The Demonata: Lord Loss (The Demonata, #1)

I'm all for the DEATH MATCH EXTREME CHESS, but even that cannot save this book for me. It seems designed to snag whatever parts of the YA demographic that have not been sucked into the Twilight vortex. ("Not interested in reading an epic romance about a sparkly vampire? Try this book about demons

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eating parents with copious amounts of blood instead!")

I liked how the hero, Grubbs Grady, gets a hard wake-up call to the realities of his world when his immediate family is slaughtered by demons, and I thought the reveal of that scene and the aftermath with Grubbs stuck in a cycle of psychiatric observation was extremely well done. But shortly after Grubbs' sole surviving adult family member arranges for Grubbs' release from observation, the narrative completely stalls and my interest took a sharp nosedive. First, wouldn't you logically expect a young teenager – having directly witnessed demons eating his family and having spent weeks in an asylum desperately avoiding talking about this, but then discovering that his uncle is the one adult in his world who believes in the demons too and who then spirits him to safety – to maybe ask this uncle why this horrible thing has happened? You wanna know how long it takes Grubbs do to this? One. Hundred. Pages. I was getting to the point while reading this that I was seriously wondering if I'd accidentally skipped over the paragraph that explained this.

It's as if the author was deliberately trying to slow the pace of this book, and I can't think of a single reason why he would want to do so. The beginning grips you instantly and the ending is really good, but the middle? Ugh. The story stops dead. Does Shan think teens can't handle reading a novel at breakneck speed and needed some sort of slow place where they could catch their breath? That teens would be unable to relate to a story entirely about a badass demon-fighting protagonist with a burning urge to stay alive and that it would be a better idea to tone it down for a few chapters to that teens could instead read about a protagonist doing exciting things like watch movies with a friend in his living room? Or he just had a passing whim to switch the story's genre entirely from horror to light mystery but then changed his mind and switched back to horror again at the end? It makes no sense. If you want to write a horror story, make it horror.

Grubbs himself suffers from this sort of random competence switchover. He starts at as a sadistically nasty little brother – dumping rotten, liquefied rat guts on your naked sister assuredly counts as sadistic behavior – but he quickly goes through a horrible event and behaves very believably within the confines of the story, but once he gets to his uncle's house he starts behaving like a careless moron and jettisons any of the experience bonus points he would have gained earlier. But then by the end again, Grubbs has another great growth of responsibility and maturity and becomes interesting again. Pick a characterization already, Shan.

I would have loved this story if it had been rewritten with a more even hand. The plot had a great premise, and Shan shows loads of creatively. As the story currently stands, the characters' behavior is too frustrating for me to enjoy.

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I think that his book is very exciting and scary to read. I love how the author describes the bloody scenes of when the demons killed Grubb's family. The author used great imagery and suspence attracting the reader to read on.

Grubbs has a weird family. they are all obsessed with chess. When Grubbs found out his sister, Gret, had turned on him, he decided to pull of a trick. He ended up being grounded for a month. Not only that, his family started acting strange and not talking to him. Later he was shocked my some

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demons, and was sent to a institution and his uncle Dervish, picked him up. Grubbs learned about his magic potential and he met a person called Bill-E. Bill thought Dervish was a werewolf. In the end, Dervish faces Lord Loss at a 5 board chess game while Grubbs fights his companions. Then Grubbs took over. After Dervish came back, he pulled a prank on Grubbs.

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REVIEW OF LORD LOSS BY ALBERTJASON GERSTENHABER (12/7/08)
Grubsitch (Grubbs) Grady, is a pretty normal kid. He enjoys sports, especially chess, which him and him family share an uncanny bond with. They ALL seem to be deeply interested in the game, which has always slightly confused him. One day, he

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decides to harmlessly play a prank on his older sister sister, and from there things begin to go downhill. People seem to be becoming more and more distant from him, seemingly without reason. One day, he then gets home, and discovers his life in shambles. His parents and sister have been brutally murdered, by what apparently are Demons. Naturally, he gets admitted to a psych ward, and eventually taken into the custody of his uncle Dervish. From there things can only get more interesting...

A great read if you're into the supernatural-while-remaining-semi-plausible-if-you-have-a-good-imagination type of genre. The story involves parallel worlds, demons, werewolves, and all that jazz. Albeit, it is not the most original of ideas, it's a new spin on a simply generic storyline. However, that does not necessarily imply that it is BAD. If you enjoy this type of book, I would strongly recommend it. Also, I would add, that it is (for me at least) a little to easy to become bored of the same story, over and over. In which case this would not be the best book for you. A relatively quick page turner, with an underlying vibe of being for younger readers, but not something that I found completely obvious. In parts, it can be not for the faint of heart, but there is nothing extreme. Personally, I've always been a fan of gore/slasher movies and books, and I must say, this doesn't quite fit in with that crowd. Not to say that it's not good, it can simply be a downer for someone looking for something more in that genre.

