Daemon Hall

Reviewed by Sally Kruger, aka "Readingjunky" for TeensReadToo.com

If you are a fan of scary stories, be sure to get your hands on DAEMON HALL. Andrew Nance uses a unique approach that actually weaves ten scary stories into one already creepy tale.

Wade, Chelsea, Kara, Demarius, and Chris are five teens who have earned their place as finalists in a writing contest. Horror writer Ian Tremblin challenged teens to write their own scary stories. From the finalists he plans to select a winner who will be rewarded by having his or her story published. But there's a catch ...

The five finalists must bring their stories and their bedrolls and spend the night with Tremblin in Daemon Hall. No cell phones, no flashlights, just ten candles to keep the show more darkness at bay. During the night, a total on ten scary stories will be told, and after each story a candle will be extinguished, leaving the group in complete darkness until morning.

One story after another is told and darkness begins to take control. As the stories get creepier, so does the house. To add to the suspense, the teens begin to disappear one by one and Mr. Tremblin starts acting more bizarre. Who will win the honor of being published? Who will even survive the night in Daemon Hall?

Readers of DAEMON HALL are treated to ten truly frightening tales. Each on their own could entertain listeners around a campfire on a dark night. Andrew Nance's twisted tale will have you looking over your shoulder for many nights to come. show less

This is such a unique book. It basically is several short stories disguised in another separate short story. I know, it's a little confusing. Most of the stories are well told and somewhat scary. The main storyline is that an author holds a contest, where winners must read their story to all the contestants, while staying in a haunted house overnight. Five teen winners are chosen. Will they survive the stay? How good will their stories be? Who will win? What are the author's motives? You will have to read the book to find out. Everyone is scared by different things, this is a nice mix of scares with something that should get everyone. This is a good read for parents to read with a child. There is not much gore or language to worry about show more here, just good old fashioned scares. My only problem with the book was the epilogue. I didn't think it added to the main storyline. In fact if anything it detracted from all the stories. I can understand Nance wanting to write another book of short stories. This book didn't lean toward a sequel. Horror readers are way too sharp to just gloss that over. show less

It’s a scary story filled with scary stories! Knowledge of who all is alive in the end and who the real foe is (house or Ian)? It was interesting maybe for people younger than me though. When reading the book, as interesting it was, it still seemed to be for younger teens. AHS/MC

It is thrilling and you never get bored. The back of the book made me choose it. AHS/NF

This book was very well written. It was interesting because it had different stories inside the initial one. I think each of the scenes and stories were described very well. 5Q4P The cover art is awesome and I'd recommend this for high school students. I chose to read this book because I like horror stories because they always make me want to read until the end to figure out all of the mysteries. JenniferW

Ross McGee
EDCI 5120
Nance, A. (2007). Daemon Hall. Henry Holt and Company

Grade Levels: 6-12
Category: Fantasy
Read Alouds: 5-20 (Wade meets the other members of the writing contest and Mr. Tremblin), 124-132 (the group talks about Chris’s story and then Chris disappears), 245-259 (Ian Tremblin blows out the last candle, Wade passes out, the epilogue explains what happened and the kids burn down the house.)

Summary: Wade Reilly wins a writing contest and along with four other young authors, he goes to a haunted mansion to meet Ian Tremblin, a successful horror author that will publish the story of the author that can tell the best story and stay the entire night. The house possesses Mr. Tremblin as well as several of the kids and one of show more them ends up being killed. In the end Mr. Tremblin is charged with negligence, the kids get paid off, and they burn the house to the ground.

Themes: Daemon Hall is an attempt at scary stories, within a story. The authors within the story recite their own original scary stories by candlelight and in between the stories things go awry. Each of the stories is written by a young author in high school, which serves as a way to motivate young men and women who feel they may have a gift in writing to begin creating stories. The cover of the book asks the question “is a contest worth dying for?” which also seems to be a major theme in the book. The kids could have saved themselves from a horrific night had they never attended such a dangerous undertaking.

Discussion Questions:
At what point in the book would you have left the house? Why?
Was Wade’s story the best? If not, which one was? What was good and bad about it?
How could you have written this story differently?

Reader Response: Daemon Hall was by far the worst book I have read in as long as I can remember. It was supposed to be scary, which it wasn’t. It was also poorly written and the plot was not quite believable. This seemed like something that was written in a weekend to fulfill a publishing commitment and somehow made it through the editing process and into stores, but don’t ask me how. I was actually surprised at myself for reading the entire book, but the only reason I did was because I was on vacation in Florida and it was the only thing I had to read. I think if I had to teach this novel for a class, I would try to focus on the writing style and encourage students to learn from it and think about how they could have made it better, which is reflected by my discussion questions. The language and interaction between the characters in the book did not seem realistic and the only thing that spiced it up was a hologram cover and creative newspaper-style clippings that pushed the story along. The title of the book as well as the name of the author, Mr. Tremblin was a sad attempt at clever spelling, more examples of the low class of this book. I guess I can’t like everything I read, and the next one will look great compared to Daemon Hall. show less

Basically Rose Red for the teen set. I wavered between 2 and 3 stars, but finally settled on 2 because I guess I liked it 2.25 stars worth - though teens who are horror fans will probably like it more than I did.

I felt that this book was slow to get to the point and it wasn't even really that scary. I was only able to get partway through it before I completely lost interest. 1/5 AG (12th grade) I originally chose the book because the cover got my attention and I was fascinated with the little summery that was on the back.