Lord of the Shadows (Cirque du Freak #11), Darren Shan
Lord Of The Shadows is the eleventh book in The Saga of Darren Shan series by the author Darren Shan. It is also the second book in the Vampire Destiny trilogy. Along with the Cirque Du Freak, Darren Shan returns to his home town, the place where it all began. He was still having nightmares about the Lord of the shadows. While the Cirque Du Freak rests at an old abandoned football stadium, Darren walks through his old home. After spotting his sister, Annie Shan, living a happy life with her son at their old house, Darren decides not to disturb them. One night before the freak show starts a boy shows up hoping to get a ticket to attend the freak show. The boy, Darius, asks many questions and acts strangely, leaving Harkat and Darren curious. The freak show starts, Darren and Harkat wait for Darius but he doesn't attend, instead, he sees his old friend Tommy Jones. Jekkus Flangs, a performer of Cirque Du Freak, introduces him to Tommy Jones who is now a famous footballer. Tommy is shocked that Darren was alive after he was proclaimed dead eighteen years ago when he became a vampire assistant, Darren tells him that he had a rare disease that prevented him from aging normally and they had to fake his death to leave home and travel with a physician so he could be helped.
تاریخ نخستین خوانش: ماه اکتبر سال 2006 میلادی
عنوان: قصه های سرزمین اشباح، کتاب یازدهم: ارباب سایه ها؛ نویسنده: دارن شان؛ مترجم: فرزانه کریمی؛ تهران، قدیانی، چاپ اول و دوم 1384؛ چاپ سوم 1385؛ چاپ چهارم 1387، پنجم 1388؛ شابک: 9789644178207؛ چاپ هفتم 1391؛ هشتم 1392؛ موضوع: داستانهای نوجوانان از نویسندگان انگلیسی - سده 21 م
هشدار: اگر این داستان را نخوانده اید، و میخواهید خود آنرا بخوانید، از خوانش ادامه ی این ریویو پرهیز کنید؛ دارن شان شخصیتی ست نیمه شبح، که منتظر است، در رؤیایی نهایی، در برابر «استیو»، ارباب شبح واره‌ ها، بجنگد. به زادگاهش می‌رود، و می‌فهمد خواهرش ازدواج کرده، و بچه‌ ای هم دارد، و او درمییابد، که اگر «استیو» را بکشد، خودش، ارباب سایه‌ ها خواهد شد، و اگر «استیو» او را بکشد، او (استیو)، ارباب سایه‌ ها می‌شود، تا تمام بشریت، شبح واره‌ ها، و شبح‌ها را، به کام مرگ بفرستد. در ادامه ی داستان، استیو، «شانکوس»، فرزند دوست «دارن» را می‌دزدد، و دارن نیز «داریوس»، فرزند استیو را میرباید. سپس آنها قرار می‌گذارند، تا آندو را مبادله کنند، ولی «استیو»، شانکوس را می‌کشد، و با افشاگری نشان می‌دهد، که داریوس، خواهرزاده ی خود دارن شان است، و داریوس نیمه شبح واره شده‌ است (بقیه داستان به قسمت آخر موکول می‌شود)؛ استیو آهسته گفت: «در برابر سایه ها، همه باید نابود شوند. حالا این دنیای من است». ا. شربیانی

Lord of the Shadows
Author: Darren Shan

"Confidence has brought them out into the light, but they seem to have forgotten - light's no good for creatures of the night."

Darren returns to his former home where he grew up. Suddenly he realizes how the world around him has changed while he was mainly busy saving the future of the vampire clan.
He is reunited with his sister who had a son during his absence.

His nephew turns out to have a connection to the rival clan, making it impossible for Darren to simply defeat the Vampanese lord without consequences...

This part is incredibly nerve wracking there were so many unexpected twists that I didn't see coming. Every character that has appeared in the storyline so far turns out to play an essential role in the plot.

Trigger warnings:
Death, violence, murder, grief, blood, problematic

3.5

When I finished this book I was biting my nails to get the next one. I was constantly devouring Darren Shan's words every waking moment when I bought this series. Not only is he a brilliant writer; he is a master of terror.

The book starts off a little slow compared to the Lake of Souls, Book 10, did. Also I had gotten confused for a minute because I was also reading Shan's Wolf Island in the Demonata series. (excellent as well!) I'm honestly living some of the situation Darren does. Coming back to the town you grew up in. It's somewhat odd to read about.

What I would like to see in future works would be a book of short stories by: Shan, Brom, and Neil Gaiman. Oh what a great book it would be.

nah lebih seru nih....ternyata Annie adiknya Darren nikah sama Steven Leopard dan punya anak!! Ini yang diharapkan dari dulu, kejadian di masa lalu masih akan terus di amsa datang...Ok!

اگر نمیتوانید. ۱۰ جلد. قبلی را بخوانید. ، ازین کتاب شروع کنید. ، خلاصه ی. ابتدای ان بسیار. عالی است

Two years later, and the War of Scars is still going on, yet Darren hasn’t been attending to his princely duties. While still travelling with the Cirque du Freak, Darren and the circus travel to Darren’s original home town where he’d still lived as a vampire. But something sinister is afoot; Darren and Harkat can feel it. There’s Steve and the vampaneze to worry about, and now Darren has to worry about this mysterious future Lord of the Shadows, who may very well be him!

