Shan who becomes a half vampire in order to save his best friend’s life. Throughout the series we see Darren mature as a person (or should I say vampire) and adapt to his new way of life.

At the beginning of the Vampire War Trilogy, Darren, along with his mentor Larten Crepsley and Vampire Prince, Vancha March are destined to hunt the infamous Vampaneze Lord who is fated to destroy the vampire world if his plans succeed. During the Vampire War Trilogy they battle courageously but without succeeding in their mission, also resulting in a few casualties along the way.

The Vampire Destiny Trilogy contains the final three instalments of the series: The Lake of Souls, Lord of the Shadows and Sons of Destiny.

In The Lake of Souls, a much needed break from the war between the vampires and vampaneze is taken. Darren and his friend Harkat travel to an unknown land to discover Harkat’s true identity. Harkat is what’s known as a Little Person who is a servant to Mr Tiny. Mr Tiny creates his servants from the souls who have died who had not gone to paradise (heaven) and creates ghost type creatures out of them. Mr Tiny sends Harkat and Darren on a dangerous journey to discover the true identity of Harkat.

In Lord of the Shadows we return to the goings on in the war where Darren contemplates the meaning of the prophecy which states that one of the three hunters (Darren, Mr Crepsley and Vancha March) have the power to defeat the Vampaneze Lord. It is also prophesised that either Darren or the Vampaneze Lord will become the Lord of the Shadows who will destroy the world as Darren knows it. The idea of this torments Darren throughout the book. Also in this book we see Darren returns to his hometown, leading up to the final confrontation with the Vampaneze Lord.

Sons of Destiny is the final instalment of the series which takes place in Darren’s hometown (where the series began). The majority of this book is taken up with battles between the vampaneze and the vampires and their friends. As easily predicted the final showdown is between Darren himself and the Vampaneze Lord. During this battle Mr Tiny makes some timely revelations which change the course of events.

Again, this trilogy is written magnificently by Shan who clearly had carefully planned how events would turn out and made every plot point link so seamlessly. The series is very good at showing the development of Darren as he starts of as a naive child and gradually adjusts and grows into a mature adult (despite looking about half his actual age).  All the characters throughout the series were very likeable in different ways and I found myself being upset when they died or injured.

Out of this trilogy The Lake of Souls is my least favourite. I by no means at all am saying that it’s a bad book, it isn’t. I just didn’t enjoy it as much as the others. This may be due to that it was set in a whole different setting which kind of took away from what I had grown used to. However I do realise that a slight break from the war and prophecies was much needed and that the revelations that occur during this book were necessary.

The ending of the series is completely amazing, to the point where I almost cried, with a mixture of happiness of what was happening and the sadness that I had finished the series. The ending was totally unpredictable but fantastic and made perfect sense.

The entire series is written in retrospect, in first person from the view point of Darren. It is mentioned in the first book (Cirque Du Freak) that the events of what happens in the series are true and that names have been changed to hide people’s identities. This brings a massive sense of realism to the books and immediately draws you in. At the end of the series, Darren has a monologue in which he refers to his previous statements where he encourages Shan to write these books and hopes they sell well (that might not make sense until you’ve read the series). This section is very emotional for Darren and the reader as you can see that it voices Shan’s personal worries of becoming a writer.

Overall, I would say that The Saga of Darren Shan is suitable for everyone, young or old, despite its status as a young person’s series.  It is amazingly written and I have gained a whole new respect for Shan as a writer and I intend on reading more of his works. These books are quick and easy to read and are full of likeable characters and exciting adventures so I’d definitely recommend them to anyone.

The Saga of Darren Shan: Vampire War Trilogy by Darren Shan

At the end of the Vampire Rites Trilogy, I was excited. There were so many ways in which things could turn out over the next few books and knowing Shan’s way of storytelling I knew the last six books wouldn’t be dull. I was totally right, the Vampire War Trilogy is one of the most exciting books I’ve read in a long time so much so I stayed up all night and read the entire thing in one sitting!

