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231 reviews for:
Cirque Du Freak #12: Sons of Destiny: Book 12 in the Saga of Darren Shan
Darren Shan
4.01 AVERAGE
231 reviews for:
Cirque Du Freak #12: Sons of Destiny: Book 12 in the Saga of Darren Shan
Darren Shan
4.01 AVERAGE
I invested years in this series and this is the mediocre ending I deserved. Screw you, Darren Shan for shitting on my childhood
I'm really torn about this book for a couple of reasons! Its very meta. It uses time travel shenanigans to 'fix' the time line to defeat Tiny and that is what bothers me about it. I also wish that Tiny was a more of a Big Bad than he seems throughout the series. It all lead up to the defeating the Vampaneze Lord, and that ends up being the middle of the book!
Darren living in the Lake of Souls was truly haunting for me.
But how Darren and Evanna end up tricking Tiny is satisfying but also not? If Darren goes to Paradise to reunite with his friends, will they even really KNOW him since he changed the timeline and he doesn't become a vampire anymore?
Darren living in the Lake of Souls was truly haunting for me.
But how Darren and Evanna end up tricking Tiny is satisfying but also not? If Darren goes to Paradise to reunite with his friends, will they even really KNOW him since he changed the timeline and he doesn't become a vampire anymore?
This review contains SPOILERS.
Worst ending to a series, EVER.
I was so enthusiastic for these novels. Darren Shan presented a whole new world in his first books. He caught the attention of the reader immediately.
I've read a few reviews that said that from the 2nd trilogy the series started to decay. I absolutely disagree with this statement. I NEVER considered it boring, at all.
Truly, for the "Great finale" I was expecting something big, surprising, an epic fight, a shocking ending. Instead of that, Darren Shan gave us a dull, unrealistic and forced "novel".
First of all, the title "Sons of Destiny". Was I the only one who KNEW (and without reading any spoilers) that Darren was the son of Mr. Tiny? Or was the title REALLY obvious? A huge mistake, especially because at the beginning it is openly written that the mysterious character was name Des Tiny (yes, for those who hadn’t guessed yet).
I think that Mr. Shan gave us some shocking scenes while the story was moving forward, but there is a tiny line between some INTERESTING plot twist and a DULL, STUPID and FORCED twist when the author ran out of ideas.
Along the whole series I bore the "childish" dialogue, and sometimes understood the context of it. But in this installment (if the author didn't know) there is A WAR happening. His resources were null. There are more important things to describe in an "epic fight" than how the “girlfriend” of the main character looked like.
Oh, yes, "the fight". In the past volumes we had some pretty amazing fighting. So, I (as a constant reader) was expecting something even bigger. I mean, there were vampires and vampanezes all around the world. Their future was about to be sorted out in just a fight. If you habitually read those sentences throughout eleven novels, OBVIOUSLY you are expecting something ENORMOUS for the twelfth. And what did Mr. Shan give us? A pathetic, wretched and almost funny "fight" (more like a diminutive version of a concentration camp) in a stadium. The Vampire Mountain would have been a much better scenario for those scenes.
When you keep using some elements in your novels, the reader habituates to them. They’re part of the world. But in this novel, several external elements were introduced, so it turned into a "non-credible" world anymore. Yes, it's a fantasy (pseudo "horror") series, but the author has to stick to what he has written throughout eleven installments. I liked the novel until the middle of it (except for the "epic fight"), and Darren dying in the river would have been a very good ending. But the author found it too short and got us into the literary nightmare of the more than 100 additional pages that he had to write to have the approval of the publishing company.
Yes, I know that he had to complete the circle to fit it to the beginning, the idea that it's the "real" Darren Shan starring the story (evidently, nobody who is sane would ever believe that), but it could have been done in a better way. Actually, that premise could have been dropped before he published the very first novel of the series, changing the name of the main character, telling the story in 3rd person. So, we MIGHT have a better ending here.
