Trials of Death (Cirque Du Freak: Saga of Darren Shan, #5) - Hardcover

Shan, Darren

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0316603678 ISBN 13: 9780316603676

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2003

Synopsis

The trials: seventeen ways to die unless the luck of the vampire is with you. Darren Shan must pass five fearsome Trials to prove himself to the vampire clan ? or face the stakes of the Hall of Death. But Vampire Mountain holds hidden threats. Sinister, potent forces are gathering in the darkness. In this nightmarish world of bloodshed and betrayal, death may be a blessing...

About this title

About the Author

Darren Shan was born in London but at an early age he moved to Limerick, Ireland, with his parents and younger brother. He grew up watching old Dracula horror movies and reading spooky comics, which were the inspirations for this series. Trials of Death is his fifth novel in The Saga of Darren Shan.

Reviews

Grade 4-7-This is the fifth novel in the continuing saga of the youthful half-vampire assistant to Larten Crepsley, a full vampire. Crepsley has brought Darren to Vampire Mountain to undergo the Trials of Death, an elective ritual periodically undergone by vampires in order to bond with the clan and prove their worth. As a half-vampire, Darren is in more danger of failing the trials than the others who usually participate, but he is determined to go ahead. The penalty for failing without dying is execution. In the background a new conflict looms, involving the vampaneze, purple-skinned killers who resemble vampires but who are nothing like the beings whom Darren has come to respect and admire. When it appears that he will not survive the trials, his vampire friends urge him to escape. Escorting him out through the mountain's underground tunnels, they run smack into an incoming vampaneze invasion. In the final pages, the plot and action finally pick up to fever pace as Darren is caught between invaders, defenders, and possibly a traitor in the ranks of the faithful. Characters are mostly one-dimensional, and the plot plods along until the final conflict heats up the action. Although the story stands on its own, there isn't much reason to read this one aside from following the series.
Susan L. Rogers, Chestnut Hill Academy, PA
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0316603678
• ISBN 13: 9780316603676
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 224