DNF Review – Lord Loss (The Demonata, Book 1) by Darren Shan (2/5 stars)

Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Horror
Length: 240 pages
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Release Date: May 10, 2006
ISBN-13: 978-0316012331
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the Demonata series
Source: Gift
Rating: 2/5 stars

“Grubbs Grady has stiff red hair and is a little big for his age, which means he can get into R-rated movies. He hates history and loves bacon, rats, and playing tricks on his squeamish older sister. When he opts out of a family weekend trip, he never guesses that he is about to take a terrifying journey into darkness. Hungry demons and howling werewolves haunt his waking nightmares… and threaten his life.”

This is the first of ten book in the Demonata series. I was very excited to read this but this book was seriously not for me. The writing style is very choppy and just goes from one gory scene to another. I read the first 70 pages and then stopped. Not for me. My son loves the Cirque du Freak books, so I will give it to him…I think it will fit his demographic better.

I disliked this book right from the beginning when Grubbs is getting in trouble for smoking with his friends. This is followed by a scene where he cuts up rats into tiny bits and rubs their guts into his sister’s towel…yuck. It went downhill from there….

I think teen boys might get into this book if they love creepy gorefest reads. This book was seriously not for me. Part of what I really disliked was the writing style. It’s very choppy and full of short sentences that made the story hard to engage with.

Overall I disliked this book. It wasn’t just the gorefest content that bothered me, it was the choppy writing style which was full of short sentences and tough for me to read and stay engaged in.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– Goodreads Reading Challenge
– Mount TBR Reading Challenge