Finally, I have read a few 5-stars reviews from this very same page. And I just have to say... PLEASE, don't trust them. The plot twists are not as good as some people describe them. As I said before, they were forced at the point we got out of the magnificent world the author created. It almost seems that the author spitted grotesquely several ideas that he had for other stories, mixed them up, put them the name of "Sons of Destiny" and published it. Not a good thing.
Is this a good series? It's AMAZING. It's addictive. Sometimes well written, but above all, very entertaining.
Is this a good book? No. The dullest ending to a franchise ever.
It truly deserved one star.
Worst ending to a series, EVER.
I was so enthusiastic for these novels. Darren Shan presented a whole new world in his first books. He caught the attention of the reader immediately.
I've read a few reviews that said that from the 2nd trilogy the series started to decay. I absolutely disagree with this statement. I NEVER considered it boring, at all.
Truly, for the "Great finale" I was expecting something big, surprising, an epic fight, a shocking ending. Instead of that, Darren Shan gave us a dull, unrealistic and forced "novel".
First of all, the title "Sons of Destiny". Was I the only one who KNEW (and without reading any spoilers) that Darren was the son of Mr. Tiny? Or was the title REALLY obvious? A huge mistake, especially because at the beginning it is openly written that the mysterious character was name Des Tiny (yes, for those who hadn’t guessed yet).
I think that Mr. Shan gave us some shocking scenes while the story was moving forward, but there is a tiny line between some INTERESTING plot twist and a DULL, STUPID and FORCED twist when the author ran out of ideas.
Along the whole series I bore the "childish" dialogue, and sometimes understood the context of it. But in this installment (if the author didn't know) there is A WAR happening. His resources were null. There are more important things to describe in an "epic fight" than how the “girlfriend” of the main character looked like.
Oh, yes, "the fight". In the past volumes we had some pretty amazing fighting. So, I (as a constant reader) was expecting something even bigger. I mean, there were vampires and vampanezes all around the world. Their future was about to be sorted out in just a fight. If you habitually read those sentences throughout eleven novels, OBVIOUSLY you are expecting something ENORMOUS for the twelfth. And what did Mr. Shan give us? A pathetic, wretched and almost funny "fight" (more like a diminutive version of a concentration camp) in a stadium. The Vampire Mountain would have been a much better scenario for those scenes.
When you keep using some elements in your novels, the reader habituates to them. They’re part of the world. But in this novel, several external elements were introduced, so it turned into a "non-credible" world anymore. Yes, it's a fantasy (pseudo "horror") series, but the author has to stick to what he has written throughout eleven installments. I liked the novel until the middle of it (except for the "epic fight"), and Darren dying in the river would have been a very good ending. But the author found it too short and got us into the literary nightmare of the more than 100 additional pages that he had to write to have the approval of the publishing company.
Yes, I know that he had to complete the circle to fit it to the beginning, the idea that it's the "real" Darren Shan starring the story (evidently, nobody who is sane would ever believe that), but it could have been done in a better way. Actually, that premise could have been dropped before he published the very first novel of the series, changing the name of the main character, telling the story in 3rd person. So, we MIGHT have a better ending here.
Finally, I have read a few 5-stars reviews from this very same page. And I just have to say... PLEASE, don't trust them. The plot twists are not as good as some people describe them. As I said before, they were forced at the point we got out of the magnificent world the author created. It almost seems that the author spitted grotesquely several ideas that he had for other stories, mixed them up, put them the name of "Sons of Destiny" and published it. Not a good thing.
Is this a good series? It's AMAZING. It's addictive. Sometimes well written, but above all, very entertaining.
Is this a good book? No. The dullest ending to a franchise ever.
It truly deserved one star.
This whole series lead up to what I thought would be a fantastic ending. But I was so disappointed in the ending.
The second half of the book was a complete let down for me...
The second half of the book was a complete let down for me...
AMAZING !!!!
A brilliant end to an awesome series.
I recommend Cirque Du Freak. It's a killer series.
A brilliant end to an awesome series.
