The Lake of Souls

Sadly, I cannot continue with this series. It has just gone on for too long and has lost my interest.

Sadly, this series is spiraling downwards.
I have officially lost all interest in the plot. I will list eveything I hate about this series so far:

1. The writing is super inconsistent. Everything after book 3 happens so fast, so so fast. The descriptions are weirdly vivid in places, yet not so much in others, especially when it comes to converasations. It feels as if the author is unsure how to write, so he just decides to cut a chunk out of the story and hope that readers will not notice. Too bad we do notice!!!

2. The plot is garbage. The first two trilogies are intriguing at least, as the concept is new, and you are introduced to, first a circus full of amazing people, then to a whole society of vampires. After that, everything feels like it is written by a kid who gives no shit about logic.

3. Badly developed characters. I have come to the tenth book in the series, yet I fail to see a certain characteristics in each of the characters. Darren appears to be foolish in this part, then suddenly becomes super wise in another. Mr. Crepsley is first described to be really cautious and prudent, yet at times behaves like a teenager. Harkat is silent at first, then for no reasons turns out to be a talker. And on and on it goes. I have a strange feeling that since the author cannot decide on one single trait for the characters, he ends up giving them exquisite apperance.

4. Why even call it the Cirque du Freak series if you get to see the people in the circus once every two books? Once the wonder of meeting a bunch of ‘freaks’ wears off, the whole series becomes really boring.

5. Destiny is a bitch, some may say. Yet in this case, it is true, as none of the characters have any say in the fight against this bizarre Mr. Desmond Tiny. They never question, nor go against his will. And therefore, to me, they appear as mere puppets, with no development at all.

6. War of the Scars is supposed to be this really huge fight, a big big event that may shatter the earth and kill so many living things. Yet due to the whole ooh-im-so-scared-Mr-Desmond-Tiny-said-only-three-people-can-fight-so-I-will-sadly-stay-at-home shit, nothing actually happens. You are told that every vampire is getting prepared to go to war with the vampaneze, yet in reality, everything they do is hide in their mountain and let Darren and his bitches do the work. Wow. Talk about wars.

7. Darren Shan is a bad character. He has killed like, I dont know, two vampanezes? The rest are slain by his companions. Every where he goes, he gets into trouble, his life is being threatened, then some fucked up deux-ex-machina happnes and he is happily saved. By now I am so so irritated by this half-vampire kid.

8. A lot of things happen in these books have absolutely no connections to other events. And by a lot, I mean A LOT. It’s like the author one day decides ‘Ooh, you know what would be good for this adventure? A dragon. A dwarf. A wizard. A lion. A lizard. A pond. A lake. A cloud. A fucking tree’ And he just randomly throws a dice to see where in the story he would put each item.

9. This book in particular is so so bad. Too many things happen, without any major things actually happening. Dragons are dragged into the story for completely no reason as they have zero impact on the journey. And I swear, if the true identity of Harket does not help in the final two books, I will just go back and change all the previous reviews to one star. That is just how pissed I am right now.

I really struggled with this one, and found the revelations very confusing. I don't see how younger readers would continue to understand it as the plot is getting very complicated.

Wow! This is another great book by the amazing...... Darren Shan! Harkat and Darren are sent out to find who Harkat used to be. Harkat is a little person made by Mr. Tiny. He makes them out of the leftovers of people's body's. I had definitely guessed he had been a vampire but I didn't expect him to be........ Kurds Smahlt! I was just thinking "How could that have happened if Harkat was born before Kurda died?" Then Mr. Tiny told Darren he went into the future took Kurda's body and replaced it with someone else's at the funeral. He had made up Harkat Mulds and brought him back to the present time to be Darren's protector. When I found out that the place they went to would be the future I was like "That's a good ending!" 5 STARS *****

At first I was tempted to give this book less stars but the ending by itself secured four stars. One of my main complains I have with this book it’s that it diverts from the main plot. With only one more chance to win the war and the story rushing to its conclusion, knowing Harkat’s real identity didn’t seem that important. That doesn’t mean that the book wasn’t entertaining, the creatures that they meet and the adventures that they live made it an easy read as it is very action packed. I’ve personally really liked that the book starts with the consequences of the previous one, without wanting to say much, I think it’s great that the author didn’t brush off Darren’s grief for the plot sake and that we get to see him having a real reaction to loss; depression and sorrow. The end of the book was so shocking and a big cliff hanger that answers some questions and opens new ones making me excited to finish the series. The big reveal seemed made up on the spot because of how unexpected it was, but the anagram reveals that it was well planned, making me wonder how I didn’t consider it even once.

Very different book to the others, which I really enjoyed it being. Depth in the setting and character depth in Harkat who is one of my favourite characters!

Unlike a few do not really feel this ended on a cliff hanger unless you count "that was the future we were just in", so intrigued to see where we are going!

Great break from the normal narrative and needed I think for an intensity into the war of scars...

A different twist and approach on the series . This book takes a way/break from the present war between the vampires and vampaneze - instead it is a full packed adventure on finding out who Harkat really was. And believe you me your going to get a shock because i sure did! Anyway there are little bits or mystery flung in things to work out - which was fun. There's also fantasy with the creatures of the world in which they embark and lastly there is also a little bit of good old fashioned scare (let's just say I was partly hiding at some parts of this book - it had me in the edge) anyway over all an interesting and a fun read!

the entire book felt like a random side quest featuring my least favourite character (harkat) with one singular revelation. why the hell is it the longest one in the series? and why is the series called cirque du feak when there's barely been any cirque since book 2?