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Darren Shan’s
Demonata series
needs nerves of
steel even
before you’ve
opened the
snarling,
glow-in-the-dark
covers. Grubbs
Grady’s parents
invoked a
magical family
bargain in the
hope of saving
their daughter
from turning
into a werewolf.
Poor Grubbs
found them
eviscerated in
the first book,
and went mad.
Sent to live
with his uncle
and
half-brother,
he, too,
discovered he
could only save
the ones he
loves by playing
chess against a
demon in Lord
Loss. Having
won in the first
book, he ought
to be happier in
Slawter, but, as
he warns us,
there are no
fairytale
endings. Uncle
Dervish still
suffers from
appalling
nightmares, so
it’s a bit silly
of him to hook
up with a cult
horror-movie
director to
advise her on
how to make a
film about
demons. Grubbs
and his
half-brother
Bill-E come
along as extras
to the village
of Slawter, and
soon find that
the special
effects are just
a bit too bad
not to be true.
As grossly
entertaining as
ever, Grubbs’s
cynical teenaged
voice carries
the story along
like a bat out
of hell. There
is an obnoxious
child-star, Bo,
who turns into
one of those
feisty heroines,
and a rather
predictable
climax, but the
most memorable
character is the
obsessive
director,
Davida, bent on
creating an
immortal horror
film.
Inevitably, she
discovers that,
when supping
with the Devil,
YOU are your
just desserts.
Both Delaney
and Shan share
an interest in
salvation and
redemption, and
you can hear the
oral tradition
of Celtic
storytellers in
their hypnotic
prose – just as
you can in Eoin
Colfer and
Herbie Brennan,
whose latest
thrillers will
also be
springing demons
on us later this
year. Strong
imagination may,
as Shakespeare
said, make us
suppose a bush a
bear but we all
love a chill
down the spine
during these
hot, midsummer
nights.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,923-2288481.html
http://www.amandacraig.com/pages/childrens/reviews/horror_stories.htm |