The only character that I think is completely developed as a person in the story is the main character, Grubbs. As far as the other characters go, they all seem to be relatively shallow, as if the majority of the thought of the author seemed to follow the main character. Not that this is unheard of, to say the least, it just seems like the other characters could have had better, more developed roles. Otherwise, however, they were good characters for a B-rate movie, in my opinion, which is by far enough for a story that is so stuck on the chronicalling of the main character.

Personally, I think this could have done without being a series. Don't get me wrong, I think it's great that they use the other books to uncover more of the past of the original characters (like Artery and Lord Loss), but I stopped after the 4th book. It was all getting too repetitive and confusing for me to follow. Too many main characters, too many storylines.

All in all, this is a fun book if you're looking for a quick read. I greatly enjoyed it, and strongly recommend it, but it's not quite something to delve too deeply into.

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First book in the Demonata series about a boy who comes face to face with the most powerfullest demon in the universe. Grubbs Grady must try to keep from getting killed at the same time as trying not to let a curse take over his mind.

This book is about a boy called Grubbsnitch "Grubbs" Grady who saw his parents and sister ripped to pieces by demons.
after moving to live with his Uncle dervish he thinks he will never encounter these demons again, He wouldnt if his half brother Billy BillE Spleen who falls to the Lycrothopic Curse

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( Curse of werewolves)

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Don't be put off by the demonistic cover of "Lord Loss." With a firm basis in a real setting, it is far better of a story than it seems. It starts in a conventional way with a teenage boy, Grubbitsch "Grubbs" Grady, battling with his family, particularly his sister. Coming home unexpectedly--this

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is where the book takes the demon turn--Grubbs finds his family brutally murdered by beings that do not exist in the real world. Only after his mysterious uncle shows up and confirms what Grubbs has seen does he realize something more horrific than can be imagined has happened. Grubbs moves in with his uncle and joins his family's generations-long battle with the entity known as the Demonata.

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This book is an interesting read. I begins with a young student at home trying to get out of trouble with his parents from a situation in school....His parents feel that he should go away and spend a bit of time away from home. The young student feels that something is wrong and he sneakss his way

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back home and he finds that his world has turned upside down. His parents are now dead and a part of a world of black magic, all he finds of them are thier heads hanging on a web. He notices some characters that soon chase him and he discovers that there is a deep secret his family was hiding from him. This young man is able to escape and learn about his family and his future from the help of an uncle that becomes his friend and his guardian.

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The opening book of the Demonata series shows an early glimpse of the horror and gore that is to come. After demons attack and kill his parents no one believes Grubbs Grady about it. The book is tense and it sets us up for the rest of the series with some critical plot devices such as the titled

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Lord Loss and chessboards. There is an early demon set piece which is amazing but the book can't scale to these heights again. A great and gripping read.

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"Lord Loss" is the first book in the Demonata series by English writer Darren Shan. It is gruesome and horrific......completely unexpected for something that is Young Adult. I have to say that it's entertaining and interesting, yet the whole plot surrounding Grubbs Grady, and defeating a demon with

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Chess, is wholly ridiculous.

I am planning on reading the whole series, though. But, then again, I will read anything. Ha ha.

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Without really giving anything away as it is a short novel, this one really did blow me away in the beginning. When I read the first forty pages into this book I didn't realize how bloody and gory it was going to be. It was pretty graphically violent and I was wondering to myself if I really did

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pick up a young adult book. Anyway, if you can read through it, I really did like how the demons were described. They were very different and it read like something out of either the short stories of HP Lovecraft, or out of just a very wild imagination. It was good though as it made the demons seem more evil looking, macabre, and scary. I found it a little hard to picture them at first, but Darren Shan made such wonderful descriptions that it was if these things could only come from nightmares (and they do get really creepy once you finally pictured them).

The storyline is really good and it's short, and to the point which makes it a fast and engaging read. The characters are few so it's very easy to keep track of them, although the story centralizes on Grubbs. The character names in this book are rather strange and odd (Grubbs and Dervish to name a few examples) but it adds more quirkiness to the book and it makes it a different read. Although the names are funny and strange, I find them much better than the names you find in other young adult novels that seem to name their characters names that celebrities would give their kids (rather stupid names too). The names just seem to fit this novel more.

