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| '''''Demon Thief''''' |
'''''Demon Thief''''' is a book in ]'s '']'' series. Though it is the second book in the series, it is a prequel to '']'', the first book in the series. The protagonist is also different from that of the first book. The narrator here is a new character called ], as opposed to ], the protagonist of the first book. Demon Thief takes place about thirty years before ''Lord Loss'' so most of the characters from the first book did not appear, though a few did. It was also actually the sixth book of the Demonata to be written, although it was the second released. | ||
| == Plot outline == | == Plot outline == | ||
| {{plot|date=August 2011}} | {{plot|date=August 2011}} | ||
| This story is told through the eyes of lonely child Cornelius "Kernel" Fleck and takes place probably somewhere in the United Kingdom or Ireland and during the 1970s. Kernel has always been different - he can see strange patches of light in the air around him. The other kids and his parents think he's mad and as a result he has no friends. But when he manages to link some of the lights to each other, he creates a window into another universe. After seeing a red demon - Lord Loss, although Kernel doesn't know it - went through and then went back into the window, Kernel makes a rash decision and follows the demon into the other universe. Kernel then disappears for several days. When he returns he comes back with a baby named Art. Kernel has no memory of what happened during the seven days he went missing or how he got Art. At first Kernel tells his parents what he remembered up until he went into the light but neither of his parents believe him, thinking that Kernel is lying or is in shock. Kernel's mother becomes very attached to Art and wants to keep him because she thinks that they have gotten a second chance to have another child. When Kernel was four, his younger sister, Annabella, died when she was just a baby, but Kernel's father wants to take Art to the police. After deciding to keep Art, Kernel's parents decide that the family should leave the city because people know that Kernel is their only child and that Kernel's mother was not pregnant by the time they received Art. A few days later they move to the sleepy village Paskinston. Paskinton is miles from any other town or city, electricity cuts are common, television and radio reception is poor, and the cars are old. But in general it's the type of place you would expect old people to be living in but shockingly it's mainly filled with youngish parents and children. To be exact there are 37 families and six single people who are on friendly term with each other. | |||
| One year later, Kernel is settling into his new home. The kids are nicer, there is no crime or pollution, and his parents have never been happier. But Kernel still feels like an outsider. To get to school (which is just a converted stable) he has to pass the witch's, Mrs. Egin, house. Although Kernel doesn't believe she really is a witch, much of the village calls her that because she is anti-social and does not act like how the other villagers act. One day, while Kernel is walking past her house taking Art to the nursery( another converted stable) the witch comes and starts yelling and screaming at Kernel saying that he will see her die. She also says if he tells anyone, she will come into his room at night and slit his throat. A few days later when outside with his class, Mrs. Egin comes and summons a demon, killing herself in the process. The demon - Cadaver - slaughters many of Kernel's classmates and his teacher, however, it is stopped when four humans step through the "window" that the demon itself came through. Using magic, the humans begin to force Cadaver back through the window, into its universe. However, Cadaver takes Art with him before returning to the demonic universe. | |||
| The four magicians step back through the window, intending to track down Cadaver, and Kernel, wanting to find Art, follows. He finds himself in an impossible universe, with forests of howling, crooked trees. Kernel also finds that he has the ability to stand on water in this universe. He sets off to find Art, or perhaps the four humans, but after a few hours has got nowhere. He eventually notices some of the strange patches of light only he can see heading toward a clearing. Following on, he finds the four magicians, with their leader muttering the spell which is gathering the lights. After initially wanting to send Kernel back to his world, the humans - named Sharmila, Raz, Nadia, and Beranabus, the leader - allow Kernel to stay when they realize he has magical potential. They introduce themselves as the Disciples - Demon hunters - and after a quick discussion about the Demonata (during which Nadia reveals she has a power the see the future, that she's from the 1930s, Beranabus is at least 100 years old, and that she hates him) and the Kah-Gash, a mythical weapon with the power to destroy universes that was broken into many pieces aeons ago, Beranabus opens a window to another part of the Demonata universe, and they step through. | |||
| They do not stop long in the next world. After a quick magical search for Cadaver, Beranabus concludes he did not stay in that world long. They open another window and step onto "a giant, needle-shaped chunk of rock." which Beranabus had visited before sometime. After noticing that the window they stepped through has closed, and that there are thousands of spider-like creatures - the Kallin - climbing up the needle toward them, Beranabus concludes that Cadaver had set a trap for them, and sets about opening another window. While he is busy, Kernel, Sharmila, Raz and Nadia start defending themselves from the Kallin. In the midst of the battle, Kernel finally realizes the truth - that the lights only he can see are what make up the windows into other universes. Quickly nudging Beranabus aside, Kernel finishes the window, and they step forward into yet another dimension. | |||
