🔥 PHOENIX RECOMMENDED 🔥
Author (Platform): Darren Shan (Kindle)
Publisher (Release): HarperCollins (2006)
Length: 241 pages
Genres: Young Adult; Horror; Fantasy; Action
❗️Disclaimers❗️:
moderate blood, violence, gore, and body horror
this review contains low-level spoilers
recommendation: must read
👍 Pros 👍
My favourite novel ever written (which might be baffling to some)
Developed characters
Intense with a magically magnificent conclusion
👎 Cons 👎
A little slow to start
👀 Synopsis 👀
“Never trust fairy tales. There are no happy endings. There’s always something new around the corner. You can overcome major obstacle, face great danger, look evil in the eye and live to tell the tale — but that’s not the end. As long as you’re breathing, your story’s still going…”
Nightmares haunt the dreams of Dervish Grady since his return from the Demonata universe, but Grubbs takes care of his uncle as they both try to continue a normal, demon-free existence. When a legendary cult director calls in Dervish as consultant for a new horror movie, it seems a perfect excuse for a break from routine and a chance for some fun.
But being on the set of a town called Slawter stirs up more than memories for Grubbs and his friend Bill-E.
🛎️ Introduction 🛎️
Despite being the third entry in Shan’s spectacularly bloody Demonata series, Slawter is the book that captured my imagination and resurrected my love for reading at a critical juncture in my young adult life. Even over a decade later and more adult-fiction leanings, Slawter possesses a special magic unlike any other, pulling from its already set foundations and showering the reader with powerful fun.
🧩 Plots 🧩
Slawter kicks off slowly, handling the fallout from Lord Loss’s climactic finale. Trauma and a detached normality have characters existing instead of living, and, for a YA novel, it’s surprisingly insightful to the feelings of crushing despair that a finite life can beat us around with. It’s something I can certainly relate to, and the novel parallels itself by providing an opportunity to escape into story.
It can be hard putting your pieces back together
Brimming with conspiracy and mistrust, Slawter balances the schlocky cliches of horror with more grounded plot beats, and, when the story gets going, it takes off with surprising speed and never relents, bombarding the reader with twists, turns, and tantalising terror. The finale is probably one of the best, most magically satisfying finales I’ve ever personally read, unafraid to scar its cast or its reader while enthralling us so completely that stopping here isn’t even remotely a possibility.
‘…twists, turns, and tantalising terror.’
🎭 Characters 🎭
Grubbs Grady returns from Lord Loss (the first entry in the Demonata) and, while more confident in his life, the events of his previous story have left their marks. The biggest thing I love about Grubbs is just how much of a hero he is for not actually being a hero. He entertains and processes selfish and horrible thoughts, but his fight through that, his courage in the face of rising fear he can’t control, is utterly inspiring. In a dark, twisty tale of blood and bleakness, Grubbs provides just enough human light to offset a tone that could quickly turn depressing.
The sun always rises even when the waters are troubled
Supporting characters keep inline with Shan’s exceptional talent for variety, with unforgettable names and developed personalities. Each is used to naturally push the story forward, with a first person, present tense narrative coupling with short, sharp sentences to create punchy action.
‘…a dark, twisty tale of blood…’
🧠 Final Thoughts 🧠
Slawter is my favourite book of all time. It came at the right moment for me and saved my atrophied imagination with supernatural intensity. It’s ridiculous, cliched, and utterly gripping. A slow start gives way to a bloody breakneck bolt with complicated characters and a fantastic finale that will have you pushing your own mother out of the way to grab what comes next (hopefully you won’t have to do that, but, if I were on a jury, you’d have a sympathiser).
The Phoenix Project 
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