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. Although not the most frightening of books it was certainly spine tingling, I'm not easily scared but the book managed to create such realistic visions of the demons in my mind, even the finest of details being given to us by the narator - Grubitsch 'Grubbs' Grady. However, Kernel saw that their struggle seemed to be a weak facade and believes that Bec has made an alliance with Lord Loss. He is described as the cruellest character in the books, and enjoys bringing slow and painful deaths upon humans.

Dervish confirms to Grubbs that the Gradys are indeed cursed, only that it has been going on for centuries. Dervish explains to Grubbs that using magic is possible as Grubbs himself used magic to flee from Lord Loss and his minions. At Books2Door, we believe that reading is a fundamental skill that every child should have to help improve their vocabulary, grammar, and critical thinking skills.I loved Darren Shan's Cirque Du Freak series (I mean, seriously, almost literally drooled over waiting for each edition of those books. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others.

Unlike any other demon in the series, Lord Loss feeds on the sorrow of humans, and because of this, he is not interested in mindless killing. He leads her through his castle and encourages her, showing her torture rooms and the contained victims, whom he tortures with great care and affection. When Grubbs Grady first encounters Lord Loss and his evil minions, he learns three things:* the world is vicious,* magic is possible,* demons are real. Lord Loss battles Kirilli, Shark and Moe but is described as 'playfully slapping them away' and seen to be toying with them, as he is too powerful on his home world. From here, life is never the same but Grubbs finds that there is magic that can fight and defeat the demons, if not Lord Loss himself.Lord Loss is seen when Grubbs Grady , Kernel Fleck, Bec McConn, Dervish Grady, and Meera Flame temporarily destroy Death's or The Shadow's body. He enjoyed his first taste of literary success at fifteen, as a runner-up in a television script-writing competition for RTE in Ireland, with a dark comedy script titled A Day in the Morgue. Lord Loss masterminded the cruel plot to slowly drag Kernel towards him and, using the First Board stolen from the Druid Drust in Bec, let him realize the truth about Art.

This is because, unlike all other known demons who are not confirmed to be part human, he is not entirely evil. Then came The Thin Executioner, a one-off fantasy novel, which Darren has cited as his favourite out of all his books. Kernel was responsible for turning Lord Loss's familiar (Artery) into a human (Art), which led to Kernel discovering his powers. I had to keep reminding myself constantly that it was fiction with supernatural things happening so it was supposed to be unrealistic. However, he did not wish any of the group that destroyed the tunnel to live (although Bran survived).The middle section was a little uneventful but it didn't impact the rest of the book negatively as it still moved quickly.