Reviews

Lady of the Shades by Darren Shan

maxxesbooktopia's review against another edition

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4.0

My thoughts: Introduction

Let us commence on this review by conversing on the fact that this book is extremely underrated and underappreciated. Honestly, this is a book that deserves many readers because of the amount of effort and work put into it. Everything from the storytelling to the writing to the structure of the characters stood out among the pile of the books that are in the similar genre and I will be ticking off the list today on why you should read this wondrous novel.

The ambience around this novel had the azure of suspense, excitement and most of all, goosebumps plummeting down on your skin. My reading experience for this novel was enhanced by these determinants and it will give you all an assistance on interpreting the novel and concede its readers to be addicted to it until the very end of the novel. However, the first 30 pages or so had a dearth of atmosphere but from there on, it swells up and steers the ambience into your eyes.

The pacing for this novel which we will be talking about next had a quintessential balance between the segments of the story where the author felt should take it slow and other parts where the author took the story in a rollercoaster ride. This book took me two days to finish due to how addicted I was to the story and how fast the pages and words flew passed my eyes and brains. Genuinely,  I wonder how my brain cells were able to take in the information but either way, it was a pleasant ride to be in. 

Diving further into the review, I would like to discourse on the world building that this book had bestowed upon itself. The world, like what the synopsis of the blockbuster had stated, was set in London and there were not any real ‘world-building’ needed as it was set in our world, however, the description of the streets and the pavements were described marvellously, it felt as though I was a visitor of London, pondering on its streets and looking for direction from locals. Therefore, I thoroughly enjoyed how the author set up and described its location and surrounding.

Now, we will be counterbalancing on the plot, the plot twists and the plot holes of the novel. The plot centres around a writer who has disembarked on a trip to London to acquire ideas from the surrounding to receive new information that would be useful for his upcoming novel. However, as time passes by, he fell in love with a woman named ‘Daleena’ and slowly but surely, he uncovers the truth beneath her and understands that she has a sort of motivation getting close to him. 
Even that mini description of the book makes me wary of delivering the foremost plot and its plot twists away. So, I have decided to stop describing and move on with the segment where I confer on the plot twists.

The plot twists which were the most consequential strength of the novel, mess with your brain until you challenge yourself on which is valid and which is altered. The complexity of the well-crafted plot twists was astutely managed and they were strung together and tied to a knot in the end. It was pretty bizarre how they all tied up perfectly because there were so many plot twists and it launches readers off their tracks and oftentimes when I thought I had the flimsiest idea of what was going on and Darren accomplished to twist the story around again. The writer contrived to keep track of all the twists and turns he had inscribed and therefore, we shall applause Darren for such crazy twists.

Before we reach the final paragraph of this section, I would like to discuss the relationships factor of this novel. Ed and Daleena affection for each other was too much of an insta-love for me considering the fact that the author described the main character as secretive and ‘keep-to-himself’ type of person. However, I enjoyed the friendship between Ed and Joe (not going to spoil but something definitely happen here) and thought that Joe was a good friend for Ed’s mental health. I, for once, loved the bad blood between Ed and Dash, it definitely was entertaining to see the sub-plot driving the story forward and provided such a significant amount of work for the primary plot. Therefore, I enjoyed the relationship factor of the novel.

Finally, I will be giving out some iconic quotes that I found in the novel that are instantly my favourite as my eyes landed on them:

“John Nilson dos Linos was brushing dandruff from his hair when he was executed.”– Darren Shan, Lady Of The Shades.

“I’ve been grinding away on the plot of the book, trying to figure out why my lead character was killed. It can’t be random. The story is crying out for a reason that will drive the narrative forward, but I can’t decide what it should be.”– Darren Shan, Lady Of The Shades.

Writing: Middle Section Of The Review

Just a side note, I would not recommend people who are under the age of 15 to read this novel as it contained a plethora of vulgar language and plenty of ‘scenes’ that were unpleasant to the children poor eyes. So, do keep that in mind if you are picking this novel up.

The style of writing for this novel was lyrical, easy to read and sometimes, messy. It was lyrical and easy-to-read because of the way it was written. I should now present to you a snippet of the passages from the novel to allow you all to view on the wondrous writing style:

‘Oh stop.’ I grimace, and lay my free hands over hers. ‘How’d you like to become my agent?’
‘What’s the starting salary?’
‘Nothing.’
‘I’ll take it.’- Lady Of The Shades, Darren Shan.


This conversation made me laugh out loud and it was such a good time between the characters and the interaction was marvellous before everything began to fall between them, starting from the trust factor to the relationship factor.

‘Simon Dale?’ I gasped.
‘Wait,’ Andeanna interrupts. ‘The guy who killed your friend in the army?’
‘Yes.’
‘What the hell was he doing there?’- Lady Of The Shades, Darren Shan.


This was amusing as well but the tone of the novel had eclipsed over here. The story went from all sunbeams to a cryptic and dreary day in London. They were conversing on their past and the number of deaths that the characters were responsible for and how in the world they would be able to live and cope with it and what would their future hold for them?

However, the writing style was a little all over the place due to the phonetics used. Sometimes, I had to grasp what the author was trying to shed light on but other than that, I thought it was a very well-written novel.

Finally, I would love to discuss the ending of the novel. I did not like the epilogue of this novel because it ended on a note that does not make sense and it almost ruined the story for me but I thought 95% of the novel was gorgeous and the last 5% messed it up for me. Therefore, I am taking 10% away from the rating mainly because the epilogue frustrated me to no end.

