Demon Thief

"وقتی آشوب و اتفاق های خیلی بد رخ می دهد، نمی شود نگران مرده ها شد و فقط باید به زنده ها فکر کرد."

اتفاقات دزد شیطانی قبل از کتاب اول اتفاق میفته و عده ای از شخصیت های کتاب قبلی اینجا حضور دارند. برای من نیمه دوم کتاب خیلی جذاب تر از نیمه اول بود. شاید این به خاطر اشاره به کاراکترهای مرتبط با کتاب اول بود. شاید هم به خاطر معمای پیدا کردن "دزد شیطانی".
شخصیت های اصلی این کتاب و کتاب قبلی شباهت هایی به هم دارن. علاوه بر show more بازه رده سنی مشابه، گروبز و کرنل دغدغه ها و ترس های نسبتا مشابهی دارن. ترس از دست دادن خونواده محوریت اولیه مشکلات هر دو فرد هست، اولی خونواده شو از دست می ده و طول می کشه تا با تنهایی بعد از اون ها سازگار شه، دومی با وجود اینکه خونواده اش رو به اون شکل از دست نداده، با ترس و اضطراب تنهایی دست و پنجه نرم می کنه. از طرفی هر دو نفر به خاطر برادرشون حاضر به خطر انداختن جون خودشون می شن و قسمت های بزرگی از ماجراجویی هاشون بر اساس این مساله به وجود میاد.
با این حال این دو کاراکتر تفاوت های جالبی هم دارن که شاید باعث می شه شکل گیری خصوصیاتشون در طول کتاب تفاوت هایی رو داشته باشه. گروبز "استعداد" خاصی نداره و به تدریج در طول داستان لرد لاس با راهنمایی ها و تمرین های "درویش" پخته تر می شه. اما توی این داستان کرنل پر از استعداد بالقوه است. از اوایل کتاب مشخص هست که چیزهایی رو متوجه می شه که حتی مطرح ترین افراد هم ادراکی ازش ندارن. وجود برانابوس اقلا در اوایل کتاب در پخته تر شدن کرنل تاثیر چندانی نمی ذاره. این تفاوت منو تا حدودی یاد تفاوت لوک و آناکین انداخت. شاید به خاطر همین تفاوت هاست که مرشد های کاملا متفاوتی میان سراغشون: درویش سال ها تنها زندگی کرده باهاش اخت گرفته و از تنهایی نه تنها نمی ترسه بلکه حتی احتمالا لذت هم می برد و انعطاف پذیری خوبی داره. برانابوس در سمت دیگه قضیه شاید به خاطر تاریخچه پیچیده و تحت تنشش از تنهایی می ترسه و نمی شه گفت منعطف پذیرترین مرشد ممکنه.
به طور کلی تجربه زیبا و هیجان انگیزی بود. show less

Hot damn, Darren Shan has such a complex imagination, it's hard to think of many that can compete. It's strange going from a completely different point of view in book one to a new one in book two, but I see this as a prequel, kind of, and backstory. Think I can swing it with the series as long as it doesn't get too confusing.

I enjoyed the main character Kernel. His loneliness spoke to me in the beginning and his painful plight in the ending convinced me. It's a dark story with his parents and sibling, but this of course grows much darker when he has to enter the demon realm.

What was fascinating about this book was the full-fledged magic. Each had their own brand and seeing it being explored always excited the kid in me. The story show more held a few twists and surprises along the way, especially with the decision of a disciple, a revelation of a theif (although I guessed that right before it was revealed), and how life changes as it goes on without someone.

Meeting the Disciples and seeing how mixed they were was a treat. It took me a moment to recognize who Dervish was since it has been a little while since I read the first book. There are a lot of questions still waiting to be answered but this pulls out for the tension and suspense of the series. Nothing feels like let down or suspended/cut off from that.

Lord Loss was as eerie as ever and it was nifty to go back in time, in his land, to see his horrors face to face in a castle of all things. There's a lot of twists in the demon world, monstrosities too horrible to clearly picture. I do keep picturing that twinkle in Art's eye at the end. I can't fully picture the disasterous appearance that is Lord Loss yet.

Shan did well with this book and that world, although not perfect in terms of imaginations and intricacies. More could be done in future installments to leave a greater impression on the twisted multiverse.

As I've mentioned in reviews of most of Darren Shan's books, this may be set for middle school to young adult, but the subject matter, violence, and blood/gore level is intense enough for an adult. There's some disturbing material here that works perfectly for all horror fans of all ages. If you're a sensitive adult about what your child reads, you may want to preview some of this stuff, although I'm fine with my son reading it. Then again I was never sensitive about reading material and believed in allowing the imagination to stretch and experience for itself. Adults should not grow bored - look at me, I read these and love them, he's a favorite author for sure.

I'm pleased to see I've fallen more into the series. The first book was good but didn't grab me. Cirque Du Freak was such an epic cant-put-down feeling that I hope to get the same with the Demonata. show less

Demon Thief is the gruesome second book in Darren Shan’s horror series The Demonata. Set around thirty years before the start of the first book, Lord Loss, it provides a fresh new tale with some new characters and a new narrator, but a few familiar faces crop up as well, both humans and demons. As a sequel, it equals but does not surpass Lord Loss. The two books are interesting to compare – Shan has used a somewhat different set of skills to write Demon Thief, making it more of an emotional, suspenseful and mysterious novel, while Lord Loss was more of a high-tension, run-for-your-life-type book.