The Vampire Rites Trilogy revealed to us that a prophecy had been made many many hundreds of years ago. The prophecy states that one day a war would break out amongst the vampires and vampaneze which would destroy the vampire race. It says that this war will commence when the Lord of the Vampaneze reveals himself. During the events of Vampire Rites it is revealed that “the night of the Vampaneze Lord is at hand”. A war is about to begin...

The Vampire War Trilogy consists of Hunters of the Dusk, Allies of the Night and Killers of the Dawn.

In Hunters of the Dusk it is revealed that only three vampires can kill the Vampaneze Lord. The first two, predictably are Darren and his mentor Mr Crepsley. They are joined by the Little Person, Harkat. The three of them meet the third hunter on their journey. This hunter is Vancha March who is one of the Vampire Princes. The hunters (and Harkat) make their way to see Lady Evanna (some sort of witch) for more information on the prophecy and their task. After meeting with Evanna they set out in search for the Vampaneze Lord.

In Allies of the Night, Mr Crepsley, Darren and Harkat return to Mr Crepsley’s hometown (the town where the majority of Tunnels of Blood took place). Here Darren comes across old friends which have appeared in the other books, such as his childhood girlfriend, Debbie (Tunnels of Blood). Debbie is now much older and has grown into a woman, however Darren’s old feelings still remain but as he is a half vampire he ages at the fifth of the rate that ordinary humans do, meaning that he only looks a couple of years older from when he last saw Debbie.

A lot of things happen in Killers of the Dawn and I don’t wish to spoil them at all so I’m going to say as little as possible. There is a big exciting battle where lots of stuff happens. That’s pretty much all I can say without spoiling anything.

The Vampire War Trilogy is by far the most exciting one of the trilogies so far, there is action around every corner and there are some very surprising plot twists and turns which kept me up until around 7am in the morning reading them.

I got so deeply immersed in this trilogy that I felt emotionally involved with the characters and what they were going through. Again, it is hard not to spoil things but there is one part near the end of the trilogy which absolutely devastated me into a state of near shock!

The ending battle (and the entire trilogy) is written brilliantly and with the massive revelation at the end to I had to restrain myself from reading the next trilogy as it was nearly midmorning and I hadn’t slept.

One thing, about all of the books, is that there is a small prologue at the beginning which serves as a quick recap of the events of the previous book. I can imagine this is highly useful if you haven’t read any of the previous books, have only read some of them or haven’t read them in a while. This is a great way to invite new readers to the books, so it isn’t absolutely necessary for you to have read all of the books, which is what I think puts off a lot of people starting an existing series as they feel they have to read all of the previous books to understand what’s going on. It is highly useful to do this with The Saga of Darren Shan but not completely necessary.

I feel that this trilogy and the next trilogy are a lot of people’s favourites as there is a lot of action and so much happens in the space of three fairly short books. This trilogy sets up the next fantastically and doesn’t feel like three separate books at all. As with the others they are easy and quick to read as well as extraordinarily engaging. Yet again the ending of this trilogy makes you eager to read the next! 

Next: The epic finale - Vampire Destiny

The Saga of Darren Shan: Vampire Rites Trilogy by Darren Shan

As I said in my Vampire Blood Trilogy post, the first trilogy made a good introduction to the world of vampirism and the character of Darren Shan. The Vampire Rites Trilogy is where things get serious and I have to say (despite finishing the series now) that this is my favourite trilogy of the four.

In the Vampire Blood Trilogy, a young boy by the name of Darren Shan is turned into a half vampire by fellow vampire Larten Crepsley in order to save his friend’s, Steve Leonard’s, life. The trilogy follows Darren and Mr Crepsley on various adventures and shows Darren’s adjustment to drinking human blood in order to live.

I’ve tried to limit spoilers as much as possible but there maybe a few inevitable ones lurking about. 

 Proceed with caution

The Vampire Rites Trilogy takes a much more serious turn, thrusting Darren into the wider vampire community. The trilogy consists of Vampire Mountain, Trials of Death and The Vampire Prince.

