Customer Reviews

The Demonata #4: Bec: Book 4 in the Demonata series

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Found dead on the outskirts of the rath's walls, Bec's mother has struggled desperately to get her baby to safety. When the villagers find them, they take the child in as one of their own. Questions haunt them, however, as to where the young woman came from and why she risked everything to bring her little one to their village.

Through the years, Bec also wonders about her mother and her own role. Will she ever be able to find out the secrets of her heritage? Will she ever understand fully the strange dreams and powerful magic that seem to grow in her with every passing day? From an early age there seemed to be recognition that Bec is someone special. By many she is regarded as a priestess. Now much of her time is spent learning magic and trying to understand the chaos and evil that threaten the lives of this little band of humans.

As Bec grows older, the danger around them escalates. They are at war with the "foul legions of the Otherworld." The Formorii, as they are called, are flesh-eating demons, made up of ghastly body parts and spirited by the evil and ultimate demon, Lord Loss. The demons are bent on the total destruction of mankind. They are at war to destroy anything good, spiritual and human on earth.

One day their village unexpectedly receives a visit from a distraught boy who appears highly agitated and only responds with the words "Run Fast." He seems to want Bec and her people to come with him. Bec and a few of her rath decide that this is the best thing to do --- in fact, Bec feels a magic in the boy and the spirit of her mother telling her to go. With much trepidation, they form a small envoy of warriors to follow Run Fast, to kill as many demons as possible and in some way to help mankind.

The adventures that follow are both shattering and terrifying for the little group. Between attacks from demons, the deaths of some of their fellow travelers and startling revelations about Bec's heritage, the group is tested. But the real revelation comes when they meet the Druid, Durst, and discover that he has Bec in mind for a very special and dangerous mission:

A tunnel has opened between this land and the Otherworld. It will allow demons to enter our realm freely. It's a small tunnel but it's growing. As it grows, larger, smarter, stronger demons will cross. They can roam the land by day as well as night. And, as I've already told you, they can only be killed by magic.

Nothing can prepare the reader for the things that follow and the ultimate surprising conclusion of this disturbing saga. Darren Shan has really pushed the envelope in this fourth installment, with its over-the-top blood and gore. Some readers will be shocked and disappointed (I know I was), and some will be disgusted, but everyone will be absolutely riveted for the next book in the Demonata series.

--- Reviewed by Sally M. Tibbetts

My son and I devoured the Cirque du Freak books, and now we're just as quickly going through this series as it comes out. This book is different from the earlier books, but it's a good read!

I love Shan's work, but the ending of Bec left me very dissapointed. The build-up was amazing, but it soft of fell apart in the last chapter or so. He left the book kind of unfinished. It's hard to explain without giving away the ending, but Shan didn't fully explain what happens to Bec and Lord Loss. He leaves some characters in the middle of nowhere and doesn't say if they will be okay. In his other books, Shan leaves the reader with an amazing cliffhanger and plot twist. Compared to all of his other books, I would say that this is the worst (but it's still 3-4 stars).

Bec has never led a normal life, or was never given the chance to. Born only remembering her mother and how she passed away, Bec was saved by a village's priestess who urged the village leaders to let her live. Making her the priestess's apprentice, Bec was able to learn the magic and potions that would be used in aid of those who fought in battles.

Unfortunately for Bec, she didn't know how many battles her village would be facing.

Never a quiet night, Bec's village is continuously invaded by demons, the Fomorii, who come to tear the village apart. And every night Bec must use what she has learned, which isn't much since the priestess was killed way before she was able to pass on everything she knew.

Used to having other villagers come through, Bec's village is visited by Run Fast, a boy who says that his village is in trouble. Unsure of his story or of what side he is on, the warriors feel an obligation to help and so set off to end their fight. Usually the priestess does not go along with the warriors, but this time Bec sees fit to travel with them, hoping that this journey will help her figure out what troubles her and hopefully to become one with her surroundings and her magic.

Fighting off the demons is not an easy feat, especially since both worlds have just been connected, making it easier for the demons to enter, multiplying their numbers every time one is killed. Magic is what destroys them -- and the lives of the villagers and the warriors are in the hands of Bec.

Thrilling and different from the other novels in the series, BEC is a courageous novel that leaps off the pages and plays with our imagination. The descriptions are vivid and the story is unique. With an ending that will leave you breathless, BEC is a great addition to the already popular series, THE DEMONATA.

Reviewed by: Randstostipher "tallnlankyrn" Nguyen

Good book, takes a little to get going. Somewhat slower than the first three. All is revealed by mid book then you can't seem to put it down. Great Celtic legends and info provided in back of book.

I have a child who has become an extremely avid reader because of the darren shan books, cirque du freak, and the demonata series. He absolutley
loves to read and cant wait to get his hands on the next one coming out in November. In the mean time, he reads the other books over and over while he patiently awaits a new book. Thank you!!!!