I recommend Cirque Du Freak. It's a killer series.
I have no idea what to think of this ending. There was so much information pumped into this book. Some that made sense and a lot that didn't. And the ending, confusing, disappointing, and yet some how fit the confusing story that this series had.
I have a lot of mixed feelings about this series, I think that it might have been better without it more confusing aspects but at the same time they gave the story are very unique feeling and added many lovable, strange and interesting characters. But I just hate when I'm left feeling that the important questions weren't answers.
This was a weird series, where the author made strange choices, some places it worked and other it didn't, but overall it was very entertaining.
I have a lot of mixed feelings about this series, I think that it might have been better without it more confusing aspects
Spoiler
Mr. Tiny, Mr. Tall, and Lady Evanna whatever they are because it was never actually said. And all the time travel nonsenseSpoiler
Like what the hell Mr. Tiny is, why he has so much power, what happened to the other characters and the war of the scarsThis was a weird series, where the author made strange choices, some places it worked and other it didn't, but overall it was very entertaining.
This was one hell of a ride. I'm so glad I decided to re-read this series!
he stunning finale to the "New York Times" bestselling series brings Darren face-to-face with his archenemy, Steve Leopard in the stunning final book. In some ways it seems like it has passed in a blur in others it feels longer. This ending did disappoint me I'm not going to lie, I hated it yet I loved how cleverly it played out. Basically I got annoyed at the ending because- because.. because.... Because of a reason for something!!
The rest of the series was amazing as was the rest of this book, except the last few chapters.
The rest of the series was amazing as was the rest of this book, except the last few chapters.
I'm not so satisfied with the ending and it's too open... And a little dissapointing tbh. All Darrens work all his adventures FOR NOTHING? For his deeds to be replaced by some other random kid... While we don't even know what exactly happened to that kid.
I'm still having the 'so what happened now' moment right now. Darrens adventures were amazing and I loved every moment of it. The ending was not as I expected and it was definitely one that fucked with my mind.
My biggest wish would have been a reunion with Mr. Crepsley and very briefly it's mentioned but I wanted more! (I loved him his death wrecked me)
I must admit it was a big plottwist I had not seen that coming but after Leonard and Darren fighting it honestly went downhill. Like okay I could have accepted Darren changing the past in a way but not for him to have never made all his friends and stuff??
I see that after what Darren did this outcome was probably like the only one
I can't believe the last book could be so... changing? It just made all the rest feel so surreal. I loved the series but the ending not so much. In a way it does satisfy me though, it makes the world we live in now what really happened so we actually (sort of) know the outcome.
So why still 3 stars? I loved Darren Shan and I still think it's clever how the author made it all fit into eachother from the beginning until the end. In a way I can accept the ending if I ignore some factors (none of Darrens adventures happening being the biggest one) but still it's a hard pill to swallow.
I won't say I'm 100% satisfied but I have very mixed feelings about it.
I'm still having the 'so what happened now' moment right now. Darrens adventures were amazing and I loved every moment of it. The ending was not as I expected and it was definitely one that fucked with my mind.
My biggest wish would have been a reunion with Mr. Crepsley and very briefly it's mentioned but I wanted more! (I loved him his death wrecked me)
I must admit it was a big plottwist I had not seen that coming but after Leonard and Darren fighting it honestly went downhill. Like okay I could have accepted Darren changing the past in a way but not for him to have never made all his friends and stuff??
I see that after what Darren did this outcome was probably like the only one
I can't believe the last book could be so... changing? It just made all the rest feel so surreal. I loved the series but the ending not so much. In a way it does satisfy me though, it makes the world we live in now what really happened so we actually (sort of) know the outcome.
So why still 3 stars? I loved Darren Shan and I still think it's clever how the author made it all fit into eachother from the beginning until the end. In a way I can accept the ending if I ignore some factors (none of Darrens adventures happening being the biggest one) but still it's a hard pill to swallow.
I won't say I'm 100% satisfied but I have very mixed feelings about it.