This book was like an introduction to the abilities of Mr. Tiny, his powers, his thinking, how manipulative he is and what rules he abides. We got to know him better, and characters got to know him better too. I really liked the parts when Darren and Harkat tried to think like Mr. Tiny, tried to make sense of the situation using what they knew from him, relying on fate and believing that there is a reason why things happened the way they did.
It was an interesting book, but so far away from the main storyline that I felt like I have to work my way through it as fast as I could so I could get back to the real story.

آن قدیم‌ها، که من و شما یادمان نمی‌آید، وقتی مطلبی را آغاز می‌کردند که به موضوعِ کلّیِ بحث ربطی نداشت، می‌گفتند: فایدۀ استطرادیّه.
شده است حکایتِ این قسمت از قصّه‌هایِ سرزمینِ اشباح که به مثابۀ یک فایده (فایده که چه عرض کنم، بیشتر ضایعۀ) استطرادیه از داستانِ اشباح و سرزمینِ آن‌هاست.

فضایِ این قسمت بیشتر حال و هوایِ «دلتورا»یِ امیلی رودا را داشت. هرچند فکر نکنم لازم باشد بگویم که تفاوتِ سطحشان با هم چه‌قدر است. با این حال این قسمت به عنوان یک ضایعۀ استطرادیّه از آن ضایعاتِ دیگر کمی بهتر بود و قابلِ تحمّل‌تر. کاش اصلاً دارن شان به آن جهانِ مسخرۀ اشباحش برنمی‌گشت که در آن تکلیفِ آدم با خودش معلوم نیست.

پ.ن: منطقِ رواییِ دارن شان: الف) گره‌افکنی در داستان نیاز است: نگران نباش، دیسموند تینی هست. ب) گره‌گشایی نیاز است: نگران نباش: ایوانا هست. :))

I personally liked.....no loved the book. In the 11th book of the series Darren Shan really showed off his ability to keep readers on the edge of their seats. He uses tension and excitement around every corner and uses some gruesome imagery and foreshadowing.

Darren and Harkat are the two main characters and seem to come closer somehow during their latest adventure traveling to a barren waste land that might be the future of Earth depending on the outcome of the war of the scars. Darren and Harkat seem to find out more about each other the longer they are together and seem to become even better friends. Even after finding out about Harkats past identity Darren wouldn't leave the side of Harkat. That shows that Darren has grown to judge people in the present, because it doesn't matter what you did in your past

Further into the book, Darren shows to be growing up in a extraordinary way when he followed Harkat through the portal to find out who he was in his past life before becoming a little person to work at the Cirque. For a little person to figure out who they were before their new life, they have to go through a life threatening quest through a barren waste land that is in another time and space to a lake filled with the souls of the damned. After every battle and close brush with death, Darren seems to be growing a little at a time. He seems to pick up on some of the vampire ways that were never taught to him by his mentor or fellow princes, or his followers. He just seems to pick them up on his own and it shows that he is beginning to comprehend what it really means to be a vampire and a vampire prince.

The story never really told of what time or place that it was set to take place, but seeing as how in some scenes that it had under ground safety bunkers, I would put the setting somewhere around the modern era and the near future. The story does take place during the war between the vampaneze and the vampires, the war is aptly named 'The War Of The Scars'. its said that the winner of the war will become the lord of the shadows. 'The Lake Of Souls' is the 11th book in the Cirque Du Freak series. In the beginning of the book, Darren and Harkat are back at the Cirque and Darren is still trying to get over the death of beloved friend and mentor to the Vampire ways and lifestyle. His name was Mr. Crepsley. After having a nice visit with Truska,(the lady that can grow a beard and suck the hair back into her face) Darren was finally able to cry for his dead vampire mentor.

If I had to recommend this book to anyone it would probably be to people between the ages of 14-17. Someone who can handle reading the profane language in a mature manner who can handle it.

I have mixed feelings on this one. It feels like the entire novel is a side quest when you're reading it; characters in the book literally say the hunt for the Lord of the Vampaneze will resume later (so basically 'kill some time for a novel because why not'). It becomes more plot related in the next book but you don't know that until you read it. I'm also not a fan of time travel, the importance of which becomes increasingly relevant with each passing book as the War of Scars comes to an end. Despite the massive twists and no fear of going wherever Shan pleases for plot, the series is getting progressively gimick-ier and more melodramatic, with too many of the twists being for shock value more than anything else.

The Grotesque is sexy af (;

I didn't expect to like this book as much as I did. At first, I was frustrated that the hunt for the Lord of the Vampaneze was being delayed, but I was also interested in finding out who Harkat used to be. The Lake of Souls is a very exciting story, much more fantasy-like than the previous books. The dragons, the Grotesque and the giant toad were a bit much for me, because I felt like they didn't belong in the world the author had created. Everything was weird and scattered, be it exciting.

I also had a love/hate relationship with new character Spit. He's awful, but does serve an important purpose in the story. He's there so Harkat and Darren can remain honorable and likable. And also: Darren has to feed, of course.

On the one hand, I was disappointed that the author gave so much of the plot away pretty early in the story, but that made the ending very satisfying (and predictable, but I didn't mind). All in all, I liked the story, and it added to the main story, but it was way too random, scattered and unimpactful for the War of Scars for me. I would read it again when rereading though.

