Darren Shan’s Sons of Destiny is the final chapter in the Cirque du Freak series. The Cirque du Freak series is one of the most deliciously ghoulish storylines The Crowgrrl has had a chance to sink my fangs into! It’s incredibly addictive, from the very first entry into the series, Cirque du Freak: A Living Nightmare. A new reader can start anywhere in the series – each book can stand on its own, and gives a synopsis of what went before. (But trust me, readers, if you do that, you’ll be backtracking for the earlier books in the series. As I said, they’re addictive!)The Vampires are currently in a deadly war known as The War of the Scars with their vicious cousins, the Vampaneze, and if the latter win, the race of Vampires will be destroyed. Darren – a Vampire Prince – comes closer to a final, deadly showdown with his nemesis, the Vampaneze Lord Steve Leonard.Orchestrated by a sinister agent of chaos, Desmond Tiny, the War of the Scars would yield one leader of the two races, but that leader is destined to become the Lord of Shadows, who will plunge the world into a post-apocalyptic nightmare era. So, Darren is damned if he wins, and dead if he doesn’t. But like Pandora’s box, is there yet a miniscule glimmer of hope? Is there the slightest of chances of thwarting destiny itself?The story picks up from the previous tome, where Steve had just murdered Shancus, the young son of snake man Evra Von (one of Darren’s closest friends). In a rage, Darren was going to do the same to Steve’s son Darius – only to find out that Darius is his own nephew! Through Darius, Darren is reunited with his sister who thought him dead since the fateful night he was turned into a Vampire’s Assistant and joined the Cirque du Freak.The stage for the final showdown is set at a stadium, where Steve is holding all the Cirque du Freak performers hostage. This is obviously a baited trap to ensnare Darren. But with staunch supporters/warriors by his side, Darren accepts the thrown down gauntlet, intent on saving the performers and going mano-a-mano up against Steve.In a way, I’m sad to see this enthralling storyline end. But this is indeed a stunning and fitting end to this journey. And luckily, Darren has turned ins literary talents to another equally engrossing and Hellish storyline, The Demonata.