Darren Shan has stated that he originally planned for the book to be called S.S Demonic, but that the title was vetoed by his editor due to its similarity to the previous book in the series, Demon Apocalypse.[1]
It is published in the United Kingdom and the United States.
The book starts with the recollections of Beranabus. In this we learn his mother was a woman named Brigitta, who at sixteen was due to marry a prince. However, the prince had angered a powerful priestess and for revenge she summoned a demon who kidnapped her. Months later she was sent back by the demon pregnant with his offspring. The prince calls in a favor from King Minos, and she was brought to the labyrinth of Daedalus to be slaughtered by the Minotaur, though she gave birth before her death. The half-demon child, with a strange way with animals, placates the Minotaur, who begins to care for the infant. Many years later, Theseus entered the labyrinth and slew the Minotaur. Discovering the young Beranabus, he attempts to bring the boy with him before being frightened off by his yellow eyes. Beranabus remains in the dark, eventually leaving to mature into the most powerful magician born.
In the present, Bec becomes acclimated to being alive once more, and the strangeness of the modern world, eased by accessing Bill-E's memories still within his brain. Six months have passed since they prevented the apocalypse, with Bec growing increasingly uncomfortable after telling Dervish about Bill-E's memories, which he asks to be recounted to him in his grieving. Bec finds that in her new body she has gained the ability to absorb memories and emotions from other people with a touch. Meera's visits give Bec a measure of emotional support as she attempts to avoid all physical contact. One day an Reni confronts Bec about Grubbs and Bill-E, and learns that Reni feels guilty about her brother's Loch's death after touching her, scaring Reni when she recounts her deepest feelings back to her. Meera comes to visit again Bec, who inadvertently absorbs some of her deepest memories. During the next visit by Meera, Bec eventually admits that Dervish is using her power to connect to Bill-E's memories vicariously, leaving her feeling used. Meera gets Bec to confront Dervish immediately, and the two begin to reconcile. Meera bursts in, explaining that three werewolves have broken into the house. Bec, Dervish and Meera retreat to the magically defended study. Trapped, they try an obvious escape route outside, but discover there are gunmen marking the house. However, Dervish reveals that he has two escape routes. When one fails they decide to use the other and after a fight with the werewolves, they end up at the secret cellar. Dervish has a heart attack and Meera calls the Disciples, but only Shark and Sharmila are available. Bec reveals to her she can absorb memories from people by touching them and reveals the attack came from the Lambs. By the time Shark and Sharmila arrive, the werewolves and the mysterious human gunmen have disappeared. Dervish is taken to the hospital while Shark and Meera go off to search for Beranabus to get his help, suspecting the Lambs are after Bec.
In another flashback, Beranabus eventually finds his way out of the labyrinth, and found years in the dark caused daylight to be painful to his eyes. Travelling by night, the boy was scatterbrained and feral, but he had a gift to tame any wild beast and find friendship everywhere. He goes from place to place until he finds a small village being attacked by an octopus-like demon. Curious, he follows it through a window into the Demonata universe. He went from realm to realm, taming many demons he came across and running away from those he couldn't with incredible speed. He eventually winds up back on earth and becomes stranded there when the window closes behind him. Wishing you return to the other universe, Baranabus travelled across the world to find an open window. He finds himself in Ireland, where a Tunnel has been opened, allowing a demon invasion. As he goes from place to place admiring the carnage, he starts to feel unease. Drust finds him and Beranabus realizes Drust is looking for the tunnel to the Demonata universe like him. He allows Drust to alter his brain and use him to find a group of people to help them get there. He recruits Bec and her people and they travel towards the tunnel. He falls in love with Bec and after losing her, he gains a measure of human sanity and puts his demonic interests behind him.