Plot

The end is near with this series but you wouldn’t guess it with how dull Lord of the Shadows. It took ages for any action to start, and when it did it was very predictable. That’s the problem with a long series. Readers start to learn the author’s tricks and nuances and will be able to figure out what will happen next. Even the first time I read this book I wasn’t surprised by anything. Besides the predictable things, Lord of the Shadows was a set up book for Sons of Destiny and that’s about it. The next book is the big finale and this book was the stepping stone to it. Books like this are never really exciting so the plot wasn’t really a letdown.

Writing

By this point, the writing has become too predictable. Eleven books in the same series and you being to be able to figure out what the author has in store next. The quality is as good as ever but it’s gone down in terms of uniqueness. There was a lack of urgency in Lord of the Shadows that I think should have been there. Shan is usually good with that but it was strangely absent.

Characters

I really don’t like what Shan’s done to Darren’s character. Is the reader honestly supposed to believe that Darren would murder a child all of a sudden because of this mysterious darkness rising up inside of him? Apparently we are. It would have been better if, from the beginning of the series, Darren was shown as holding grudges and wanting vengeance, only to be stopped and reprimanded by Mr. Crepsley after he was blooded. And when Mr. Crepsley dies, the one thing that held Darren back is no more and that rage rises up inside of him again. This didn’t happen, but it’s what should have happened. Darren has always been optimistic and a good spirit, even in the worst of times; even when Steve killed Mr. Crepsley! This sudden character shift doesn’t make any sense and it’s very weak. Since Shan couldn’t have gone back and developed Darren like I said, he should have made it where Darren just snapped. To do that, something incredibly upsetting should have happened; something more upsetting than Mr. Crepsley being killed.

It’s very upsetting to see Darren’s character do a one-eighty like this.

Things I Didn't Like

Lord of the Shadows—the second to last book in the series!—was boring. I’m sorry to say but it was. Nothing even happened in first six to seven chapters. “Blah” is the word I’d use to describe this book. It was a set up book, just like books two and three were in this series. Maybe I would have liked the book if it was combined with Sons of Destiny. Who knows?

Besides that, I didn’t like what has happened to Darren’s character in the span of, what, a few chapters? He goes from moderately optimistic half-vampire to a person who’s about ready to murder a child for revenge’s purposes only. How a mighty character has fallen at the hands of the author.

Diversity

Debbie and Alice are back. They play an important role in the indirect plot more than the direct plot. It’s good, but not great. I like the way that they are described as muscular and how Shan doesn’t shy away from having physically strong women. Debbie, the only confirmed POC in the entire series, is more prominent than Alice. I also like how her dark skin is described as beautiful. Too often dark skin is demonized or just not seen as pretty.

Overall

Lord of the Shadows was a book to set up the big finale. It will probably pale in comparison to the final book. The entire book was dull and boring, even during the action scenes. There were choices that Darren made that were rather silly and foolish of him that he only did for the convenience of the plot. If Sons of Destiny makes up for Lord of the Shadows, that’d be great.

Here is a link to my notes.

The book was great I really like how there is some action included and how the author includes a little bit of everything. I really like the books of the author Darren Shan he writes books about vampires (Cirque du Freak) zombie books (the Zom-B series) and those types of books. I recommend these books to those people that like fiction books because I'm pretty sure there is nothing that is actually real besides the actual humans but that's about it. This is one of my favorite books besides the first and second books because it got me reading and I couldn't stop reading.

This series has just hit a point where it went from poorly written to just ridiculously boring. All the characters bore me. They're like children playing hide and seek rather than older men and women fighting a war.

Also Darren's sudden change looked more like a last minute convenience than fate. And I knew from Darius's first appearance that he was the nephew. And that Steve was his father. And Darren got a good enough look at his nephew to describe him so how could he not have seen the resemblances from the start? Doesnt he supposedly have great vision as a half vampire?

This book wasn't the least bit thought out and I've never seen such a weak and cowardly and whining vampire as Darren. He is forever crying or standing on trembling legs. I almost want Steve to kill him at this point.

Worst book of the series. The best part was the ending.

The end of this one truly is wild

So much death

اوّلین شبح را چه کسی هم‌خون کرد؟ یا: در بابِ حکمتِ متعالیۀ اوّل مرغ بود یا تخم‌مرغ؟

خب در این قسمت به نظرم وقتِ آن فرارسیده که جایزۀ کلنگِ طلاییِ قرن برایِ ویران کردنِ شخصیّت‌هایِ داستانی را تقدیمِ آقایِ نویسنده کنیم.
یعنی اگر در کلّ این مجموعه یک نفر وجود داشت که می‌توانست شخصیّتِ درست و درمانی از آن دربیاید، بدونِ شک آقایِ تال بود که آن هم نویسندۀ محترم با آن پایان‌بندیِ مضحک زحمتش را کشید.
یک زمانی بود رولینگ در شاه‌زادۀ دورگه‌اش دامبلدور می‌کشت که نه تنها آه و فغانِ مخاطب به هوا می‌رفت، بلکه چنان داستانِ پیچیده و مبهمی در پسِ آن نهادینه کرده بود که آدم را به حیرت وامی‌داشت. یک زمانی هم هست که آقایِ شان ... بگذریم.

ولی حالا جدا از شوخی، اوّلین شبح را چه کسی هم‌خون کرد؟ حتماً یکی از توله‌جن‌هایِ دیسموند تینی :)

1.5