This is awesome! The title of this book really makes alot of sense from book 4. I loved Trials of Death and there are alot of surprises at the end. Also, an unexpected fellow does something jurastic and on life threatning!

3.75

We've been avidly listening to this series, and it's been a fun family read.

Until this book. This one drove me absolutely insane with the plot holes. Nothing made logical sense. It seems, every so often, that the author is foreshadowing, or including important details that will come up later, but none of those actually come to fruition.

But my main issue with this book is that I wanted to shake every single adult in this entire series. We finally get a female vampire and of course she's a "pick me" girl and offers no logic to all this testosterone fueled mania.

SPOILERS AHEAD

First, Mr. Krepsley bloods a CHILD. There is no excuse for this offered, he just felt like it at the time. And when it's time for him to answer for his crime, of course the only logical solution is for them to put A CHILD and only HALF vampire through trials intended for vampire generals. Oh yes, makes so much sense. Nobody explains to Darren that if he fails he will be put to death because menial details are only for other creatures. Then when he fails a test because an outsider, who also doesn't know the rules, interferes, he is going to be sentenced to death. Then 2 adults who disagree with this ruling (everyone disagrees but of course they can't change the rules even though so many have ALREADY BEEN BROKEN and putting a child and half-vampire through the trials isn't enough of a change for them to consider at least CLARIFYING the rules) convince Darren against his better judgement to escape, then he should be condemned to death because of THAT. This book made absolutely no sense and was literally painful to listen to.

Husker denne boka som en av de beste, som gir mening siden det er et meget bra og sterkt konsept gjennom hele boka: nemlig trials of death (husker ikke hva de heter på norsk, forfriskende at de engelske navnene sitter bedre nå). Alle er spennende og interessante på hver sin måte og er skildret meget bra. Festival of the undead er noe treig samt turen inn i edderkopphulen, men føles som gode pauser fra prøvene. Liker at det føles som de er dødelige og en reell trussel for Darren. Elsker å blir bedre kjent med vampyrene i fjellet og deres måter å leve på, det er bare underholdene å lese, glir inn i denne verdenen. Forholdet mellom Darren og Larten er sterkere nå, og føles som en viktig del av den overordna historien. Forholdene mellom de andre karakterene blir også utbrodert, noe som jeg er glad de bruker noe tid på. Slutten er overraskende og uforventet, og gir deg ikke mye annet valg enn å begynne på neste bok med en gang.

3.5 stars

War bisher schon viel im Leben von Darren Shan passiert, hätte ich wohl nicht gedacht, das noch viel mehr möglich war. Im 5. Band der Reihe musste er sich nun den Prüfungen der Finsternis ergeben, um als vollwertiges Mitglied der Vampire angesehen zu werden. Mit purer Neugier startete ich mein nächstes Abenteuer in die Welt des Mitternachtszirkus, ohne auch nur eine leiseste Ahnung zu haben, was mich erwarten würde.


Und das meine ich voll ernst, denn ich hätte mir im Leben nicht vorstellen können, wie Prüfungen bei Vampiren aussehen würden. Der Schock kam ja schon am Ende des Vorgängers, bei welchem Darren darauf hingewiesen wurde, das ein Scheitern seinen Tod bedeute. Für andere ein Grund schon davor aufzugeben, wollte Darren seinen Meister alle Ehre machen und stellte sich 3 Prüfungen.


Diese waren an sich wirklich heftig, aber trotzdem recht jugendfreundlich umschrieben. Immer wieder wurde darauf hingewiesen, dass nur Vampire diese Aufgaben schaffen würden, da diese spezielle körperliche Merkmale haben. Den Einbau dieser Hinweise fand ich stets sehr geschickt, da sie sich einfach hervorragend in die Geschichte einfügten. Ist ja nicht selbstverständlich, dass man vor gefährlichen Handlungen in Büchern gewarnt wird.

Kuoleman koetukset hämää alkuun genrellään: kirja kuuluu nuortenkirjasarjaan, joka jossain määrin parodisoi vampyyrikertomuksia. Joukossa on lisäksi nuortenkirjoille ominainen seikkailutarina, mutta villisikoihin liittyvä koetus on mielestäni melko raaka nuortenkirjaan.

Kirjan suomennos on kieleltään rikas. Osa henkilöhahmoista jää etäisiksi, ehkä nimiäkin mainitaan hieman liikaa. Juonenkäänteet eivät ole itsestäänselviä, vaan yllättävät loppuun asti. Tarinassa on onnistunut avoin loppu, joka jättää tilaa jatko-osille.

Cirque du Freak Trials of Death is a tremendous book. In this book Darren has to face the trials of death. The trials of death are challenges Darren must face to be a vampire once he is accepted into the clan. On the fourth trial Darren gets in danger but his friend helps him. One law in the vampire clan is if you fail you die. Darren's vampire friends were discussing this with the vampire princes and thought Darren should not die because it was not his fault. Darren feels the same and him and his friend run away.

Tremendo giro de acontecimientos :O
a seguir con la sexta parte !

Trails of Death
By: Darren Shan

ISBN: 0316000957
224 Pages
Publisher: Little Brown Young Readers
2005

tDarren Shan takes his chances and starts his trails to become a vampire. Does he succeed, or does he have to face death? Darren Shan tries to survive and become a vampire. Will he survive? You would have to read this great book in order to find out. Darren Shan has once again written an amazing book. Darren is more creative than ever. He is, once again, doing a great job with the description.

tDarren Shan is creative like every other book. He has gone past the normal stuff. No more safety. Darren is now at risk of losing his life. In order for him to live, he must past several trails. And if he does pass these trails, he will survive and become a vampire. But let him fail, and he should pay with his life. Will Darren live to become a vampire, or will he try his best and fail?

tDarren Shan just continues to be descriptive and detailed. All the trails that Darren takes, you would be able to see them happening in your head. Every word said, every pain taken, anything that happens in the book, you would feel. You would imagine these things happening in your head. Darren has again continued his great work of being very detailed.

tDarren has done great with his description and has been so creative in Trails of Death. But the real question is does Darren become a vampire and live, or does he fail and face death? You should read the book to know.

The another fascinating story of Darren Shan(half-vampire) facing the 4 trails and the festival of Undead!
1st trail : The Aquatic Maze
2nd trail : The Path of Needles
3rd trail : The Hall of Flames
4th trail : The Blooded Boars

"If people tell you vampires aren't real---- don't believe them! The worlds full of vampires. Not evil, shape-changing, cross fearing creatures like in the legends, but honorable, long-living, extra-strong beings who need to drink blood to survive."
Death's sign touch: put the tip of the right hand middle finger to the forehead, placed the tips of the fingers to either side of it on their eyelids, speak their thumb and little finger out wide to the sides.

THAT ENDING KILLED ME. MY BABY IS DEAD