Dervish is in the hospital, his wealth allowing him his own room and guards on the same floor. On the roof, Bec senses demons entering the hospital and warns the others. They take Dervish out of his room and up towards the roof, where the guards have arranged for a helicopter to take them away. But before it can land it is attacked, a hideously mutated Juni Swann at the forefront of the demons. The demons overcome Sharmilla and start eating her legs. Bec briefly fights Juni, and the demonic magic present lets Dervish recover, who hurls an attack at her. They go down again, but Bec convinces the other to go to the maternity ward to save the babies. Another fight breaks out before a window opens up and Beranabus, Kernel, Shark, Meera and Grubbs show up. The demons retreat as their window closes and the rest of the demons are picked off by Shark, Kernel and Meera. After the demons are dealt with an evacuation begins and everyone gathers on the roof to discuss events and their next moves. They decide to split up again; Beranabus, Bec and Kernal will take Sharmilla and Dervish into the Demonata universe, as they now need its magic to maintain their bodies while Grubbs, Shark and Meera will go after the Lambs. Baranabus' group end up in an abandoned universe that has a strange oasis of bone trees and a conscious well. Legs are fashioned for Sharmila, who regains consciousness, while Dervish is taught how to maintain his heart by Bec. Kernel, with magically fashioned eyes, finds he can see new patches of light he didn't see before, but which he can't control. He also can keep tabs on multiple people across dimensions. He keeps a track on Juni, then when she leaves Lord Loss's realm they open a portal to her, and after finding out it is a place full of magic all of them move in after her.
After losing Bec, Bran maintains a vigil in the cave for several months. Eventually he kisses the ground and chooses to leave. Bran had planned to retrace his step, which forced him to think ahead, something which until this point was alien to him; his experiences with Bec allowed Bran new pathways of thought. Bran attempts to commit suicide on the shore, but is saved by a group of Old Creatures, ancient entities of powerful magic and light utterly opposed to the Demonata, and preservers of mortal life. The Old Creatures tell Bran he could see Bec again and give him the will to live on, and spend over a century educating Bran until he can speak and reason. They encourage his hatred of demons, teach him how to open windows and send him on missions to kill demons. One day he returns to their cave to find it vacant. He tracks the last remaining Old Creature in Newgrange, who tells them it is their time to leave Earth; humanity has to fend for itself with him as their guardian. The Old Creature tells Bran of the Kah-Gash, a weapon that could destroy a universe, then leaves, leaving Earth bereft of Old Creature magic then explains about the Kah-Gash before leaving Earth behind. He then set out on the mission to find the Kah-Gash and remove the threat of the Demonata by destroying their entire reality.
Beranabus, Sharmilla, Kernel, Dervish and Bec arrive on a boat, a luxury cruise liner which has been systematically slaughtered. They discover that the ship is encased within a bubble of magic, akin to Slawter, which allows Sharmila's artificial legs and Dervish's heart to work. Leaving Kernel behind to guard the window, the others proceed to the lower decks. Here they find the professional Disciple spy Kirilli Kovacs who explains how he had been tracking two mages that were working for somebody else and waiting for orders on when to open the window. When it was opened the demons came through and tortured and slaughtered everyone, then Juni repaid them by killing them and bathing in their remains. They are now convinced it is a trap for them but Beranabus tells them they are in the endgame now and have to proceed. They make it to the bottom deck where Juni is waiting for them smug that they would willingly walk into her trap. Lord Loss talks to them through Cadaver and offers them the chance to join him, and when refused demands Bec from them. They refuse again and Cadaver is sacrificed to open a lodestone, letting the Shadow, a tentacled monster with no face, causing all the dead on the ship to animate impossibly. It goes after Bec and as the others fight the zombies, it catches her and she learns its true nature. She relays this by magic to Beranabus who turns into his full demon form in order to fight it and break the lodestone. When he succeeds, the Shadow is pulled back, but still pierced Beranabus's head several times, killing him. The group fight their way to the top deck and back to Kernel they make it towards Kernel, only for a strange explosion to make Kernel and his window disappear. With the bubble still around the ship, the group is trapped. Sharmilla, whose prosthetic legs are broken, to sacrifice her to break the bubble. Once done, Bec takes Kirilli's magic to free a lifeboat and send it to the hole, created by Sharmilla's sacrifice, leaving the group stranded in the middle of the ocean with minimal supplies as the ship sinks nearby. Bec reveals the nature of the Shadow, a universal force that was granted unnatural consciousness when Bec was brought back from the dead, the Shadow is Death incarnate.
Related Research Articles
John Constantine is a fictional character who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. Constantine first appeared in Swamp Thing #37, and was created by Alan Moore, Steve Bissette, and John Totleben.
Glory is a fictional character in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer portrayed by Clare Kramer. Glory is a god from a hell dimension and was the major antagonist of the fifth season. She appears first in episode 5 and then continues appearing in 12 other episodes throughout season 5. She makes a brief appearance in the first episode of season 7 as herself/The First.
