4.5 stars ...

After the last one, I was a bit concerned that I was losing interest in this series. Never fear! This one was awesome!!

Trials of Death (Cirque du Freak #5), Darren Shan
Trials of Death is the fifth book in The Saga of Darren Shan by Darren Shan. It is part of the Vampire Rites Trilogy, consisting of books four through six in the 12-book saga. It was first published by Collins in the United Kingdom in 2001, and in the United States in 2003. Darren Shan is about to take the Trials of Initiation, a series of tests that vampires were forced to take part in during years gone by, to prove himself to the Princes. Currently, it is only used for vampires who want to become a general, or for those who wish to demonstrate their strength. However, Darren Shan is required to endure the trials to earn the respect of the entire vampire race for his mentor Mr. Crepsley's 'impulsive' decision to turn him. Darren is mostly trained by the games master of the Mountain, Vanez Blaze.

تاریخ نخستین خوانش: ماه آوریل سال 2006 میلادی

عنوان: آزمون های مرگ: نویسنده: دارن‌شان؛ مترجم: سوده‌ کریمی؛ تهران، قدیانی، چاپ نهم و دهم 1394؛ در 208 ص؛ کتاب پنجم از سری دارن شان؛ شابک 9789644177590؛ موضوع: داستانهای نویسندگان - سده 21 م

در کتاب پیشین «دارن شان» برای اثبات شجاعت خود به شاهزاده‌ های اشباح، تصمیم گرفت که در آزمون‌های مرگ شرکت کند، و مربی «دارن» یعنی «لارتن کرپسلی» هم این آزمون‌ها را پذیرفت، اما چیزی که «دارن» خبر نداشت، و سپس متوجه شد، این بود، که اگر در آزمون‌ها شکست بخورد، اعدام خواهد شد؛ «وینز بلین» به «لارتن» پیشنهاد داد، که مربی «دارن» در سر امتحانات حاضر باشد، و «لارتن» هم پذیرفت.به «دارن» گفته بودند، که بیش از شصت آزمون وجود دارد، اما امکان برگزاری برخی از آزمون‌ها دیگر وجود ندارد، و بعضی از آزمون‌ها هم بخاطر قد کوتاه «دارن» امکان‌پذیر نیست، و در کل هفده آزمون باقی ماند، که «دارن» باید در پنج مورد از آن‌ها شرکت می‌کرد.با یاری «سبا نایل» دومین شبح مسن اشباح یک قانون کهن پیدا کرد، که بین هر آزمون، میتوانست یک روز فرصت استراحت، و تمرین، داشته باشد.به هر حال «دارن» برای قرعه کشیدن، به کوهستان اشباح احضار شد.«دارن» از توی کیسه گوی‌ها یک قرعه کشید، و از توی آن، قرعه «هزار توی آبی» درآمد. «دارن» از «وینز» پرسید که چقدر دشوار است، و «وینز» گفت بستگی به این دارد که شنا بلد باشید یا بلد نباشید، «دارن» گفت بلدم، و «وینز» هم گفت که پس خوب است، و میتوانست بدتر از این باشد. «دارن» و «وینز» به تالار تمرینات رفتند، و تمرینات خود را آغاز کردند. در این مرحله باید در تالاری وارد می‌شد، که پس از ورود او، از آب پر می‌شد. «دارن» باید در خروج را پیدا می‌کرد، در حالیکه یک سنگ سنگین هم به پای «دارن» بسته شده بود. پس از پانزده دقیقه تالار پر از آب می‌شد.برای هر آزمون یکی از شاهزاده‌ های اشباح برای نظارت میآمد، و برای این آزمون «میکا ورلت» خودش را رسانده بود.«دارن» پس از گذشتن بیست دقیقه در حالیکه چیزی تا مرگش نمانده بود، پیروز از تالار خارج شد. آنشب موقع استراحت «دارن» برای خوردن شام، به تالار «کولدن لورت» رفته بود، که دوست خودش «هارکات مولدز» را دید.«هارکات» می‌گفت اشباح سر موفقیت و شکست تو شرط بندی می‌کردند. پیش از آزمون شرط بندی‌ها علیه تو بود، اما الان اکثراً به نفع تو هست. خبر خوب این بود که در یکی دو روز آینده جشنواره نامردگان برگزار می‌شد. این جشن وقتی برگزار می‌شد که تمام اشباح به کوهستان می‌رسیدند، و در آن سه شب، جشن برگزار می‌شد و ...؛ نقل نمونه متن: «آنها گفتند: اگر بتوانم از آزمون های سختی که برایم درنظر گرفته میشد، موفق بیرون بیایم، مرا خواهند پذیرفت، چیزی که به من نگفتند این بود که اگر در آزمونی موفق نمیشدم کشته میشدم.» پایان نقل. ا. شربیانی

