Sunday 1 September 2013

Book Review - Palace of the Damned

Title: Palace of the Damned
Author: Darren Shan
Series: The Saga of Larten Crepsley
Publisher: HarperCollinsChildren'sBooks
Release Date: 26 April 2012
ISBN-13: 978-0007315932

 Synopsis
After failing his mentor and killing the entire crew of a ship in a bout of revenge for the death of his assistant, Larten is bereft with guilt. He no longer has the drive to live the vampiric life, and hides out in Paris, masquerading as a human. There, he finds some happiness, even falling in love with a girl. But the darkness inside him is too great for humanity, and he is forced to make a choice: hide in the shadows of the human world, or take his place among the vampire clan and protect those weaker than himself. But enemies are waiting, traps are laid, and Larten's path is bound to be strewn with bodies.
This is his story.


My Review
After the horrific attack on the boat, Larten is almost at the end of his tether, disgraced by what he has done, alone and cold, trapped in Greenland with a baby, he's not sure if he can go on. Even Vampires have to give up sometime. But he then finds the legendary Ice Tomb, a sacred place vampires have been searching for for years. After a visit from the mysterious Me Tiny (yes he features in this series too and is just as irritating, meddlesome and weird as in the Darren Shan Saga), Larten decides to go on, but away fro the Vampire world and the Clans. Needing to find someone to take care of the baby he journeys to Paris. Once there he meets and falls in love with a young lady called Alicia. 
He stays with her for a while and you start to see a softer side of Crepsley, more of the man you know he will become. He is gentle with Alicia and tries to make the whole family dynamic work, but he keeps some secrets to himself. The baby is named Gavner Purl - a name you should recognise from the other series, although it took me a while to place him. But once I had, I was even more intrigued, how does this situation end up with Gavner becoming the man we know. So not only are we learning about Crepsley's past but also Gavner's. I liked this addition and was intrigued by the relationship between them.
But not everything can stay the same and things have a habit of going wrong for Larten. 
I think I enjoyed this one the most out of the series although I was waiting for Larten to return to his Vampire Clan and find his way again, it was refreshing to see this other side to him and see him evolve as a character. 

My Rating
    

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