The only criticism I can find in this novel is towards the end, where Grubs can "suddenly" do things he could never do. I found it as an easy way out of finishing the book and a little too convenient. Everything ended just a little too quickly and the ending, well, all I ask is: "how did he wake up??!!!!" leave me with asking more from this series. Also, please note, this book is not for those that aren't into gore. Coarse language may be an issue to some, I expected it, and it does add a bit more realism to Grubb's character (since when did teenagers never swear in real life?)

Overall, a fast engaging read, with creepy descriptions of demons, and enough action to get you to read the rest of the series of The Demonata. This is a great beginning of what seems like a great series.

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This is my favortie book. Its about a boy who find out he has magical powers. His parent die with his sister. his uncle take him in trains him he meets a boy named Bill-E. he fight Lord Loss. His uncle gos to fight him after the 5 borod chess game. In the end he comes back.
T.E.

Woah, scary and quite graphic. Very interesting to. This book was quite hard to put down.

This book was a great read! It is quite graphic and I would recommend it for people who like an action-packed book instead of watching a movie. I finished it in one night because I was engrossed in it for so long. Darren Shan writes in a style that there is a cliff-hanger at the end of each chapter

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so that it you can't put it down till you have finished. This book would be inappropriate for younger readers because it contains too much violence and quite a complicated storyline that they would not be able to understand.

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A nice book, the suspense of the book kept me hooked and eventually, i read the whole series.

The novel lord Loss,encompasses never beleive what you hear,in the beginning grubs stuggles with his sister,throught the middle grubs has to deal with his familys death,in the end grubs kills the demons that killed his family. 248/248 pages read

The book Lord Loss By darren shan is a very great book
that i strongly recommended for Tweens and young adults,its very graphic and detailed and very well written.this book has a good plot and you really notice how the main character,grubbs grady, changes through the book!
this book is about a young

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boy Named Grubbs grady
that loves messing with his sister Gretelda(gret) and messing with his family.
ever since really young grubbs and gret were raised playing Chess.
Grubbs later then figured out why he was raised playing chess and why his parents took the game so seriously, one Night grubbs parents sent him off to his aunts house because they were going to a ballet with gret, Grubbs notised something was wrong and sneeked out of his aunts house and ran back home,he opend the door and went in,grubbs also notised that alot of the chess boards were missing and that there was a strange glow coming from his parents room.
he pushed the door open to reveal A horror.
he saw what was going on he saw the missing chess boards broken he saw his father dead. his mother dead. and his sister was being eating by creatures of some sort who we later learn are Artery and vein. Grubbs runs after the demons relize he's standing at the door
and he runs away knowing that,he was sent to his aunts house for the reason that his parents knew they were going to die,grubbs later gets put in a hospital and is relised to his uncle dervish.
who tells him who and what was the forces that killed his family.

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In the series of the Demonata, Lord Loss, follows boy named grubs and his family who are by the way OVERLY obsessed about chess but that's the least of Grubb's worries. The book becomes extremely twisted when he find out that his uncle begins to behave strongly and far enough he learns that he can

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see demons and also fight them. Once he learns his powers he must face the one called Lord Loss and defeat him and his minions but joining forces with a very wise Dervish. A fair warning also, this book is extremely gruesome but also one of the coolest mind bending book/series I have ever read

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This was recommended by my grandson, if you like werewolves it is great. There are multiple books that follow in the series.

Fabulous series- a must read! I instantly fell in love with the characters, even the bad guys. Then again, I love horror & demons! It was very easy to picture the setting(s) and feel like i was living in their world, too. Best series of Shan's so far! I so hope there will be a good movie about this

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series. I really miss this series, might read again someday!

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Lord Loss
Teenage Fantasy/Horror - Well paced realisation of the existence of demons and things coming down to some pretty ordinary kid to deal with it all. Nice Relationship building too. I stopped after the first one in the series but want to read a few more.

Wow! I read this series in middle school. All I could remember was the gasps and tears. Now I remember why Darren Shan is my favorite author! I was expecting a horrible, and gruesome "ending", but surprisingly it ended with a happy "ending", making me feel relieved. But of course, no series that I

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know of that Darren Shan has written ever ends well. I'm anticipating the next book, "Demon Thief!"

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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

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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.

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Demonata Series: Lord Loss By Darren Shan
This book is about a boy who dosen't really like his family and one day when he was left at his aunt's house, he went back to the house you to discover his family has been slaughter, crushed up into pure blood and gore by 3 demons from hell.
I really liked

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this book and I have to admit, I never thought of finding a book, especially a horror book this fun. It has a mixture of many genres in the book; it has a horror, adventure, action, magic. I really like they combine demons, hell and evilness with chess. The way that the author describes the demons are just horrifying and creative at the same time. I can’t get enough from this book and would like to read a lot more from this series and from the author.

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