آقایِ کرپسلی گفت: «واقعاً نمی‌دانستی اگر در آزمون‌ها شکست بخوری تو را به تالارِ مرگ می‌برند؟»
گفتم: «نه، نمی‌دانستم.»
سر تکان داد و گفت: «اوه، متأسّفم؛ باید زودتر به تو می‌گفتم.»


ولی نگران نباش، آقایِ دارن شان. ما می‌دانیم که هنوز هفت قسمت از قصّه‌هایِ سرزمینِ اشباح باقی مانده است و تو هرطور که شده از این آزمون‌ها جانِ سالم به در خواهی برد. پس به گمانم این تعلیقی که خواسته‌اید ایجاد کنید، کمی خام و ناشیانه است و کارکردِ داستانی ندارد.

ارادتمند، خوانندۀ آزمون‌هایِ مرگ

About the Book:
When we last left Darren, he was told that he would have to complete five deadly trials to prove himself a worthy vampire. Not only are the trials themselves deadly, but if Darren fails in any way besides death, he will be executed. It is actually after one of these trials that Darren learns about a treacherous plot that involves the vampaneze.

Review:
This book was filled with action and kept me turning the page (especially near the end). Darren's trials were interesting and even though you knew he wouldn't die (he is the main character and there is seven more books after all), Shan still managed to throw some curve balls at you. Although there were parts I didn't enjoy immensely (such as the Festival of the Undead), I still didn't really hate any part of the book this time. Besides, I appreciated getting to see Darren in more than his role as a half-vampire. It is always a plus when the author lets the every day and little affairs pop through into a book as well. It always makes it seem more real, and I didn't feel like I was bogged down with these kind of details either.

My favourite part was definitely the climax of this book, and I found myself unable to put it down and wondering how Darren would put a stop to it. Not only is he in a fix with the vampaneze at this point, but he is also in a bit of a pickle with the vampires, which may also limit his options.

I do wish that Shan went into more details about the Guardians of the Blood and their beliefs more. Although they may not be the most imaginative creature, they are still quite striking to the imagination and Shan could have introduced another culture more thoroughly into his world. All in all though, I really enjoyed this book and started the next one right away (the cliff hanger is a suspense like no other). It may have taken a while, but this series is definitely starting to take off.

Directly after hearing that he must face vicious trials or die, Darren Shan takes on the Trials of Initiation in Trials of Death. The consequence for not passing the Trials is death by being dropped on spikes over and over until death takes you. The Trials are hard enough for adult full-vampires, so how will our half-vampire protagonist fare? One things for sure, if Darren passes the Trials he might have wished he didn’t in the end.

Plot

The plot in Trials of Death is all about Darren going through five Trials of Initiation to prove himself to be a good standing vampire. For some, the plot in this book may be a little dull. It all revolves around Darren training and completing the Trials. If you have a big interest in vampire society you might not be so bored. Along with the trials we get intimate details of vampire society in this universe and we get to see it in action. I’ve seen probably and equal amount of reviewers say that the book was either too fast or too slow. Personally, I don’t think it went fast at all. If you’re used to reading books that have slow, gradual development then Trials of Death may have been a little fast-paced.

