Lord Loss Book Review-Alex Aabedi

Alex Aabedi

English, Period 4

November 13, 2008

Lord Loss Book Review

The name of the book I read is called Lord Loss. This book was written by Darren Shan. I decided to read and choose this book to do my report on for many reasons. One reason is that Darren Shan is my favorite author, and I loved all of the books he had written. Also, this book had been recommended to me many times by different people. This book also got very good reviews, even from J.K Rowling, the writer of the Harry Potter series. That is why I decided to read this particular book for my report.

This book is about a boy named Grubbs Grady. He is a kind of boy who likes to think of life as a big joke, and tries to play tricks on people on many occasions. One day his Mom, Dad, and sister Gret told Grubbs that they were going to go to watch a Ballet. But Grubbs suspected that something weird was going on. He was sent to his aunt Kate to stay there for the weekend. But, Grubbs snuck out of his aunt's house and ran to his house. When he got to his house he saw his mom, dad, and sister dead on floor, surrounded by demons. He escaped magically and was interrogated by the Police later on. He told the Police that Demons killed his parents, so the Police sent him to a mental institution. One day Grubbs' uncle, Dervish arrives at the mental institution and tells him that he knows all about demons. Grubbs later decides to live with his uncle in his mansion in Carcery Vale. Dervish describes who the demons where and why they killed his parents. Gret had genetic traces of a werewolf and became one every full moon, so Grubbs' parents summoned the demon Lord Loss and his familiars to five games of chess, if they win Lord Loss will cure Gret. Unfortunately, they lost the match so the familiars killed Gret and her parents. In Carcery vale Grubbs meets a boy named Bill-E Spleen and become friends. But, Grubbs and Dervish find out that Bill-E is also a werewolf and contains those genes. So, Dervish summons Lord Loss to cure Bill-E.

In my opinion, a very significant quote in this book that turned Grubbs' upside down life right side up was when Dervish said to Grubbs in the mental institution, "I can explain about demons. And tell you why your parents and sister died." I chose this quote for many reasons. Grubbs thought that he was the only person that knew about demons, and was maybe even considering that he was insane. But, when Dervish reassured Grubbs that he was not insane, he got him to tell the doctors a few lies and pretend that the killers were people not demons. Shortly after what Dervish said Grubbs gave a little and got a little. He got better and over his grief so he could move in with Dervish in Carcery Vale. That is what makes this quote very important.

I give this book five chess pieces out of five. I chose chess pieces as my rating symbol because the chess game is the only cure for the werewolf trait. So a huge part of this book includes chess in it. Chess showed up in the beginning of the book when Grubbs parents challenged Lord Loss to five games of chess to cure Gret's werewolf traits. It also showed up when Lord Loss was summoned again to cure Bill-E's werewolf trait.

I chose to give this book a perfect score for multiple reasons. For one, this book really captured me while I was reading and kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time. I became immersed in this book the second I started reading it. Also, this book has a good plot line, and a good theme to it, I enjoy books that have demons and werewolves. The nature of this book attracts kids from age 11-15 since it contains violence and gore, so I recommend this book only to kids that fall along the lines of that age limit. My only warning is that this book may capture you and consume a lot of your time.