| They quickly get into the battle again, fighting a multitude of snake-like demons. Kernel closes the window behind them and quickly makes a different one, this time to Earth. He and Nadia are able to make it through, but Raz is killed and Sharmila and Beranabus are left in the Demonata universe, still fighting the demons. After having an argument about whether to go back or not, Nadia deserts Kernel on the busy Earth street they came out onto. Kernel realizes that the lights work differently in the normal universes, after failing to make a window to both his brother Art and Beranabus, Kernel resigns himself to the fact he can't get back. However, he follows some more yellow lights to an over-18 punk concert. He fails to get in through the front door, but after waiting beside the back door for a while, he meets two more Disciples, an army guy named Shark and a very young Dervish Grady. They inform Kernel that somebody is summoning a demon, and that the attack could happen any minute. The demon comes through the window and attacks some of the concert-goers, but Shark, Dervish and Kernel manage to drive it back through. Shark and Dervish then decide to help Kernel find his brother, and they go through the portal. | They quickly get into the battle again, fighting a multitude of snake-like demons. Kernel closes the window behind them and quickly makes a different one, this time to Earth. He and Nadia are able to make it through, but Raz is killed and Sharmila and Beranabus are left in the Demonata universe, still fighting the demons. After having an argument about whether to go back or not, Nadia deserts Kernel on the busy Earth street they came out onto. Kernel realizes that the lights work differently in the normal universes, after failing to make a window to both his brother Art and Beranabus, Kernel resigns himself to the fact he can't get back. However, he follows some more yellow lights to an over-18 punk concert. He fails to get in through the front door, but after waiting beside the back door for a while, he meets two more Disciples, an army guy named Shark and a very young Dervish Grady. They inform Kernel that somebody is summoning a demon, and that the attack could happen any minute. The demon comes through the window and attacks some of the concert-goers, but Shark, Dervish and Kernel manage to drive it back through. Shark and Dervish then decide to help Kernel find his brother, and they go through the portal. | ||
Revision as of 13:18, 29 September 2011
| First Edition CoverDemon Thief's UK cover, featuring Artery, slightly warped. | |
| Author | Darren Shan |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Melvyn Grant |
| Language | English |
| Series | The Demonata series |
| Genre | Horror, Fantasy novel |
| Publisher | HarperCollins |
| Publication date | October 5, 2005 |
| Publication place | Ireland |
| Media type | Print (Hardback) |
| Pages | 288 pp (first edition, hardback) |
| ISBN | ISBN 0316012378 Parameter error in {{ISBNT}}: invalid character |
| OCLC | 60791412 |
| Preceded by | Lord Loss |
| Followed by | Slawter |
Demon Thief is a book in Darren Shan's Demonata series. Though it is the second book in the series, it is a prequel to Lord Loss, the first book in the series. The protagonist is also different from that of the first book. The narrator here is a new character called Kernel Fleck, as opposed to Grubbs Grady, the protagonist of the first book. Demon Thief takes place about thirty years before Lord Loss so most of the characters from the first book did not appear, though a few did. It was also actually the sixth book of the Demonata to be written, although it was the second released.
Plot outline
 | This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. Please help improve it by removing unnecessary details and making it more concise. (August 2011) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
This story is told through the eyes of lonely child Cornelius "Kernel" Fleck and takes place probably somewhere in the United Kingdom or Ireland and during the 1970s. Kernel has always been different - he can see strange patches of light in the air around him. The other kids and his parents think he's mad and as a result he has no friends. But when he manages to link some of the lights to each other, he creates a window into another universe. After seeing a red demon - Lord Loss, although Kernel doesn't know it - went through and then went back into the window, Kernel makes a rash decision and follows the demon into the other universe. Kernel then disappears for several days. When he returns he comes back with a baby named Art. Kernel has no memory of what happened during the seven days he went missing or how he got Art. At first Kernel tells his parents what he remembered up until he went into the light but neither of his parents believe him, thinking that Kernel is lying or is in shock. Kernel's mother becomes very attached to Art and wants to keep him because she thinks that they have gotten a second chance to have another child. When Kernel was four, his younger sister, Annabella, died when she was just a baby, but Kernel's father wants to take Art to the police. After deciding to keep Art, Kernel's parents decide that the family should leave the city because people know that Kernel is their only child and that Kernel's mother was not pregnant by the time they received Art. A few days later they move to the sleepy village Paskinston. Paskinton is miles from any other town or city, electricity cuts are common, television and radio reception is poor, and the cars are old. But in general it's the type of place you would expect old people to be living in but shockingly it's mainly filled with youngish parents and children. To be exact there are 37 families and six single people who are on friendly term with each other.
