Customer Reviews

The Teenage Years (Dark Lord)

5 star:		(36)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I enjoyed this book more than most novels I've read for ages (apart from Thomson's Corvus: Oath of Vengeance (Fury of the Vikings), that is). It's fantastic fun for teenagers, goths, vampires and orcs of all ages. I literally couldn't put it down. (I mean, I tried, but it wouldn't let me.) How do you create a convincing character out of an evil fantasy warlord trapped in the body of a teenage boy? No idea, but in Jamie Thomson's dextrous hands this impossible concept springs to life (and how!). Dirk, his friends Christopher, Sooz and Sal, the rival psychotherapists Randle and Wings and the tyrannical headmaster Grousammer (from the German "grausamer", meaning "cruel", "brutal", "barbarous" - cf. English "gruesome"?) - are unique and compelling creations. You really want to spend your time in their company. In fact, I want to spend more time in their company, NOW. WHY do I have to wait until next March for Volume 2 (the brilliantly-titled A Fiend in Need (Dark Lord))? It's just NOT FAIR...

High concept novels are ten a penny these days, but it's extremely rare to find one as brilliantly written as this. In the hands of a lesser author this would still be an amusing fish-out-of-water yarn, but Jamie Thomson makes it crackle with mad energy, bags of personality, and such a bravura onslaught of laugh-out-loud humour that readers will be gasping for breath. You'll root for the Lord of All Evil as he suffers the indignity of being trapped in our world without his powers (well, without most of his powers) as a 13-year-old schoolboy. By the end of the book you'll be longing for further adventures of Dirk and his friends (sorry, lackeys) Sooz and Christopher - and we don't have long to wait as the next book is due in March. Dark Lord cries out to be a TV show or movie, so it comes as no surprise that the series has already been optioned by NBC Universal. All hail the Great Dirk!

Loved fantasy when I was a kid so was interested in this book for my teenage daughter when it was the Sunday Times Children's book of the week. I flicked through and started reading. Loved the concept, the characters and the humour. Though it is set in modern days it took me back to the fantasy books that got me hooked. Daughter half way through and wants book 2 & 3. It must be good , she's put Gossip Girl down.

This is such a neat idea - an evil dark lord is exiled to earth in the body of a 13 year old kid. I bought it for my daughter, thought I'd better check it out by reading a few chapters myself, and then got hooked! I read the whole thing myself in a day. The basic premise is just such a great setting for loads of madcap adventure and whacky laughs and it works for adults just as much as it does for kids. Anyway, reluctantly, I've had to pass it on to my daughter. She's enjoying it too! We can't wait for the sequel. Well done the author, or should I say his dark master, Dirk Lloyd?

Very few books manage to successfully transcend the gulf between generations, to be enjoyed by young and old alike. However the sharp humour that underpins this story, most of it centred around the main character trying to cope without his magical abilities whilst dealing with newly forming emotions, makes this a cut above most of its ilk. Dirk dismissively formulating cricket stratagems in particular had me sniggering to myself. The book deserves to reach a wide audience and I look forward to reading the sequel. They will make excellent presents indeed for the goblin spawn of my comrades and cronies.

I only stumbled across The Dark Lord book on a nostalgic internet browse. The more wizened amongst you may remember the Way Of The Tiger and Falcon Gamebook series that the author co-wrote in the mid 80's. They still have pride of place in my book collection, being more tightly written and interestingly themed than the better known Fighting Fantasy and Lone Wolf series of the time. Whilst they were a different writing style to the Dark Lord book, aimed more at young adults than older children, I cannot recommend these enough to anyone wanting to explore the authors older works.

I bought this to read with my class - I am a teacher. In the end I read it myself in one day and a night it was so much fun and engrossing. This will be a great teen book and appeal to kids with a sense of humour as well as reflecting aspects of school life. However I urge you to keep the book for yourself as it is so much fun - ironic, dark and amusingly written - despite the evilness of Dirk you can't help but like him. Roll on the next book which I'll keep for myself - don't let the kids have it!!!

Hellishly funny and rocks on many levels. Kicks Wimpy Kid bottom with a great story, squealing dark humour and, at heart, a really quite lovely, if unlikely, hero in Dirk lloyd.

I bought this for my son for Christmas, he is 9 years old. He was howling with laughter, it really spoke to him. He loves films such as Lord of the Rings and is into Warhammer type games so the lingo used in the book was that which he could identify with. The concept of the book is a great idea and is very appealing to this age group.

Got this for my 11-year-old son, who commented as follows: "It is the best book ever written. Every time I picked it up it was several hours before I could put it down, and when I did it was only out of my own foolishness. When I picked it up again I was immediately happy again. If the editors are wrong about the sequel being ready by March 2012, I'm sure I can trust you to curse them with the Spell of Painful Doom."

I bought this for my nephew, but couldn't help myself and ended up reading it first. I really enjoyed it, it was laugh out loud funny in places and really worked for me - and I'm an adult. Well, mostly :-). It's a kind of gentle lampooning of the high fantasy genre, but set in modern day England. It doesn't really take the mickey so much as give it a comedic twist, if you get my meaning. Anyway, couldn't recommend it enough. Might have to buy another copy for my nephew though.