Status
Available
Call number
Publication
HarperCollins Publishers (2012), 256 pages
Description
Vampire Larten Crepsley must prevent the Nazis from gaining access to the power of the vampires, even when his blood brother Wester delivers the news that the one person Larten loves most in the world might be in danger of a deadly vampaneze attack.
User reviews
LibraryThing member BookSpot
* Earlier books in the serie: Birth of a Killer (#1), Ocean of Blood (#2), and Palace of the Damned (#3) - this review may contain spoilers for some of those *
Just when Larten is finally ready to make his way back to Vampire Mountain and his vampire kin, he's pulled into a very human conflict. The
The impending human war is not the only one to worry about. The vampires and vampaneze conflict still has not gone away. Some are even back to calling for all out war. Both wars will take their toll on Larten and those closest to him as he finishes his journey towards becoming the vampire from Cirque Du Freak series.
Brothers to the Death pulls in a almost all of the characters (vampire as well as a few human) who were involved in the three previous books of this series. It's great to see how they've all progressed and how they're relationships all weave together - sometimes causing conflict.
This last book, more so than the others, involves current events - from World War II era and both before and after - to help shape Larten and tell his tale.
The story covers a long time period - about a century - while focusing on a pretty contained set of events and their aftermath - so readers get a great sense of how those things affect Larten and how he both deals with them and grows from them without the story getting too bogged down in the day to day (or even week to week or month to month) which wouldn't fit with the character.
We've seen Larten as a young, impoverished boy working with silk worms in a factory, we saw him as the young Cub vampire finding his way - drinking and making a general ruckus - we saw him find love and now we see it all come full circle, really. Whether readers have read the Cirque Du Freak series or not, this is a great either introduction to or expansion on the Larten Crepsley character. You really have a great sense of not only who he is but why he is that way and how he got that way, where he's come from after reading this prequel series.
This series works well as a standalone but likely much, much better as a supplement to the original or a brilliant introduction for new readers who have yet to start that series.
Thank you to LBYR for my copy of this book for review :)
Just when Larten is finally ready to make his way back to Vampire Mountain and his vampire kin, he's pulled into a very human conflict. The
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Nazis are coming to power and while the vampires have made it their way not to interfere with human struggles, the Nazis have made their own efforts to pull the vampire in, though, so they can't completely turn a blind eye.The impending human war is not the only one to worry about. The vampires and vampaneze conflict still has not gone away. Some are even back to calling for all out war. Both wars will take their toll on Larten and those closest to him as he finishes his journey towards becoming the vampire from Cirque Du Freak series.
Brothers to the Death pulls in a almost all of the characters (vampire as well as a few human) who were involved in the three previous books of this series. It's great to see how they've all progressed and how they're relationships all weave together - sometimes causing conflict.
This last book, more so than the others, involves current events - from World War II era and both before and after - to help shape Larten and tell his tale.
The story covers a long time period - about a century - while focusing on a pretty contained set of events and their aftermath - so readers get a great sense of how those things affect Larten and how he both deals with them and grows from them without the story getting too bogged down in the day to day (or even week to week or month to month) which wouldn't fit with the character.
We've seen Larten as a young, impoverished boy working with silk worms in a factory, we saw him as the young Cub vampire finding his way - drinking and making a general ruckus - we saw him find love and now we see it all come full circle, really. Whether readers have read the Cirque Du Freak series or not, this is a great either introduction to or expansion on the Larten Crepsley character. You really have a great sense of not only who he is but why he is that way and how he got that way, where he's come from after reading this prequel series.
This series works well as a standalone but likely much, much better as a supplement to the original or a brilliant introduction for new readers who have yet to start that series.
Thank you to LBYR for my copy of this book for review :)
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LibraryThing member book_zone
This review first appeared on The Book Zone(For Boys) blog
Brothers To The Death is Shan at his very best as a writer, and I challenge any fan of his vampire books not to find this a rewarding and deeply satisfying read. I have a feeling that, come the final words of this book there will be a legion
One of the things I like the most about Shan's vampires is that, with a minority of exceptions, they are not evil creatures. They are just different from humans, and by and large prefer not to interfere in the politics and actions of mortal man. This allows for much better character development of the vampires than we usually see in such novels, where the main protagonist is quite often a human, and Darren Shan is not afraid to turn our perception of these supposedly hateful characters on its head. As such, over this series we have seen Larten aid troops during the Great War, and even fall in love with a mortal (without wanting to drain her blood). In this instalment, much of it set during the horrors of WWII, we see even more humanitarian actions from Larten and some of his compatriots, as they help to heal victims of the war, both in Germany and post-atom bomb Japan. We also see Larten make friends with a community of monks. Unlike the majority of religious people in vampire fiction, these holy men do not look on the vampires as evil incarnate, but as just another of God's creations.
As I mentioned, some of this book is set in Europe during the 1930s and 1940s, and as such the Nazis play an important role in the plot. As a result of loose talk, Adolf Hitler has discovered the existence of the vampires, and sends emissaries to meet with members of the clan with a view to forging an alliance. Larten finds himself accompanying one of the vampire princes to one such series of meetings, and finds himself put on the spot and asked for his opinion. The answer he gives will go on to affect his life in a way he could not have dreamed, and leads to an event that sees him spend much of the rest of the book thirsting for revenge, travelling the world in search of the perpetrator.