One thing that I did think was a little too fast was how quickly they started on the Trials. There is literally only one chapter between Darren hoping he doesn’t die in the Trials and him training for his first Trial.

Writing

One thing I will say is that I like the way Shan wrote the action scenes and the scenes with the Trials. He describes them so well that I can easily picture Darren going about his challenges without struggling to imagine them. There’s no over-descriptiveness going on; it’s just the right amount of description to be able to imagine the Trials and not be bogged down with information.

The parts where there aren’t any Trials or action going on are pretty boring, though. The Festival of the Undead is an example of the boring parts of the book. While it was interesting to learn about the different aspects of vampire culture, it was still a little dull.

Characters

I still like Darren as our protagonist. He’s very realistic. He doesn’t just magically excel at things, even though he does have a few talents for certain things. His emotions are pretty real, too, like when someone makes a joke in a tense situation and he snaps at them. Mr. Crepsley is a character I want to like but just can’t because we still don’t know all that much about him. Darren spent most of his time with Vanez Blane in preparation for the Trials. There are moments where I can say I like him, like when he and Darren hug before Darren’s first Trials and Mr. Crepsley’s confidence in Darren. Besides that, and a few instances where we’re told Darren and Mr. Crepsley are close, I don’t feel any strong feelings towards Mr. Crepsley.

The other vampires were developed a little more since the last book, but not too much. One has to remember that Trials of Death only spans across the course of not even two weeks at most. I feel like Darren should have been in the company of these other characters more so that certain character’s death is more meaningful.

Things I Didn't Like

Unfortunately one of the biggest negatives in books made into my Things I Didn’t Like section: plotholes. There are only two major plotholes that I could catch, but they’re pretty big. The first one is why the Council bent the rules to give Darren extra time after The Hall of Flames. Darren, Mr. Crepsley, and all other vampires have reminded the reader over and over again that vampires are honorable creatures. There are vampires that would, and have, died for honor. During Darren’s first trial, when he could have given himself a head start through The Aquatic Maze that he was so afraid at dying at, he didn’t. Nobody but Darren would have known that he’d cheated but he still didn’t because of honor and nearly died in the process. So why would these vampires bend the rules—that they are literally dead-set on—all of a sudden for a half-vampire? This is a gaping plothole.

The other plothole was with regards to Darren and Kurda running away. Harkat wants to come with Darren but Kurda tells him that he’s too wide to fit through some of the tunnels. However, Gavner ends up going with them and I’m pretty sure that a vampire described as short but wide is probably wider than a Little Person. I know that Gavner needed to be the one with Kurda and Darren in the end to advance the plot, but this doesn’t make sense. Harkat could have fit and gone with them and the whole situation in the end of the book could have been avoided. There is no logical reason for Harkat not being able to come with Darren. Shan should have come up with a different reason as to why Harkat couldn’t join them.

Diversity

The diversity in Trials of Death is the same as in the last books. One woman, who gets beaten by a pacifist despite being the best, and a vampire with one eye. Sad to say that that’s the end of the list.

Overall

I enjoyed Trials of Death. It gave the readers a better look into this vampire society, which the majority of vampire books rarely do. The Trials might be a little boring for some but I thought that they were very well written. The plot twist at the end was great, too. There are gaping plotholes that I don’t like, but what is one to do? The earlier books in the Cirque du Freak series are a little better than this one, even though the books are really moving forward.

Here is a link to my notes.

In Trials of Death Darren has to prove himself in five trials. Every book in this series is so different from the rest but I think this was my favorite so far, because it surprised me the most.

I was kind of bored during the first half of the book. I have read several books with trials a lot like these, so I thought that this was going to be one of the more predictable books in the series (Darren almost dies a few times but in the end he will probably succeeds in the trials, then i can move on to the next book). During the second half i started to realize that my expectations were very wrong. It was full of surprises and it ended in a huge cliffhanger.

