Theme pt.1 Trials of Death

DO NOT READ IF YOU EVER THINK YOU MAY READ THIS BOOK!
(I explain many things that will spoil the whole reading experience if you do.)
Theme is a terrible topic to try and write about when you have a book as short as Trials of Death. I has a great plot yes, but it is a plot stretched out over many books. That and just in general trying to analyze the theme of a horror story is hard in general. I will though try as best I can.
A possible theme to Trials of Death would be something like though there may seem to be no hope left for you, do not give in. Darren throughout the whole book is faced with some challenges that would have left me a crying, emotionally crippled mess. Darren though somehow finds light at the end of an obviously endless tunnel. He is faced with death many times, just in this book, and yet, as he’s been taught he does not stop to cry. He doesn’t stop to think, or complain about how unfair his situation is.
Also there could be something like watch who you trust. Darren’s friends are his greatest assets in certain parts of this book. Kurda for instance convinces some the princes to make Darren’s trials a bit easier. Although as the book goes on you find out a terrible secret about Kurda that ruins that whole trust. Darren is very trusting I believe, and it kind of got him into a very awkward situation. You see Kurda seemed like the absolute best friend you could think of. Higher up in the social ladder, and very opinionated. Kurda essentially saved Darren’s life more than once in this book, but ended up to be the worst of them all. His betrayal was not something I would have ever seen coming, and I can’t, even now, stand to remember how nicely he treated Darren and Larten. And Gavner… I loved him.
Enough spoiling this for you guys. It’s terrible.
And seeing as though I can’t exactly tell a theme for a plot that hasn’t ended yet I’m afraid this must end here.

Characters2 pt.1 Trials of Death ((Larten Crepsley))

Larten Crepsley. The creeper of all vampires. He’s much older than Darren and makes sure that Darren understands and respects him for it. He’s very old fashioned. He’ll never slur his words like any of us do, and he speaks as though he’ll kill you if you don’t respect him like he wants you to. He doesn’t actually even let his first name slip until the third book. He has a supposedly hideous scar on his right cheek that he will often scratch unconsciously. He has bright orange hair that is also apparently hideous. Darren doesn’t often make fun of him, but does make a note to laugh at him when his old mate called him handsome. I thought that part was hilarious. He’s great friends with Gavner Purl, though he sadly passes away in this book. (Mark my mentions of killing Mr. Shan.) Larten has been through many hardships and he’s actually quite like Darren in himself. He, as an assistant, idolized his sire. That’s actually why he talks like he does as well. When he was still an assistant Larten accidentally told his sire that he did in fact idolize him so his sire (Whose name is Seba Nile) would pluck hairs out of his nose every time he combined his words. Eventually though Larten got the smart idea to burn the hairs out so they wouldn’t grow back, but then Seba started pulling the hair out of the inside of his ears. Larten is a very powerful vampire who has earned himself a lot of respect. At one time he was a vampire general, and was even offered the position of prince. He refused though and for a reason I haven’t found out yet Larten quit being a general and became an actor at the Cirque Du Freak where he preformed with his spider named madam Octa. (The spider which in the first book brought Darren into Larten’s way.) For a very long time Larten had not wanted an assistant, and I don’t think he has yet made it clear why he took Darren in. LARTEN CREPSLEY IS A CREEPER, but he’s my best buddy.

Opinion pt.1 Trials of Death

I really loved this book. I’ve come to thoroughly enjoy Darren Shan’s writings. He uses a horror that isn’t plot less, and isn’t mindless blood and gore. It is also one of the only good vampire books I’ve read; it has twists and betrayals, without the overdramatic drowning details of Twilight. Trials of death in itself was a good book because there were many life or death experiences that came so close to losing the main character that it pulled you into reading it so much that as soon as it gets good you really can’t put down the book until it reaches a certain part that just crushes you. I don’t know if I’m just special though because when one of the characters betrays Darren I cried for so long, and I still can’t get over that he’s planning to wipe out the whole race of vampires. When I talked to Ben about it he laughed and said that it was just something to expect out of Darren Shan. If you really like ‘on the edge of you seat’ kind of thing then you’ll probably love this. It’s not too traumatizing but it’s still satisfying. In truth I really think that his works can be closely related to like Tim Burton movies. They’re not very scary, but they creep you out, make you feel odd and out of place. But I do have to say that if you’re like me and you grow attached to the characters of the book you will be disappointed because a lot of the characters die. And I mean a lot of them. That and at least one of the characters (Kurda Smahlt) turn into bad guys at the last second, then still believe that they’re good and they sit there and try to convince you of their innocence. That’s probably what scared me the most. The only things I don’t like about Darren Shan’s writings are the ways that he nearly tells you what’s going to happen later in the book, and how he leaves you at suck a cliffhanger that at the end of the book you seriously just want to find him and murder him in his sleep. *Cough* Alright that little rant over and the end of this writing. YOU REALLY SHOULD READ THIS SERIES.

