Book Review - Palace of the Damned

Palace of the Damned

Author: Darren Shan

Series: The Saga of Larten Crepsley #3

Genres: Paranormal, Vampires| Young Adult

Release Date: September 29th 2011
Publishers: Harper Collins

No. Pages: 256

Source: Borrowed

Rating: 

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In the third instalment in the creepy, captivating Larten Crepsley series, Larten finds out what it means to love… but is he also damned to find out what it means to lose?

Lost in the arctic waste, carrying a baby whose love he could never deserve, Larten faces the darkest time he has ever known. But hope has a way of shining through even the smallest of cracks, and just as Larten reaches the end, a new beginning presents itself. The trouble is, for Larten, the violence of his youth is never far from the surface… and those he loves are the ones he hurts the most. As Larten experiences heaven and hell, and tries to save the soul of a child, the question is: can he save his own?

The following review may contain spoilers concerning earlier books in the series.

If you have not read the previous installments, please proceed with caution.

At the end of Ocean of Blood Larten, half mad with the flu and with grief over the death of his young assistant Malora, slaughters just about everyone on board the ship, including the parents of a baby boy. This book starts with Larten wandering the icy wilderness of Greenland with the baby, seeking death. He comes across Perta Vin-Grah's finally resting place that once was the talk of myths and decided it a very fitting place to die. Once his sets aside the baby he returns to the task at hand, his death. As he's just about to jump to his death the familiar face of Desmond Tiny saves him telling him its not his time. Larten realises he doesn't actually want to die and takes the young baby with him, searching for a way of the ice.

The book skips forward a few years to Larten in Paris with his fiancée Alicia raising the now child , Gavner Purl. There is only one problem, Larten hasn't told Alicia he's a vampire and is going under the name of Vur Horston. He's living as a human and sometimes believes he is. Everything is going well for him and for once he seems truly happy, until one night he bumps into his old Tanish Eul. After a little convincing Larten goes into business with him only to discover that Tanish is still the coward he always was, letting others die at the hands of a vampaneze to save his own skin. Still feeling horrible for the slaughter of all those people on the boat he makes it his mission to save the girls and kill the vampaneze, doing what Tanish never would. Tanish turns on him and knowing its the only way he can get the better of him, blames the death of the girls on him annoucing to the whole world what/who he is.

Once Alicia finds out his true nature, he has no where else to go but home where he becomes a general and see people from his past, the most exciting being Arra Sails and Evanna. After 10 years he decides to take some time away and returns to Paris to check up on Alicia and Gavner but when he gets there he doesn't find them all, Alicia tells him the Tanish came back and soon after Gavner had gone missing.

I loved this book (I think I've yet to find a book by Darren Shan that I don't like) this series focuses so much on Larten feelings and I personally love that. Because I've read The Saga of Darren Shan back to front many times its lovely to see where some of the characters came from, what life they had and why/how important they were to Larten. I'm looking forward to seeing how it ends, but I also don't want it to. In a way I feel like everything I wanted to know how Larten after reading The Saga of Darren Shan has been answered, and when I finish The Saga of Larten Crepsley I can get closure. :)