Something else i like about these books is the world building. In most series almost al the world building is done in the first few books. During the rest of the series there is barely any focus on it. This is not the case here, there was a lot in this book about the culture of vampires and vampire mountain.

Just LOVE this Series!

n  

Another frustrating TO BE CONTINUED...

n  

Someone needs to explain to me why I paid $8 for a book that didn't have an ending to it. Honestly, it didn't have a beginning either because that was in book 4 Vampire Mountain. It's just the next installment in one long book you have to read one part at a time. I bitched about this when I reviewed Vampire Mountain. Maybe it's just me but when I pay for a novel I think it should be a full NOVEL with a beginning, middle and an end. Isn't that what I paid for? Okay I'll stop bitching now.

n  

This installment of The Saga of Darren Shan was the biggest disappointment yet. Darren has to perform five trials to clear his master's reputation for making him an half-vampire so young. First, I'm not quite sure how that's Darren's problem but then I'm not a vampire. Now consider that these trials are normally performed by vampires in order to prove they are ready to become vampire Generals and they have been preparing for decades if not hundreds of years. Okay so fine Darren fails what's the big deal? The price of failure? Death!

n  

There were no real surprises for me. The trials were what I had expected. Even the cliffhanger was given away in the first part of the book.

n  

n    Finally, I'd pretty much figured out in Vampire Mountain that Kurda Smadlt was a traitor (pretty sure he's the Vampaneze Lord everyone is freaking out about). He thinks the Vampaneze are misunderstood, wants peace with them, thinks the vampire way of life is barbaric and out of date, and is making a detailed map of the caves of Vampire Mountain? Hello?n  

n  

So am I going to read Book 6 The Vampire Prince? Well, see that's the trouble with cliffhangers, huh? You really have to read the next book don't you? You have know what happens to poor Darren. Now I'm going to see if I can check the rest of the series out from my local library because I am so not paying for them any more.

n  

To read my review of the other books in this series, use the links below:

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n      Book One: A Living Nightmare
t Book Two: The Vampire's Assistant
t Book Three: Tunnels of Blood
t Book Four: Vampire Mountain
t Book Six: The Vampire Prince
t Book Seven: Hunters of the Dusk
n  

n  
n

THIS IS NOT going to resolve anything of value

I've noticed that Shan tends to end his books with a big n  n    TO BE CONTINUEDn  n... but there's a difference between ending the book with a bit of a cliff hanger...versus literally stopping in the middle of a story. This is a case of the latter.

Deeeeep Breaths.

In this novel, we find Darren competing in the Vampire Trials. Either he manages to prove himself worthy of becoming a full vampire or his life will be cut extremely short.

These trials are meant to for full vampires and Darren is only a half-vampire (and a young one at that). While the other vampires do make some concessions, for the most part, Darren is thrown to the wolves.

His trials are both difficult and painful - he loses his hair to fire, scrapes himself raw on another and nearly drowns to death in a third. Unlike most middle-school books, no one waved their wand to cure him.

He deals with pain and suffering head-on which is something unique compared to many other sugar-coated middle school novels I've read. And his injuries are carried over in the next few books - points for realism!

Just when we get to the climax - BAM - To Be Continued

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دارن شان قشنگ میدونه چطوری خواننده رو دنبال خودش بکشونه …
عجب پایانی داشت این جلد

Darren faces 5 trials that test his vampire worthiness. His friends help train him. The vampaneze are growing in numbers. The team starts thinking there may be more to the uprising they were warned about. Darren uncovers a secret his friend has been hiding.

Pretty harrowing and brutal, this macabre fifth book in the running Cirque du Freak series continues in the vein of all those that came before it with a lot of action, a lot of blood, and a lot of fun. I liked this one better than the last, as I felt it got a little more involved. But, being a fan of the entire series, I have yet to be disappointed, at all. Shan delivered darkness with Trials by Death, and I would have expected nothing less.

Five Stars!