Fans of the the original books and now The Saga of Larten Crepsley have been asking numerous questions as this prequel series has progressed, and they will be very happy that those questions are all answered in this volume. There has been some speculation in the comments sections of some of my reviews of the books as to the fate of Wester, as he is not mentioned in original series. To those who took the time to comment on this I say you will not be disappointed! Other queries related to Larten's relationship with some of his fellow vampires that we know from the original series are also fleshed out, as is his connection with the Mr Tall and his Cirque, and also how Madam Octa came into his possession.
Much as I loved the original Saga of Darren Shan, and also his Demonata books, I think the four books that now comprise The Saga of Larten Crepsley are now my favourite Darren Shan books. His writing has matured considerably since Cirque Du Freak, especially in the way he develops his main characters. Larten is the ultimate anti-hero, deeply flawed and carrying some rather despicable baggage from his long life, but Shan manages to create an emotional bond in his readers that have them pitying him rather than condemning him. Many young readers will find themselves able to relate to this lonely wanderer, who goes through lengthy periods of low self-esteem, and I think many will be deeply moved by the events that happen in this book.
This books marks the end of an era for Darren Shan, as it is his goodbye to vampires and Harper Collins. In September we will see the release of his new twelve-books series, Zom-B, with Simon and Schuster, and after this brilliant end to The Saga of Larten Crepsley I am looking forward to that more than ever. However, I feel one must never say never where Darren Shan is concerned - it would not surprise me if he decided to return to writing about his vampire world again some time in the future.
Brothers To The Death is Shan at his very best as a writer, and I challenge any fan of his vampire books not to find this a rewarding and deeply satisfying read. I have a feeling that, come the final words of this book there will be a legion
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of fans who, like I did, feel a broad grin erupt on their face, at which point they will probably, again like me, reach for their well-read copy of Cirque Du Freak and continue the story. I don't think I am spoiling anything when I say that, due to the way Brothers To The Death ends with everything slotting together perfectly, Cirque Du Freak will from this point on forever feel like the perfect sequel in a way that would have George Lucas going green with envy.One of the things I like the most about Shan's vampires is that, with a minority of exceptions, they are not evil creatures. They are just different from humans, and by and large prefer not to interfere in the politics and actions of mortal man. This allows for much better character development of the vampires than we usually see in such novels, where the main protagonist is quite often a human, and Darren Shan is not afraid to turn our perception of these supposedly hateful characters on its head. As such, over this series we have seen Larten aid troops during the Great War, and even fall in love with a mortal (without wanting to drain her blood). In this instalment, much of it set during the horrors of WWII, we see even more humanitarian actions from Larten and some of his compatriots, as they help to heal victims of the war, both in Germany and post-atom bomb Japan. We also see Larten make friends with a community of monks. Unlike the majority of religious people in vampire fiction, these holy men do not look on the vampires as evil incarnate, but as just another of God's creations.
As I mentioned, some of this book is set in Europe during the 1930s and 1940s, and as such the Nazis play an important role in the plot. As a result of loose talk, Adolf Hitler has discovered the existence of the vampires, and sends emissaries to meet with members of the clan with a view to forging an alliance. Larten finds himself accompanying one of the vampire princes to one such series of meetings, and finds himself put on the spot and asked for his opinion. The answer he gives will go on to affect his life in a way he could not have dreamed, and leads to an event that sees him spend much of the rest of the book thirsting for revenge, travelling the world in search of the perpetrator.
Fans of the the original books and now The Saga of Larten Crepsley have been asking numerous questions as this prequel series has progressed, and they will be very happy that those questions are all answered in this volume. There has been some speculation in the comments sections of some of my reviews of the books as to the fate of Wester, as he is not mentioned in original series. To those who took the time to comment on this I say you will not be disappointed! Other queries related to Larten's relationship with some of his fellow vampires that we know from the original series are also fleshed out, as is his connection with the Mr Tall and his Cirque, and also how Madam Octa came into his possession.
Much as I loved the original Saga of Darren Shan, and also his Demonata books, I think the four books that now comprise The Saga of Larten Crepsley are now my favourite Darren Shan books. His writing has matured considerably since Cirque Du Freak, especially in the way he develops his main characters. Larten is the ultimate anti-hero, deeply flawed and carrying some rather despicable baggage from his long life, but Shan manages to create an emotional bond in his readers that have them pitying him rather than condemning him. Many young readers will find themselves able to relate to this lonely wanderer, who goes through lengthy periods of low self-esteem, and I think many will be deeply moved by the events that happen in this book.
This books marks the end of an era for Darren Shan, as it is his goodbye to vampires and Harper Collins. In September we will see the release of his new twelve-books series, Zom-B, with Simon and Schuster, and after this brilliant end to The Saga of Larten Crepsley I am looking forward to that more than ever. However, I feel one must never say never where Darren Shan is concerned - it would not surprise me if he decided to return to writing about his vampire world again some time in the future.
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Language
Original language
English
ISBN
0007315953 / 9780007315956