Brandon Stark, also known as Bran, is a fictional character in the A Song of Ice and Fire series of epic fantasy novels by American author George R. R. Martin, and its television adaptation Game of Thrones, where he is portrayed by English actor Isaac Hempstead Wright. Introduced in 1996's A Game of Thrones, Bran subsequently appears in A Clash of Kings (1998) and A Storm of Swords (2000). He is one of a few prominent characters that are not included in the fourth novel A Feast for Crows (2005), but returned in the fifth novel A Dance with Dragons (2011).
Lord Loss is the first novel in the Demonata series written by best-selling teenage horror author Darren Shan. It was originally published in the UK on 6 June 2005. Soon after, it appeared in Japan and America, where Shan's previous series, The Saga of Darren Shan, had sold millions. The novel is set in Ireland and is told in present tense first person through Grubbs Grady, a child whose family are all chess players.
The Demonata is a young adult horror/fantasy series by author Darren Shan.
The Park is a 2003 Hong Kong horror film originally released in 3-D. The film was directed and produced by Andrew Lau. The film was shown at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival as part of the midnight screenings.
"The Weight of the World" is episode 21 of season 5 of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The episode aired on May 15, 2001 on The WB.
Artesia is an epic fantasy comic book series authored and illustrated by American artist Mark Smylie. Artesia is also the name of the heroine of the series, described by the Smylie as a "Pagan Joan of Arc," while noting that the closest historical model is the Irish Queen Medb. The series includes themes such as feudal politics, intrigue, power struggles, complex mythology, and world history, with strong female characters.
"Sacrifice" is episode 20 of season 4 in the television show Angel.
Bec is a book by Darren Shan in The Demonata series. It is the fourth book of the series released but it is the first chronologically. The protagonist of the book is the central character Bec. It is set in Ireland around 1600 years ago. The last line of the book, "Screams in the dark," is also the first line of the book, as well as the tagline for the novel. Bec is the end of the first part of the Demonata books, where the three protagonists are introduced.
Blood Beast is the fifth book in Darren Shan's The Demonata series and was released 4 June 2007. It is narrated by Grubbs Grady, the narrator of Lord Loss and Slawter. The plot is part of a two-part story, which continues in book six. Though the previous four books have not been in chronological order, this book is the furthest book into the future. It mainly deals with whether or not Grubbs Grady will be struck with lycanthropy and how he will deal with it. This book has been nominated for several prizes.
Demon Apocalypse is the sixth book in Darren Shan's The Demonata series. Darren Shan released the title of the book September 29, 2007 at the Baeth Festival of Children's Literature.
A Knight of the Word is a fantasy novel by American writer Terry Brooks, the second book in the Word & Void series, a prequel to his Shannara series. It was first published in 1998 by Ballantine's Del Rey division (ISBN 978-0-345-37963-4). The setting is primarily Seattle, Washington around Halloween in 2002, five years after the events of Running with the Demon. The story follows John Ross as he attempts to leave his service to the Word, while Nest Freemark tries to restore his faith. It is followed by the novel Angel Fire East.
Angel Fire East is a fantasy novel by American writer Terry Brooks, the third and final novel in the Word & Void series, a prequel to his Shannara series. It was first published in 1999 by Ballantine's Del Rey division. The novel takes place around Christmas in 2012, ten years after the events of A Knight of the Word. The story returns to the town of Hopewell, Illinois as Nest Freemark and John Ross attempt to unlock a potentially world-altering magic.
Wolf Island is the eighth installment in Darren Shan's The Demonata series. It was released in Ireland and the UK on September 22, 2008, and in the US in May 2009. The book is narrated by Grubbs parallel to the events of Death's Shadow.
Hell's Heroes is the tenth and final book in Darren Shan's The Demonata series.
Creature is a 1998 American television miniseries starring Craig T. Nelson, Kim Cattrall and Matthew Carey. It is based on the 1994 novel White Shark by Jaws author Peter Benchley. The miniseries is about an amphibious shark-like monster terrorizing an abandoned secret military base and the people who live on the island where it is located.
Shadow Fight 2 is a role-playing fighting game published and developed by Nekki and Banzai Games. It is the second installment in the Shadow Fight series and was soft-launched on October 22, 2013. The full game was released worldwide on May 1, 2014, for both the Android and iOS operating systems. It was then released to Windows 8 and 8.1 on January 26, 2015, and to the Nintendo Switch as a downloadable Nintendo eShop title on September 13, 2018.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