This has been my favorite book in this series. All the books are good and integral to the plot but I loved how this one has the characters step away from the main story to explore the secret behind one of their true identities.

This book is soooo good. I can't put it down. EVER!! I read all nine books in a mounth or so.Right now i'm on the tenth book, and almost finish with this one.I'm looking forward for to the elevnth and twelve'th book.

This series just makes me want to pick up one book after another. I really enjoy them.

*spoilers*

This book is pretty trippy. Darren and Harkat are transferred to a different world—technically still Earth, but a far-off distant land that is unrecognizable, because it’s meant to be the future, and apparently the world has been destroyed and is now desolate. There are wild animals still, some of which are more like mutants (such as a giant toad, a panther, etc.), and then there are some straight-up monsters that are just weird-sounding. For example, there’s this one creature simply known as “The Grotesque”…and the way it’s described (basically a bunch of human body parts put together in a horrifically deformed way), it sounds like an accurate name. If I remember correctly, it is worshipped by a cult of people who control it, and send it after people. And yes, there are still some humans left too. There is one lone character later on that Darren and Harkat meet, named Spits Abram. Seems like a nice guy at first, but he has a secret of his own…

And lastly…dragons. The ones who guard the lake of souls. But we’ll get more to that in a little while.

Before Darren and Harkat enter that world though, they are at the Cirque once again, and Darren, of course, has taken the loss of his friend Crepsley in the previous book pretty hard. He prefers to stay stoic and emotionless about it, not letting anything show. This enrages Truska, who before then has always been completely pleasant, and she delivers some tough love to Darren. I loved seeing this new side to Truska. Darren was taken aback as well, but is grateful for it because he knows it’s because she cares.

The reason why Darren and Harkat go to this desolate land is because Mr. Tiny (the guy who always has prophecies that people have to be weary of) lets them know that it’s time for Harkat to find out who he was in his past life. I don’t think I mentioned this, but the Little People aren’t humans. They’re beings that are short, wear robes and hoods to hide their faces, and they don’t talk. Harkat is a special case (also the only one who was named), who started talking to Darren back in book 4 when they went to Vampire Mountain. He talks kind of like a robot, with long pauses in his sentences, but he gets a little better as the series goes on. He becomes a lot more humanlike along the way, and also far more assertive—he argues with Darren sometimes and is very direct, but a loyal friend all the same. He’s so much his own character that you forget sometimes that he isn’t human—the reason the Little People cover their faces, is because they would terrify humans. They are gray, stitched together, and have big green eyes. They look like little monsters. And…they are the reincarnated souls of people who’ve died and are trying to make amends for their past wrongs. This is what Harkat and Darren go the parallel world for—to go to the Lake of Souls. Harkat has been having nightmares that have been getting increasingly worse, and the nightmares in my opinion kind of make it obvious who he was. But it will be a treat to come to the conclusion nonetheless.

Did I also forget to mention that Little People are apparently made from the bones and remains of the person who died? Mr. Tiny is responsible for creating them. I don’t think I could come up with something that awesomely weird even if I was on acid.

Harkat Mulds and Evra Von are my two favorite characters in this entire series

Prompts this fits for reading challenges: green cover, animal on the cover, monsters, magic, vampires, travel/adventure, in a series I already started, favorite author, found family, British Isles setting, dedication, first person POV, YA book, paranormal/horror, complicated relationships, includes a funeral. ISBN has 1/5/0, reincarnation, murder, war that isn't WWI/WWII.

I enjoy how the author puts a hilarious dedication at the start of each book, on theme with the books themselves. I'm also very glad that he includes a good summary of everything that's happened in previous books, in the first chapter or so of each successive book. It helps tremendously. The narrator of the audiobook is the same for the entire series, and does a tremendous job. For some reason, he does sound a LITTLE different than he did in the first 9 books. I'm not sure why that would be, but he does.

This book focused mainly on the continuing adventures of Darren and Harkat, as they try to discover Harkat's original identity. They face down dangerous creatures on their quest.

I liked that this installment was more of a spiritual quest than an action packed novel. Though the story carried through some very important revelations and revealed some major plot lines, I felt that this one was more laid back than the books previous. I enjoyed Darren and Harkat's witty back and forth banter. Having the story primarily follow just the two of them was a really nice change of pace. However, we got to tangle around with both some characters from past books that got to have a larger part in the story and we even got introduced to some VERY interesting newbies. As always, Mr. Tiny and his illusive ways DRIVE. ME. CRAZY. But, it always makes for a very interesting story.The various people and conflicting objects and time lines were confusing at times but I am hoping that will be explained further in the next book, but that may not be the case considering that to Mr. Tiny, "Time is relative" and he hates to give answers and spoil the "fun" of the unknown. I will say though, that some of their checkpoints that the pair had to overcome almost seemed too easy but I enjoyed the journey to these frights more than the monsters themselves. We still had a lot of heavy topics and our characters are still on a difficult and winding path but all in all, this book was a breath of fresh air in the series. Now onto books 11 and 12. I can't wait to see how this epic comes to a conclusion.