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A review by hollowspine
Blood Beast by Darren Shan
2.0
This book went back to Grubbs, but I felt there was more connections between the other books made in this one, so I felt a bit more like the narrative was progressing towards a complete series. I didn't really like it that much though. It seemed to progress very slowly and then the end wasn't satisfactory to me at all. All of the books have had open endings, which have been fine so far, but this one seemed to break off at a very inopportune moment. I felt like after finally getting to the meat of the story it ended.
In a personal note I really don't like Grubbs. I first noticed that I was liking him less and less in Slawter, but in this book it became a solid dislike of his character. I don't like how he treats his relationship with Bill-E at all. Not only does he abandon Bill-E (who had acted as his best friend since the moment he arrived), he allows his new 'friends' to bully Bill-E cruelly. He is more self-obsessed than ever. He puts himself before anyone else with such ease, there is very little second guessing when it comes to number one. Anyone else would think something was up when their Uncle's girlfriend started putting the moves on them, but not Grubbs, to him it must be natural to have every woman around him after him. And then to abandon his Uncle, who has protected him, fighting Lord Loss in his place, to run off with his Uncle's girlfriend, whom he himself barely knows...it defies logic to me. And never telling Dervish that the blood under Loch's body disappeared...if I went through what Grubbs had, I definetly would be suspicious of things like that and would tell anyone I thought could help me figure out what was happening about it. Instead Grubbs selfishly keeps all information about his transformation, the cave and his magic to himself and it gets at least an airplane full of people plus Loch and the Spleens killed. And also the fact that no one caught onto the coincidence that the spells on the cave were broken and then someone who has enough power to do that just happens to show up...I mean come on...I was suspicious of Swan the moment she was re-introduced and I knew from the moment her character stepped into Dervish's study unharmed that she was working for Lord Loss. There was no suspense or surprise for me that it turned out the way it did. I felt that previous installments have been much better in suspending my disbelief in the characters reactions to various events. This one just left me thinking, "how stupid are these people?"
In a personal note I really don't like Grubbs. I first noticed that I was liking him less and less in Slawter, but in this book it became a solid dislike of his character. I don't like how he treats his relationship with Bill-E at all. Not only does he abandon Bill-E (who had acted as his best friend since the moment he arrived), he allows his new 'friends' to bully Bill-E cruelly. He is more self-obsessed than ever. He puts himself before anyone else with such ease, there is very little second guessing when it comes to number one. Anyone else would think something was up when their Uncle's girlfriend started putting the moves on them, but not Grubbs, to him it must be natural to have every woman around him after him. And then to abandon his Uncle, who has protected him, fighting Lord Loss in his place, to run off with his Uncle's girlfriend, whom he himself barely knows...it defies logic to me. And never telling Dervish that the blood under Loch's body disappeared...if I went through what Grubbs had, I definetly would be suspicious of things like that and would tell anyone I thought could help me figure out what was happening about it. Instead Grubbs selfishly keeps all information about his transformation, the cave and his magic to himself and it gets at least an airplane full of people plus Loch and the Spleens killed. And also the fact that no one caught onto the coincidence that the spells on the cave were broken and then someone who has enough power to do that just happens to show up...I mean come on...I was suspicious of Swan the moment she was re-introduced and I knew from the moment her character stepped into Dervish's study unharmed that she was working for Lord Loss. There was no suspense or surprise for me that it turned out the way it did. I felt that previous installments have been much better in suspending my disbelief in the characters reactions to various events. This one just left me thinking, "how stupid are these people?"