One year later, Kernel is settling into his new home. The kids are nicer, there is no crime or pollution, and his parents have never been happier. But Kernel still feels like an outsider. To get to school (which is just a converted stable) he has to pass the witch's, Mrs. Egin, house. Although Kernel doesn't believe she really is a witch, much of the village calls her that because she is anti-social and does not act like how the other villagers act. One day, while Kernel is walking past her house taking Art to the nursery( another converted stable) the witch comes and starts yelling and screaming at Kernel saying that he will see her die. She also says if he tells anyone, she will come into his room at night and slit his throat. A few days later when outside with his class, Mrs. Egin comes and summons a demon, killing herself in the process. The demon - Cadaver - slaughters many of Kernel's classmates and his teacher, however, it is stopped when four humans step through the "window" that the demon itself came through. Using magic, the humans begin to force Cadaver back through the window, into its universe. However, Cadaver takes Art with him before returning to the demonic universe.
The four magicians step back through the window, intending to track down Cadaver, and Kernel, wanting to find Art, follows. He finds himself in an impossible universe, with forests of howling, crooked trees. Kernel also finds that he has the ability to stand on water in this universe. He sets off to find Art, or perhaps the four humans, but after a few hours has got nowhere. He eventually notices some of the strange patches of light only he can see heading toward a clearing. Following on, he finds the four magicians, with their leader muttering the spell which is gathering the lights. After initially wanting to send Kernel back to his world, the humans - named Sharmila, Raz, Nadia, and Beranabus, the leader - allow Kernel to stay when they realize he has magical potential. They introduce themselves as the Disciples - Demon hunters - and after a quick discussion about the Demonata (during which Nadia reveals she has a power the see the future, that she's from the 1930s, Beranabus is at least 100 years old, and that she hates him) and the Kah-Gash, a mythical weapon with the power to destroy universes that was broken into many pieces aeons ago, Beranabus opens a window to another part of the Demonata universe, and they step through.
They do not stop long in the next world. After a quick magical search for Cadaver, Beranabus concludes he did not stay in that world long. They open another window and step onto "a giant, needle-shaped chunk of rock." which Beranabus had visited before sometime. After noticing that the window they stepped through has closed, and that there are thousands of spider-like creatures - the Kallin - climbing up the needle toward them, Beranabus concludes that Cadaver had set a trap for them, and sets about opening another window. While he is busy, Kernel, Sharmila, Raz and Nadia start defending themselves from the Kallin. In the midst of the battle, Kernel finally realizes the truth - that the lights only he can see are what make up the windows into other universes. Quickly nudging Beranabus aside, Kernel finishes the window, and they step forward into yet another dimension.
They quickly get into the battle again, fighting a multitude of snake-like demons. Kernel closes the window behind them and quickly makes a different one, this time to Earth. He and Nadia are able to make it through, but Raz is killed and Sharmila and Beranabus are left in the Demonata universe, still fighting the demons. After having an argument about whether to go back or not, Nadia deserts Kernel on the busy Earth street they came out onto. Kernel realizes that the lights work differently in the normal universes, after failing to make a window to both his brother Art and Beranabus, Kernel resigns himself to the fact he can't get back. However, he follows some more yellow lights to an over-18 punk concert. He fails to get in through the front door, but after waiting beside the back door for a while, he meets two more Disciples, an army guy named Shark and a very young Dervish Grady. They inform Kernel that somebody is summoning a demon, and that the attack could happen any minute. The demon comes through the window and attacks some of the concert-goers, but Shark, Dervish and Kernel manage to drive it back through. Shark and Dervish then decide to help Kernel find his brother, and they go through the portal.
After coming out on top of some clouds, Kernel quickly opens another window and they step through to find Beranabus and Sharmila, burying Raz. Beranabus is furious at Nadia's desertion, and quickly steps through another window to find her. Nadia is also furious at being dragged back, but Kernel dismantles the window. She reluctantly agrees to stay with Beranabus until he finds a piece of the Kah-Gash (the mythical demonic weapon) but she swears that he will never be able to trust her, and that she would quite gladly kill him if she got the chance.
Kernel wishes to start looking for Art immediately, but Beranabus forces him to make a deal; Kernel helps Beranabus find one piece of the Kah-Gash, then Beranabus helps Kernel find Art. An eye for an eye. They make the deal, and Kernel tries to open a window to the Kah-Gash, but finds he is unable to do so. Thinking perhaps Cadaver will know a way to find it, Beranabus agrees to search for Cadaver and Art.