SPOILERS AHEAD!!

Demonata was a series that took me a long time to get into. When I first discovered it around 2008, I was turned off by it's extreme violence and gore, but this was partially because of parent/teacher restrictions - and when I finally got around to reading it last year, it was one of the better fantasy/fiction books I have read. Hyperviolence, well developed characters - it was one of the most enjoyable series' I've read. I enjoyed "Lord Loss" immensely, "Demon Thief" was perhaps my favorite in the series, "Slawter" was probably the most disturbing and gruesome book (quite a feat. for this series) but I still enjoyed it, but when I finally got to "Bec" I was...quite dissappointed.

It's a decent book in it's own right, don't get me wrong. However, compared to the previous and following books it just felt...there. Like, it didn't do anything to the story. Granted, it DID do important things to the story - it introduced Bec, one of the three main characters, and Beranabus, an important secondary character. Also it delved deeper into Lord Loss' (the character) origins. But it didn't feel like it did, and it didn't do much else, really, other than have a super cliffhanger/depressing ending which brought the score down even more.

So the book starts with Bec saying how she can somehow remember her birth. Quite interesting. And then we get a seemingly out of nowhere demon attack on Bec's Irish village (this book takes place in the 1600s, by the way). Which brings me to another point - the action. Compared to the other 9 books in the series, it was...lacking. Remember the fight with the horse demons in "Dark Calling" or the battle against Lord Loss and his demons in "Slawter"? Compared to fights and actions like those, this book pales in comparison. There were some good moments, like when one of the members of Bec's caravan thing gets killed by the illusions of her own children (cannabalism yay!) and some other moments scattered throughout the book. Maybe if action appeared more throughout the book, it would save the fighting from being mediocre like it is, but action happens quite rarely for a Darren Shan book, which is lame because Darren is great at writing fight scenes. Fight scenes are what MADE Demonata, and this book has, to be frank, no spine without as many fight scenes as it should have had.

Also, the character developement was lacking. Bec, being one of the main characters, was not developed enough, and did not see a good devolopement point until her second narrated book ("Death's Shadow"). The minor characters just felt there for the sake of it, so Bec would have someone to converse with. They really didn't do anything...at all, and they were all exterminated by demon's rather quickly. Even Bec's love interest and the most important minor character was wasted rather quickly. There really wasn't a point to these characters, and you could not relate to them in any way, shape or form. Beranabus (who was called "Bran" in this book) was also a rather annoying little kid who didn't talk much at all, and compared to his great, stoic personality in later books he got irritating rather quickly.

The ending was also quite rushed and a depressing. In the end, after everyone but Bec and Bran is dead, they are chased into a cave by Lord Loss, and Bec is killed and engraved within the walls for centuries, and Bran is the only survivor...and the book ends. Wow, just wow. Though this part was quite unnerving, it only left a cliffhanger to a book that really wasn't preparing the reader for anything, and this ending just failed miserably because there was no need to put a cliffhanger into a book that wasn't very suspensfel to begin with.

This book is...well, quite mediocre, at least compared to the other Demonata books. It lacks the suspense, action, and developement where it should be in a book series packed with suspense. I wouldn't avoid this - it's decent in it's own right - but I wouldn't actively seek it out, either. When you get to this book in the series, either skip it or trudge along through it - you won't miss much of anything for this enjoyable series if you do either.

Bec
Bec, by author Darren Shanahan, was an exciting, thrilling horror story. There are things that would gross out even the most un-grossoutable people in the world. This was a very well written book with so much detail; it's as if you were there. Aside from the crazy demons, this book reminded me of my home. There is a loving family with a couple of mischievous kids. They like to play tricks on each other, and you can tell they really love each other. But when he is sent of to his aunts while his family goes to an opera, everything goes wrong. He gets sent to an insane asylum and has a struggle with that. Then his uncle comes and saves the day. When he goes to his uncle's, he realizes something he thought that was just in his family... he loved chess! So he stayed with his uncle for about a year when something went terribly wrong. He thought about leaving, but that would be betraying his best friend. So he and his uncle defy the odds and summon a demon to save his friend. Everyone in this story seems like they were based on real people. In conclusion I thought that this was one of the very best books I've read in a long time.

I feel bad only giving this book 3 out of 5 stars because I am a big Darren Shan fan, I really liked The Saga of Darren Shan and LOVED the first three books in the Demonata series, but I was a bit dissapointed with this book.Dont get me wrong, it's not a bad book, just a bit week. It was much slower-paced than the others and I didn't like the character of Bec as much as I did Grubbs and Kernel.

However, it explained some things from the past involving Grubbs' family and the Demonata and it was quite suspencefull and had a surpise ending so had its good points, too.

Still quite a good read which I would recomend becuase it is of the Demonata series, which is brilliant.

This was by far my favorite in the Demonata series, i couldn't put it down.