Character pt.1 Trials of Death ((Darren))

Characters.
There are two characters in this book series that I am going to describe. To start I will explain Darren Shan, the main character in the Cirque Du Freak series. Darren was 13 when he was first turned into a half vampire by Larten Crepsley. As a half vampire he ages at 1/5 the normal rate and although he gets older through the plot his face seems to stay the same. When he was first turned Darren hated his sire* with a passion. As time went on though Darren grew to like, and even look up to Mr. Crepsley. They traveled with a circus of freaks (thus the name) until a vampire guardian came to tell Mr. Crepsley something. After this Darren actually went through a series of events that actually made his show his growing affection towards his sire. By now they could be considered friends. After this Darren treks with Mr. Crepsley to Vampire Mountain where Mr. Crepsley had to try and convince the vampire princes that Darren can make a good vampire. (This is only because vampires aren’t supposed to blood children) The princes agree to allow Darren to take the Trials of Death. He will have to pick a certain number of ‘challenges’ that he will have complete. During each of them Darren comes near to losing his life. During the last one though a friend of his came in to save him. This angered so many of the vampires that they actually were going to kill him. Honor is a very, VERY big thing to vampires. If you have no honor you’re not considered an actual vampire, and having a friend help you out during a ‘Trial of Death’ it is considered to be very dishonorable. So after this happened one of the soon-to-be princes convinces Darren to try and escape using one of the old tunnels in the mountain. As they’re trying to escape Gavner Purl finds them and decides to help them escape too. One of the tunnels is caved in so they have to go down a certain one where the main enemy of the vampires is found by the trio. Darren is automatically very afraid and unsure of what to do. The make up a plan to sneak past the vampaneze**. They’re plan fails though and Gavner stays back to protect them, but then Kurda decides that he needs to help too. Darren was told to keep going down the tunnel and go to warn the vampires, but he finds the need to fight with his friends. It is then that he watches as Kurda (who up until now was a good guy) attacks and kills Gavner.

*A sire is considered the father of a vampire. It’s the person who turned the vampire in question.
**Vampaneze are the main enemies of the vampires. The main difference between them is that vampires don’t kill humans.

Settings pt.1 :Trials of Death

Settings.
The story Trials of Death starts out in a huge, old fashioned vampire cave called Vampire Mountain. Really creative right? Anyway, in the middle of a deep dark forest with trees heavy enough to block out the sun, there is a huge mountain. Inside this mountain there’s this glowing moss that lights most of the cavern which you have to admit is pretty cool. There are many caverns and tunnels and different bigger rooms. I can describe only a few:

The Halls: Here the vampire princes along with every other vampire in the mountain gather for trials and general discussion. It is a large room that can fit hundreds. There are four thrones I’m pretty sure for each of the princes.

The Hall of Finale Voyage: This is like the graveyard of our world. In the middle of this room there is a river with a heavy current that eventually flows out of the mountain. Dead vampires used to the shoved into this river, where they’re bodies were supposed to flow out of the mountain and leave the bodies for the forest to devour. Now though the fire pit somewhere in the room is used instead because bodies kept getting stuck. This room is always wet and soggy because of the water and it guarded by people called the Guardians of Blood.

One last Hall I’m Going to Describe That I Don’t Remember the Name of: Yeah I can’t remember the names of all the halls, but this one is really important so I have to include it anyways. In this Hall there aren’t many things. Most vampires have never heard of it. It is a huge cavern lit somewhat by glowing moss. There are spiders everywhere. They are of a species that the author didn’t describe, but are a bright yellow color. There are dried cobwebs along with all the webs currently in use. If you were to accidentally let a spark from a torch hit a web the whole cavern would go up in flames, like paper.

There are also many random tunnels in Vampire mountain, most of which are not put into much detail. They swerve through the whole place, making it very, VERY easy to get lost in. Just imagine having to live there.

Highs v. Lows Exercise

The day after the fourth of July; what are you doing? Sleeping right? You just stayed up all night watching bright, beautiful lights fill the sky. Me? I’m in The ICU watching with horror as the reality dawns on me. The tedious beeping of medical machines quickly bores itself deep into my head and will, with no doubt, haunt me for a very long time. I can smell the medicines, and the cleaners, and the dying hurt sickly people. I shudder involuntarily as tears well in my eyes. In the room with me is my father – whom I haven’t seen in years. His eyes are dark as he stares at my comatose grandmother. There is no comfort from him. The pain that hung on my heart felt as if someone had burnt it and was slicing through the charred remains. My mind was clouded and I went through various stages of shock. I looked carefully at everyone’s eyes and noticed only my aunt would even look at me. The sympathetic smile she tried just pointed out of hard this was going to be. For her and me. I suddenly felt a dread. I didn’t fit in here. They don’t want me here, crying silently in the background. I look at my father’s girlfriend. She refuses to make eye contact with me. My aunt is sitting there trying to calm me down. My grandmother is lying on the hospital bed. She’s had a bad episode of seizures and she is currently covered in welts and scabs. By now I’m crying uncontrollably and my aunt’s trying to get me to stop shaking so badly. It occurs to me that I don’t even get to remember how beautiful last night’s show was.