They find themselves in an even worse hell; there are standing near a huge castle of webs, with a moat surrounding. Beranabus identifies it as the home of Lord Loss. The hell-child Artery, who was standing near them when they arrived, quickly runs off toward the castle. Beranabus tells them that will not be able to defeat Lord Loss - not on his own territory - but they might be able to bargain with him. However, they have no time to make a plan as they are then quickly dragged into another fight with the demons from the castle.
Beranabus, Shark, Dervish, Nadia, Sharmila, and Kernel manage to fight their way through the demons towards the castle. They realize they will have to jump over the moat and onto the castle walls - however, the water below is filled with shark-like demons, so if they miss or fall they will be ripped apart. Just as they are preparing to jump, Kernel experiences a feeling of déjà vu, as if he had seen the place before, but he shakes it off and jumps. He, Beranabus, Shark, Nadia, and Dervish make it across the moat, but Sharmila falls toward the sharks. At the last moment, she is saved by Beranabus, who explains he can fly in some worlds - it varies. Then, as they wait on the wall, the castle's drawbridge opens and Kernel's brother Art comes out, followed by the demon thief Cadaver and Lord Loss himself. Kernel recognises Lord Loss from the night he opened the window for the first time, and Lord Loss, in turn, recognises both Kernel and Beranabus. Lord Loss torments Kernel with the fact that in the real world, it had been five or six years since Cadaver had stolen Art - as Beranabus had previously explained, time works differently in the Demonata universe.
Inside, Dervish gets a shock when he sees chessboards littering the castle, as he now recognises Lord Loss for what he is. Lord Loss tells that he already knew Dervish was a Grady by the stench of his family.
In another room, the parties begin the discussions - Beranabus says that they want Cadaver for questioning, but Lord Loss says he will not give Cadaver up for free - he wants a life for a life. He chooses Nadia, and Beranabus agrees to sell her out. Lord Loss then quickly kills her and hands Cadaver over to Beranabus. As he's leaving, Kernel decides to stay behind and try to save Art; Dervish and Shark also decide to stay. Lord Loss presents them with a challenge: he has the Board, the very first chessboard, given to humans by beings that came from the stars. He tells them he will separate their souls from their bodies, and put them inside the Board; inside, they will have 3 chances to find and name the demon thief, or they will trapped forever. Agreeing to this, Dervish, Kernel and Shark are placed inside the Board.
Kernel lands in complete darkness, and after originally thinking he had gone blind, realizes that he must have landed on one of the black squares of the chessboard, and he'll be able to see if he finds a white square. He manages to make some light for himself, and comes across a child-like figure, eating webs next to a river of lava; after originally thinking it is Art, he realizes it is Artery, the hell-child. When Artery runs away a demon comes behind Kernel and pushes him into the lava. Thinking that all is lost a woman comes to help him. She tells Kernel to heal himself. Kernel sees that the woman is Nadia. She tells him that she hated Beranabus and this was her last act of kindness.
After searching the board, Kernel finds both Dervish and Shark. He then uses the marbles to find Cadaver, who he believes is the thief. As he chases Cadaver down, he again sees the demon child. Finally catching Cadaver, he names him as a thief, which Lord Loss says is incorrect. Kernel then realizes that Cadaver was just a puppet and thinks that the real thief was Lord Loss, however that is also incorrect. With one chance left, Kernel again sees the demon child. Realizing that it's a clue, he finally knows who the real thief is: himself. When Kernel, Dervish, and Shark are released from the board, Lord Loss tells the group who that the demon child is named Artery, and that it is one of his favorite familiars. When Kernel stepped through the portal at the beginning of the book, he was very lonely. He found Artery outside the castle, caught him, transformed him to look like a regular child, and shortened the name to Art. Since transformation magic was highly complex, Lord Loss decided to find out more about Kernel. Kernel's parents, who had lost a daughter when Kernel was four, decided to keep Art even though they knew he wasn't theirs. They moved to the village so that the people who lived in the city and were familiar with the family wouldn't find out about Art. Sharmila then asks if Kernel wants Art back. Lord Loss is willing to give Kernel Artery, who can easily be transformed back into a human, however warns them that Art will always be a demon on the inside and while he will never attack Kernel, he is certain to hurt others.
Kernel, heartbroken, decides to leave Artery and go home. However, upon arriving home, things are even worse. Seven years have passed since his departure and his parents have gotten used to the loss of their children. Kernel realizes that they will never truly accept him back, so he travels back to Beranabus. Kernel shows Beranbus how, when concentrating on making portals to anything that's with them, the lights don't pulse. When concentrating on the promised piece of the weapon, the lights don't pulse, and Kernel concludes that the piece of the Kah Gash must be him.
External links
| Works by Darren O'Shaughnessy | |
|---|---|
| The Saga of Darren Shan | |
| The Demonata | |
| Other works | |