Wow! These chapters were super thrilling! Very intense.
When I first read the series a few times many years ago, a mild criticism I may have had was that while the action was always great, at times I felt like maybe it was a bit too constant, and chaotic. But this time I actually feel like the moments make a lot more sense, and are a lot more well thought out. I'll get to that again hopefully, but yeah just rambling like usual!
Mr. Tall's presence in this book seems a lot more, important, for a lack of a better word. Important may be a bit too basic of a word and not super accurate to what I mean but it's close enough. His wariness feels significant, and his wisdom apparent.
I think he's a bit frustrated and perhaps disappointed by Darren's inability to notice threats or patterns here. Perhaps Darren's casual, oblivious nature of maybe unintentionally underestimating Steve is annoying Mr. Tall. It's a bit of a flaw I'm noticing. Like, the whole elaborate plan by Steve throughout books 7-9 was actually next level, it's a bit unfortunate that Darren just purely thought Steve was just an evil angry person throughout that time. Well, Steve is angry and evil, it's not that Darren is wrong there, but I believe it would have been wise for Darren to recognize just how clever Steve is. It's like Darren never took a moment to gauge the threat Steve poses. Steve has clearly been several steps ahead like this entire time.
I say this because, Darren getting back to his hometown should have been a massive sign that he'd run into Steve. This is briefly discussed but, Darren seems to not take it all that seriously. I mean, the last time they went to Mr. Crepsley's hometown, chaos ensued. This hometown is not just Darren's but Steve as well. I don't know, Darren perhaps shouldn't have avoided the town altogether, but perhaps he should have contacted Vancha for help or something?
Darren's delayed reaction regarding Darius's shady vibes was also unfortunate.
So Darren still has some flaws, some growing to do.
BUT I will admit something genuinely admirable about Darren, it's a valid strength of his. Darren is fearless, and I believe a more genuine, tested natural vampire at heart, while Steve doesn't come off as a genuine vampaneze. Steve is obviously motivated by personal revenge more than anything else, and he's willing to bend the rules often. The vampaneze themselves, Gannen being a prime example, don't necessarily support many of Steve's tactics.
Darren, for better or worse is a bit of a brute. He's like a natural fighter and from his background and various references/clues, seemingly a pretty natural athlete. He's been tested physically and mentally in many ways. He's been a half-vampire longer than he's been a human. He's basically been through two rounds of Trials of Initiation.
On several occasions, when Darren was in an open fight, or in the vicinity of Steve, Darren would get the better of him or surprise Steve. This is quite interesting to me.
Darren is clever here and there of course, like when he faced Murlough. He is also fairly good at thinking on his feet. He's average at handling his emotions, although he could probably benefit to improve greatly in that category.
I guess I'm quite fascinated by Steve vs Darren beyond the simple good guy bad guy stuff because, anyone can identify that.
Darren's brief encounter with Tommy was super wholesome. Immediately I took a liking to Tommy and was happy for his soccer success. When R.V. killed him in such a public fashion, that was wild. I didn't really remember Tommy died and he died in such a crazy way too. Brutal!
So as a result of this crazy murder, Darren attempts to chase down R.V. and Morgan James. As he pursues them, a voice in his head presents the issue that Darren is weaponless. Again, this feels like another rather direct Mr. Tiny influence. This brief moment fascinates me on many levels. I've noticed more Mr. Tiny involvement remotely in this book than in others. Maybe I just missed them in the past? But also, it just makes me think about destiny as a whole, and decision making in general. Deep, trippy.
I guess one of the last interesting moments was when Steve, Gannen, R.V. and Morgan James had Darren pretty much in the palm of their hands. Darren once again showed respectable tenacity to sorta squeeze his way out of the situation temporarily, but since he was significantly weakened from his arrow to the shoulder, he ultimately was in deep trouble.
For whatever reason, in typical bad guy fashion, Steve decides against killing Darren because it wasn't as epic, or dramatic, or intense enough for Steve. While that was somewhat predictable, it was seriously reckless and highly likely to be very consequential. Mr. Tiny said there's only four chances to kill the Lord of the Vampaneze, and Gannen even recognizes this.
Steve straight up says he doesn't care about the prophecy. Which is stupid, but honestly, kinda amazing in a way. Steve really doesn't care about Mr. Tiny's prophecy whatsoever, and it's kinda impressive.
I feel the need to point this out because Darren eventually finds his own way to defy Mr. Tiny's prophecy at the end of the series. As a reader, I always thought how impressive that was, but Steve actually does this first in this moment, even if it was for a much more selfish, twisted reason. Just wild.
I briefly wonder if Mr. Tiny influenced Steve to not kill Darren in that moment, which is possible too. I find it a bit odd, because of Mr. Tiny's own rules. But I do also remember there being a fifth chance Mr. Tiny sort of glosses over. Maybe that's why Mr. Tiny may have influenced this choice? Then again, I sense the warning Darren received was due to the fact that like, this was a dire moment and Darren would likely fail. It's all a bit confusing. Also, I feel like Harkat's existence throws an abstract wrench into all of this.
Anyway, chapter eleven ended with Darren bleeding and running through a suburb.
Excellent chapters!! Emotional rollercoaster!
