Demon Thief by Darren Shan

Demon Thief by Darren Shan can be seen as a speculative fiction, a fantasy and a horror. It is about a young boy called Kernel Fleck. Everyone thinks he is weird, because he sees lights. In fact, they even called him a freak! Fleck also believes he is insane, for example:

People think I’m crazy because I see lights. I’ve seen them all my life. Strange, multicoloured patches of light swirling through the air. The patches are different sizes, some are small as a coin, others as big as octagons, triangles, decagons. Some have thirty or forty sides. I don’t know the name for a forty side shape. Quadradecagon? No circles. All of the patches have at least two straight edges. There are a few with curves or semi-circular bulges but not many.

Kernel’s has a brother called Art who gets kidnapped by an evil demon called Cadaver but Cadaver leaves the window open. The window leads to the home of... the Demonata. Now, while Kernel is down there, he meets some friends who have similar powers and who offer to help him: they believe that Art is completely a gonna and was eaten long ago, but Kernel refuses to give up. Kernel is the main character, and is also referenced as Cornelius. He is a bald little boy, who people not only think is crazy but also freaky. He tries to fit in but no one will allow him near them. He explains his experience of being rejected:

I try getting to know people, but the harder I try, the more they avoid me. I sometimes hover at the edge of a group, ignored, and pretend I’m part of it. But if I speak, it backfires. They glare at me suspiciously, move away or tell me to get lost. “Go watch some lights, freak!" 

In conclusion, I like this book because it gives an intriguing description of every character, so I can actually imagine what they look like.


Shemoriah Bennett, 7D