Demon Thief is easily the goriest book I have ever read. This is a book to be kept away from the church at all costs if anyone ever hopes show more to read it again. Blood, guts and vomit flow profusely from a world where demons rip people’s heads off and dig into their brains. Despite all this, however, the gore in Demon Thief could not be described as gratuitous. Shan has created a horrible world, inhabited by creatures without feeling or reason, and every bit of the violence in this book is entirely justified. Where some authors would censor the more bloody moments, sacrificing a bit of realism to stay within the bounds of what would generally be considered a ‘children’s book’, Shan does not. He extends a friendly hand to the reader, saying, “What I am about to show you is terrible and gruesome, but I think you’re tough enough to handle it.” An unspoken compliment like this means more to a child than most people appreciate.

The gore in Demon Thief is accompanied by some of the miserable principles recognisable from Shan’s original series – he does not protect important characters, and sometimes things can never go back to the happy way they were at the beginning of the story. The result, as usual, is a novel that’s bloody, miserable, twisted and heartbreaking – but brilliant.

Demon Thief is an achievement not to be missed, a wicked, unpredictable journey with plot twists that will have readers guessing right to the end. Highly recommended for any teenager, (except the squeamish ones!) show less

Recensione presente anche su BookLover

In questo secondo libro non seguiamo Grubbs, ma Kernel Fleck.
Non abbiamo una periodizzazione esatta degli eventi rispetto al primo volume, ma la presenza di un giovane Dervish e il fatto che il padre di Grubbs non abbia ancora figli indica che sia di molto precedente a Lord Loss.
Kernel è un ragazzo strano, almeno è quello che pensano tutti: vede delle luci che non ci sono, di colori diversi, che si muovono e che lui stesso può muovere a piacere.
Quando il demone Cadaver rapisce il suo fratellino Art, Kernel lo segue nel mondo dei demoni per cercare di salvarlo e si unisce a un gruppo di Discepoli, la cui missione è combattere le orde demoniache.

Io e questo libro abbiamo una storia travagliata: lo show more avevo cominciato nel 2020 ma non mi prendeva, quindi l'ho abbandonato. Poi, quest'anno, ho deciso di dargli una seconda possibilità e cominciarlo da capo. E in effetti mi è piaciuto!

La storia è interessante da molti punti di vista: in primis, venimo a sapere di più sull'universo di questa serie; attraverso Kernel scopriamo dove vivono i demonata, i loro mondi diversi e come essi funzionino in modo completamente diverso da quello umano; grazie ai Discepoli e a Kernel stesso scoprimo di più sulla magia e sul suo uso contro i demoni.
È stato un viaggio estremamente interessante da quel punto di vista, meno da un altro. Non so se fosse voluto o meno, ma ho capito subito chi fosse il "demon thief" e perché.
Ho apprezzato però la nuova apparizione di Lord Loss, che rimane uno dei miei personaggi preferiti fino a ora. È forse uno di quelli più a tutto tondo, pur essendo solo un demone malvagio.
Inoltre, in entrambi i volumi ho apprezzato il coinvolgimento degli scacchi (qui avvenuto in modo completamente diverso e, credo, interessante).

Per quanto riguarda i personaggi, ammetto che per la maggior parte non mi prendono come quel.li della serie Cirque du Freak. Non so perché. Forse è troppo presto per dirlo...
I personaggi principali in questo volume, a mio avviso, sono Kernel, Beranabus, Dervish, Shark e Nadia, e in parte Sharmila.
Se dovessi scegliere il mio preferito credo che fare il nome di Shark: è coraggioso e sempre pronto a combattere, nonché un bravo mago. Ottime qualità per un Discepolo. Dervish è più cauto e mi sarebbe piaciuto molto venire a sapere di più della sua giovinezza, visto che nel primo volume è già adulto.
Beranabus, invece... Lo reputo un personaggio abbastanza grigio. In molti casi non mi trovavo d'accordo con le sue opinioni e le sue scelte, anche se a volte dimostra di non essere un totale bastardo. Dal finale di questo volume credo che lo rivedreamo ancora, ma non so bene come. Proprio come Grubbs e Nadia.

Nel complesso, come credo aver già detto nella mia recensione di Lord Loss, trovo lo stile di questa serie molto diverso dagli altri libri che ho letto di questo autore e forse devo ancora abituarmici. Non significa però che sia un male.
La storia si legge bene, pur essendo ovvia (per me) in alcuni punti, e vi consiglio di leggere questa serie! show less

In my review of Lord Loss, I mentioned that I was disappointed that the book was written about a kid *like* a kid. As I reread Demon Thief, it was a polar opposite experience: it was a book written about a kid, from his perspective, without coming across as overly juvenile. I thoroughly enjoyed giving in to nostalgia with this read!

I really enjoyed the first book, but not this one so much. For me, as well as the usual horror aspect, I enjoyed the characters in the first book, but in this one they failed to interest me. There was too much focus on trying to make the story gory, which in the end was too much, and lost it's effect. I also guessed the 'twist' right from the beginning!

I am however, looking forward to book 3, to get back to the story and characters I enjoyed in book 1. :)

Demon Thief by Darren Shan is a great book. It is very fast paced. Tons of blood and gore. if you want to be able to read this book you need to be able to deal with descriptive phrases during the battles. Also tons of plot twists towards the end of the book.