Character: 4/5 Section Of The Review

Edward was a reticent person who had an obscure history and he could perceive the horrifying spirits that delved and loitered around him. He would sometimes be an absolutely vicious person when he dissed on Joe’s scars that were caught from the fire and threatened to murder the humans that were getting in his way. He had also loomed on the fact that he aspired to maltreat Daleena, a person that he loved, for not showing up on a specific occasion. I would add that he was a grey character as he knew what was wrong when it was performed and sworn not to do it again unless it was necessary. Given his violent history, it would not be surprising to see it being re-enacted on the people he loved but he definitely had some character arc that was perfect for the story.

Joe and Daleena, uprightly, I do not even know how to speak about their characters because these characters screwed me up so badly that they made everything hard to converse on. Well, I’ll try!

*sips ginger tea*

Joe was smart, witty and is obsessed with Ed’s books. He was a friend that Ed made in London and they loved to exchange plot devices and discussed on the places where Ed could visit to make a new perspective on his book. He was covered in beard because he wanted to conceal the scars that burned his body when he was younger. He does not have a character arc because he does not need it because at the end of the novel, everything will be explained and you will understand what I meant by it.

Daleena was a beautiful young lady who was also obsessed with Ed’s books, was very ‘said-to-be-naive’ and pressured. Her abusive husband often laid hands on her and she could not get away because he was part of the mafia and would find her if she had gotten away. She had a son named Greygo and would risk anything to protect him until Ed came along and she fell unconditionally in love with him and if you thought that was the end of the story, well, it’s not. Daleena was manipulative and would do anything to get what she had wanted- revenge. She plotted everything to allow her husband to be killed and framed on innocent people to escape from the crime that she had produced. Thus, I would call her a grey character as well.

Overall: The Ending

I am giving this novel an 80% rating for its combination of excitement, suspense and how clever this novel was created. However, it has its flaws and therefore, the rating. I will be checking out more of Darren Shan works as he is an absolutely fantastic writer. I think you guys should check this novel out as well! 

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nillsf's review against another edition

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5.0

This was an amazing book! Right from the start it got me interested, and kept my interest throughout the book. The end was surprising (to say the least), and I did not expect that.

reuben_books's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I'm not sure I have ever read a book with so many shocking twists! 

This book had a great balance of keeping the reader in the dark and leaving enough clues that each twist was believable yet completely confounding.

Right until the end of the book I was ready to give it 5 stars and start shouting from the rooftops about it. However, just when it was going SO well, the slur tr*nny was just casually slipped into the narrative. Not once, but TWICE. I know this book was written a while back when that word was more 'accepted', but it still shook me. Unless used by trans-women authors themselves, I don't think there's any excuse for using that slur in this way. 

This is the one and only reason I couldn't give it 5 stars, I thought the rest was fantastic.  

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

bulbasaurusthe7th's review against another edition

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DNF at about 30%.
I just don't really like books like this. It's kind of meh, I feel it's predictable and just not very exciting.

nightshade_novels's review against another edition

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5.0

Another brilliant tale from Darren Shan, its great how well he can write not only teenage horror stories but also stories for adults.
This story had so many twists and turns to the plot I could never guess what was going to happen next or how it was going to end. Each time the plot turned around again you would think, so all that previous idea was wrong but this is how it actually is and then Shan would turn the plot on its head again disregarding that idea too. You spend the majority of the book expecting this to be a supernatural story in which Ed proves that his ghosts are real. However by the end of the book Ed’s ghosts remain unexplained and everything else turns out to be possible within the realms of normality. Therefore it is likely that Ed’s ghosts are indeed just a figment of his tortured mind.
SpoilerThe final revelation was that not only was Andeannna Greygo in disguise, but so was the mystic, Etienne and Joe!
It was so shocking and amazing, I never saw it coming – it just wasn’t possible to guess. Looking back the only small clue to the truth was that when Andeanna and Ed were at the mansion and the guard came in calling for Greygo and not for Andeanna. The only other clue right near the end, which was how Ed worked it out, was that the real Andeanna was dressing up her male doll that represented her son in lots of girl’s clothing and makeup. But even with that clue it was still a surprise to me when the truth was revealed and it took me a while to work out how Ed had figured out the truth.
This book receives five stars for its engaging plot that keeps you hooked from start to finish, as you have no idea where it is going to go next.

akarman's review against another edition

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2.0

پیشرفت بسیار کند
متن تا ۷۰ درصد ابتدایی بسیار لوس و خشک
۳۰ درصد پایانی بسیار تلاش شد پیچیدگی‌های دارن شانی داشته باشه که خیلی افتضاح ناکام موند
یک لکه ضعف درست حسابی تو کارتامه دارن شان به نظرم

m3l89's review against another edition

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5.0

This is the first adult book by Darren Shan that I have read and I really, really enjoyed it.

I found the ghost aspect and the discussion about death and the afterlife quite philosophical, but at times not entirely relevant to the plot.

It took me a little while to link the prologue and main novel in my head but they fitted together nicely with a great twist, or so I thought. I got the twist completely wrong and it was more complex and brilliant than I could ever have dreamed up.

I'd recommend this to fans of Stephen Leather's Jack Nightingale series.

Absolutely brilliant. Best book I've read in 2014 so far, possibly for years.

sparklesnowwhite's review against another edition

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5.0

Second time around was just as good as the first. I love this book so much. It's one of my all time favourites. Beautifully written, everytime you think you have it all figured out you get slapped in the face with a new piece of information that makes you question everything you have just read. This is a book that will stay with you long after you finish it. Would still love the book from Deleena's point of view, her perspective would be amazing to read. Love it. Would recommend it to anyone and everyone.

endairiss's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

sean67's review against another edition

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3.0

Decent stand alone horror/thriller from Darren Shan, who on this occasion has branched into more adult literature rather than his normal teen, although the difference is not great.
Nice twists and a good resolution make this a good read.
Despite the genre not being one of my favourites around Shan continues to impress.