Lord Loss (Book One of The Demonata): Book 1

Product Information

Eating breakfast at the kitchen table. Radio turned down low. Listening to the noises upstairs. Trying not to giggle. Waiting for the outburst. I shrug wordlessly. What's there to say? They're being unfair. Of course smoking's dumb. Of course it gives you cancer. Of course I shouldn't be doing it. But my friends smoke. It's cool. You get to hang out with cool people at lunch and talk about cool things. But only if you smoke. You can't be in if you're out. And they know that. Yet here they stand, acting all Gestapo, asking me to account for my actions. They don't talk to me at meals. The three of them act like I'm not there. Gret doesn't even glance at me spitefully and sneer, the way she usually does when I'm getting the doghouse treatment. Lord Loss is a fast paced, brutally executed book filled with gore, friendship and coming to terms with a family curse. I read this when i was 13/14, and I’m now 26 & I can still say for certain it still holds up as one of my favorite horror books/series. It’s fun, its gross, and the characters are so loveable and relatable.

Three days after my early release. To say things are strange is the understatement of the decade. The atmosphere's just like it was when Gran died. Mum and Dad wander around like robots, not saying much. Gret mopes in her room or in the kitchen, stuffing herself with sweets and playing chess nonstop. She's like an addict. It's bizarre. Lord Loss is a young adult book, so it’s got all the YA stuff that you’d expect—Grubbs trying to fit into his new school, making friends, struggling with the trauma of what happened to him. There are problems with the book, Darren Shan struggles in places to write dialogue for a young teenager, for instance, but I found myself overlooking these issues. That’s in large to the characters and the world that he created. I edge closer to Mum and Dad's room. I've known all along that this is where they must be. Delaying the moment of truth. Gret likes to call me a coward when she wants to hurt me. Big as I am, I've always gone out of my way to avoid fights. I used to think (fear) she might be right. Each step I take towards my parents' bedroom proves to my surprise that she was wrong. And he is bald, gosh, no wonder girls don't like him too much, but those bitches would stand in line for him if they read this book I want to ask them about it, but how? "Mum, Dad - have aliens taken over your bodies? Is somebody dead and you're too afraid to tell me? Have you all converted to Miseryism?"Make yourself comfy in the living room," Aunt Kate simpers. "I'll fix a nice pot of tea for us. It's almost time for the news." The thing about Darren Shan that I appreciate is that the child characters are not sanitised little genius saints who are basically mouthpieces for the author's agenda. They are not mouthpieces to tell kids what the author believes is wrong with the real world now, like so many YA books are right now. These are children who can be rude and are boisterous, they can be annoying and selfish, but they are all relatable. Not out there to flatter the kids and tell them what to think. Smoking's dumb," he says. We're in the kitchen (I haven't been out of it since Mum dragged me home from school early, except to go to the toilet). "It's disgusting, antisocial and lethal. Why do it, Grubbs? I thought you had more sense."

Seriously, jokes aside, I'm frightened. They're sharing a secret, something bad, and keeping me out of it. Why? Is it to do with me? Do they know something that I don't? Like maybe... maybe... Lord Loss masterminded the cruel plot to slowly drag Kernel towards him and, using the First Board stolen from the Druid Drust in Bec, let him realize the truth about Art. Kernel was responsible for turning Lord Loss's familiar (Artery) into a human (Art), which led to Kernel discovering his powers.

Author Notes:

This book is amazing! simple as that. And I'm really curious to read the next book in the series to see more of the characters and what's next!! It's been the biggest argument starter all my life. Mum and Dad don't put pressure on me to do well in school or at other games, but they press me all the time at chess. They make me read chess books and watch videotaped tournaments. We have long debates over meals and in Dad's study about legendary games and grandmasters, and how I can improve. They send me to tutors and keep entering me in competitions. I've argued with them about it - I'd rather spend my time watching and playing football - but they've always stood firm. What's wrong, Gretelda?" I giggle, fending her off, calling her by the name she hates. She normally calls me Grubitsch in response, but she's too mad to think of it now. Curious and afraid, I slink to the door and eavesdrop as he phones Aunt Kate and clears my stay with her. Nothing suspicious in their conversation. He doesn't talk about me as if these are my final days. Even hangs up with a cheery "Toodle-pip", a corny phrase he often uses on the phone. I'm about to withdraw and catch up with the football action when I hear Gret speaking softly from the stairs. Lord Loss is the first novel in the Demonata series written by best-selling teenage horror author Darren Shan. [1] It was originally published in the UK on 6 June 2005. Soon after, it appeared in Japan and America, where Shan's previous series, The Saga of Darren Shan, had sold millions. [2] The novel is set in Ireland and is told in present tense first person through Grubbs Grady, a child whose family are all chess players.

Aaaaand... LORD LOSS, the Demon Lord. I personally think that he resembles Voldemort in the way he speaks, calm but harsh. I like the idea of a few grey hairs, not a whole head of them like Dad, just a few. And spread out - I don't want a skunk patch! I'm big for my age - taller than most of my friends - and burly. I don't look old, but if I had a few grey hairs, I might be able to pass for an adult in poor light - bluff my way into 18-rated movies!Yup. That guy after whom the book was named upon, and his two familiars Artery and Vein. HE ESCAPES THEM. I smirk at the thought, and of course that's when Mum pauses for the briefest of moments and catches me. "What are you grinning at?" she roars, and then she's off again - I'm smoking myself into an early grave, the school's responsible, what sort of a freak show is Mr. Donnellan running, la-di-la-di-la-di-bloody-la! Then something happened... I won't say what it is to avoid spoiling anything... and i felt it was the most ridiculous thing I've ever read in a book, ridiculous and unrealistic. I had to keep reminding myself constantly that it was fiction with supernatural things happening so it was supposed to be unrealistic. I started wondering if this was a genre that could work for me... It didn't seem like it.