Vampire Mountain is the journey of Darren, Mr Crepsley, Gavner Purl (another vampire) and two Little People (servants of Mr Tiny – a time lord of some sorts) make to Vampire Mountain so Mr. Crepsley can present Darren to the vampire council. This is of upmost importance as blooding a child like Mr Crepsley did to Darren is not usually permitted amongst the vampires.

During the gruelling trek to Vampire Mountains, Darren encounters a mad bear, tainted with vampaneze blood (vampire cousins who kill those who they drink from). During this battle, a Little Person helps Darren to victory. Little People, who are most see working with ‘Cirque Du Freak’ carrying out menial tasks to keep the show running, are mysterious creatures and not much is known about them, they are mute but are good hunters with a lot of strength. Mr Tiny (their master) sent two of them along with Darren and Mr Crepsley to give an important message to the Vampire Princes. After a tragic accident to his companion the remaining Little Person reveals he can talk and goes by the name of Harkat.

When they finally reach Vampire Mountain, Harkat reveals his message to the Vampire Princes. The message shocks and terrifies the vampires. However, these thoughts are put on hold as Darren is presented to the Princes who, though disagree with Mr Crepsley’s choice to blood him, submit him to a sequence of vampire trials to prove his worth as a vampire.

Trials of Death mainly focus on Darren going through the trials to prove his worth. The trails are exceptionally hard and have caused the deaths of many vampires in the past. As Darren is only half a vampire, the trials are even harder. A vampire general (soon to be prince), named Kurda Smahlt, strongly disagrees with putting Darren through the trails at such a young age. He is also fighting for a new age of peace between the vamipres and the vampaneze, something which many vampires disagree with. Darren discovers that Kurda is in league with vampaneze and plans to bring them to Vampire Mountain.

The Vampire Prince involves Darren exposing Kurda and the beginning of the war against the vampaneze. The majority of this book is taken up with planning and executing a battle against the vampaneze in Vampire Mountain, with Darren getting his first taste of real battle and the harsh realities that come with it.

I mentioned before that this trilogy is my favourite. We gain a massive insight to the world of the vampires and how they live. Again there is more development of characters, Darren is amazed at the shear amount of vampires in existence and the complexities of their way of life, if he agrees with them or not.

We meet various characters who give us a deeper understanding of Mr Crepsley, the vampire who trained him and the other vampires who widely respect him and how his words are highly valued even amongst the Vampire Princes.

What is also interesting about this trilogy is that there is a wide time gap between this one and the previous one. This helps us see Darren’s development more clearly rather than having all of the books take place directly after each other.   Six years have elapsed between Tunnels of Blood and Vampire Mountain, even though Darren only looks a year or so older from when he was blooded, he has mentally matured greatly. This is very apparent in The Vampire Prince where he is disgusted and sickened by the bloodshed between the vampires and the vampaneze.

Trials of Death bears a striking resemblance to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K Rowling. Darren, like Harry, is forced to partake in gruelling trials which he is too young to do. However unlike Harry, for Darren, these trials are out of necessity, to prove himself to the vampire community, himself and to not put Mr Crepsley’s name to shame, whereas, Harry in the tri-wizard tournament is kind of just conveniently placed there to witness the rise of Lord Voldemort (don’t get me wrong I do love the Harry Potter books, even though Goblet of Fire is one of my least favourites).

Darren also faces certain death if he fails (in accordance with the traditional vampire ways) whereas 

if Harry failed he would be simply withdrawn. The threat of death makes the meaning behind the trials much more prominent for Darren and having read the other works, it’s highly possible that Shan may just kill off Darren (or any other character for that matter) at any point.

Again, Shan’s writing in this trilogy is absolutely astounding. He gives the 

reader enough information to firmly attach themselves to the characters, even to the extent of if another character likes or dislikes another character, we do too. He also makes us believe that devastation could happen at any minute to any characters, with some highly likable and important characters being killed.

Next:  Vampire War Trilogy

Some people may not like this trilogy as much as there isn’t necessarily as much action as there are in the others but, personally, I really enjoyed it. It fully created the world Darren was in, sharing his emotions and giving us a deeper understanding of the ways of the vampires, with the added tension of knowledge of action yet to happen.