Mary's Review: Lord Loss by Darren Shan

Shan's pulled out all the stops on this one, at least as far as names are concerned. This reviewer happens to believe that any inane soul guilty of naming their child "Grubsitch" should be shot on-sight for the good of mankind, but that is not the point. Grubsitch "Grubbs" Grady is narrator and hero, and so the name serves to be...distinctive, if nothing else. Lord Loss begins with a bang, a very gory bang, as Grubbs witnesses the murder of his older sister and parents by the titular demon's familiars. Shan always has had a talent for colorful descriptions of gore. From there the story becomes rather start-stop interest wise, not choosing to remain on a steady increase of intensity until around midway through the book. Shan's forways into exposition would be more inksome if they failed to pay off later, but after some 16 Shan books this reviewer has yet to see it happen. The lovely thing about Lord Loss, for the casual reader, is that the book does not necessarily require the reading of the rest of the current ongoing story. The plot within wraps up nicely enough, and though another of Shan's Demonata books (Slawter and the upcoming volume as well) feature Grubbs as well (with Demon Thief involving a younger version of Grubb's uncle Dervish) those books could be considered "stand alones" as well. Shan has promised to tie the novels together at a later point, but for now we give Lord Loss: 3Q, 4P.