The Epitaph (In a Nutshell): A highly satisfying ending to what is one of my all-time favourite series.

Dearly Departed,
We are gathered here today to discuss Hell's Heroes by Darren Shan. I'd been putting off reading this for some time. Not because I didn't want to read it - quite the opposite: Demonata is one of my favourite series, and I just didn't want it to end. But after feeling a little restless for something good to read, I finally picked it up yesterday... and didn't put it down until a few hours later when I'd raced through it.

Nobody knows how to write at such a cracking pace quite like Darren Shan. I can honestly say the time flew as I ripped through the final chapter in Grubbs, Kernel and Bec's fight against the Demon universe. If you've read the rest of the series, you'll know exactly what to expect from this last book, and while there are no big surprises here, that's not necessarily a bad thing.

One of my pet peeves in YA is when a favourite character dies, and no fanfare is made (I'm looking at YOU Hunger Games!) but thankfully that isn't the case in Hell's Heroes. Without being too spoilery, yes, characters die (this is a Darren Shan novel after all) but all of them are given the proper sendoffs they deserve.

While I'm sad to say goodbye to this excellent series, I felt this was a very fitting end and I can't wait to see what Shan will do next.

5/5 stars.