Lord Loss

Infobox Book
name = Lord Loss


image_caption = Lord Loss's original cover, featuring Bill-E
author = Darren Shan
country = United Kingdom
language = English
series = The Demonata
genre = Horror novel
publisher = Harper Collins
release_date = June 12th 2005 UK
July 5th 2005 USA
media_type = Print (Paperback)
pages =
isbn =
oclc = 57465664
followed_by = Demon Thief

"Lord Loss" is the first novel in The facitous Demonata series book by best-selling teenage horror author Darren Shan. It was originally published in the UK on June 6, 2005. Soon after, it appeared in Japan and America, where Shan's previous series, The Saga of Darren Shan, had sold especially well. Set in Ireland. It is told in first person through Grubbs Grady, and in present tense.

Plot summary

"WARNING PLOT SPOILER"

"Lord Loss" follows Grubbs Grady , a child whose family are all chess players

Grubbs Grady's mother hears about Grubbs smoking in school and is furious. Grubbs finds out that the person who told her was his sister, Gret. So, Grubbs gets some rat's guts and puts it in a towel that Gret uses to shower with. It works, and his family are even more outraged, and they punish him. But the punishment ends early, and Grubbs is confused about the way his family are acting. They are treating him like it is the last time they will see him. One night Grubbs is told that his parents (Sharon and Cal) and Gret are going to see ballet and Grubbs is to stay at his aunt's house, Kate. He sneaks out of Kate's house and goes back to his own. When he opens the door, Sharon, Cal and Gret are all dead. They have been killed by a crocodile-dog animal and a hell-child, who accompany an eight-armed monster. They are demons. With a burst of energy, he escapes from the house. After he tells the police his story, he is admitted into a mental hospital. He is very disturbed. One day, a man called Dervish comes to visit. He is Cal's brother (Grubbs' uncle.) He says he knows about demons. Soon, Grubbs decides to live with Dervish in his big mansion. Grubbs soon learns that magic is real, and his great-ancestor was a magician, and that some of Dervish's house is protected by magic. Dervish tells Grubbs that the eight-armed demon he saw is called Lord Loss, and that Lord Loss is a demon master, and is far more magical than anyone else. Grubbs learns he used a bit of magic to escape from the house in which Lord Loss killed his family. He soon finds himself in 'The Hall of Portraits,' which is a room in the house that has pictures of family members (just in the Grady blood) that have died. One day, while outside in Carcery Vale, the village which he now lives in, he meets a boy named Bill-E Spleen. Bill-E knows Dervish very well, and wanders in the mansion sometimes. He believes Grubbs's tale about the demons. Bill-E believes that Dervish is his father, because he never knew his other father, and his mother died. But he is not certain. Bill-E and Grubbs become friends and go to the forest one day. Bill-E says he has seen Dervish collecting dead animals from here, and thinks Dervish is a werewolf. At first Grubbs thinks he is crazy, but then soon learns his family has a curse, and most of the Gradys turn into werewolves at puberty. So one night Bill-E and Grubbs go out to spy on Dervish in the forest. But Grubbs soon sees that Bill-E is the werewolf, and Dervish just clears the dead animals. While Bill-E is locked up in a cage, Dervish tells Grubbs a few things. When his dad, Cal, went on buisness trips, he didn't always sleep alone, and had affairs. But one affair got the lady (Emily Spleen) pregnant, and she had the baby, Bill-E, but died after she had given birth. That makes Bill-E Grubbs's half-brother, and Dervish's nephew. And while Bill-E is still locked up as a werewolf, Grubbs learns the only cure for the werewolf gene is from Lord Loss. But you have to win a game of chess for him to obey. Grubbs's parents were killed because Gret was a werewolf. They kept it secret from Grubbs, and then played a game of chess with Lord Loss. They lost, and when you lose, him and his two companions (Artery and Vein) kill you. So Dervish comes to a conclusion that he will summon Lord Loss and play chess with him to cure Bill-E's wolfen genes. But the player needs someone to fight off Artery and Vein while playing the game, so Dervish picks Grubbs. Grubbs argues at first, but eventually Dervish summons Lord Loss and they go to a strange world where Lord Loss, Artery and Vein are waiting for them. So Grubbs fights Artery and Vein with great difficulty, but suddenly Dervish decides that Grubbs should play the chess instead. So, reluctantly changing positions with Dervish, Grubbs plays chess with Lord Loss. Incredibly scared, Grubbs starts to lose some moves. Then he realizes that the only way to win is to act casual, which is what Lord Loss hates. So eventually, Grubbs wins the chess game, and Bill-E's wolfen genes are cured. Lord Loss is furious, but there is another challenge. If someone wins the game, they have to stay on to fight Lord Loss one-on-one. Dervish decides to do it, and Grubbs returns to the normal world. Dervish is a zombie in the real world, until he wins over Lord Loss. Grubbs waits anxiously, hoping that Dervish's normal senses will return. He doesn't tell Bill-E that he was a werewolf or that they are half-brothers. Dervish eventually returns, winning over Lord Loss. Grubbs start to change, and the signs of the werewolf gene occur, but he finds out it is a practical joke from Dervish.

Facts

*The paperback edition has a glow in the dark cover
*Dervish mentions that the Moores are related to the Gradys. This has a tie in with the later plot in the book Demon Apocalypse where Nadia Moore is related to Grubbs.
*When Grubbs asks Dervish about a women in one of the portraits on the wall, he says that she died 30 years ago. The last time Dervish saw Nadia at that point was 30 years ago when she 'died'.

See also

* Darren Shan
* The Demonata

External links

* [http://www.darrenshan.com Official Darren Shan Site]
* [http://darrenshan.blogdrive.com Official Darren Shan Blog]
* [http://www.charlie-peterson.com A comprehensive Darren Shan Site]
* [http://www.darrenshan.com/demons/index.html Demonata website]
* [http://www.darrenshan.com/demons/books/01lordloss.html "Lord Loss" on author's website]