Sons of Destiny
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<< Lord of the Shadows | (last in series)
Sons of Destiny is the twelfth final book in The Saga of Darren Shan.
[edit] Plot summary
The book begins right where Lord of the Shadows left off - Darren and others are in the theatre where Darren and Steve first went to see the Cirque du Freak. Steve has just revealed to Darren that Darius is not just Steve's son, he is also Darren's nephew. Steve had Darius with Darren's sister, Annie.
Darren goes back to Annie's house to confront her with the fact that he is still alive, and that vampires are real. Although she is incredulous at first, she soon realizes that Darren is telling the truth. Darren tells her that if Darius remains a vampaneze, he will soon either have to start killing other people or die himself. Annie refuses to let him do this, and Darren attempts the very dangerous procedure of reblooding Darius. Both end up alright, but the vampaneze blood in Darren's veins has occasionally terrible effects on him.
Darren, Vancha, and Harkat next go to a stadium where Steve is holding the members of the Cirque du Freak captive. Darren is able to free the Cirque, and all the performers begin attacking the vampaneze assembled. Darren and Steve run off to a cave where their final fated encounter is to take place. Lady Evannah and Mr. Desmond Tiny are watching.
Darren is eventually able to stab Steve in the chest, giving him a fatal wound, but not killing him instantly. Mr. Tiny then reveals a great secret to Darren: he is Mr. Tiny's son.This is also revealed in the title "Sons of Destiny" also "Sons of Des Tiny". He also reveals that Steve is his son as well. He destined the two of them to have an epic duel to determine which one was stronger. This one would be taken under Mr. Tiny's wing in order to help him accomplish his ultimate goal - complete chaos in the world.
Unable to accept this destiny for himself, Darren gets Steve to stab him in the guts several times, killing him as well, and destroying the prophecy that one of them would become Lord of the Shadows. Although Darren can see his departed friends in Paradise, he is unable to go there himself, and is sent to the Lake of Souls for what he believes will be eternity.
After an indecipherable amount of time in The Lake of Souls, a place of eternal gloom and mental torment, Darren is rescued by Lady Evanna. She explains to him that Mr. Tiny wanted her to have a baby with either Vancha Harst or Gannen Harst, giving a being to either the vampires or the vampaneze that would be viewed as a godly figure in order to respark the War of Scars. She tells Darren, however, that she is having twins of mixed vampire, vampaneze and her own blood in an attempt to bring the vampires and vampaneze closer together.
She then agrees that she has made a deal with Mr. Tiny. Darren meets Mr Tiny again, and in order to save his soul from the lake upon death, Darren is transformed into a Little Person. He is then sent back in time to the night that he first saw the Cirque du Freak, after which Darren discovered that Steve wished to become a vampire. Darren realizes how he can not only save his soul, but also allow his childhood self to live a normal life.
After the show finishes, Darren intercepts his childhood self and forces him to flee the building. This means that the real Darren Shan never found out about his friend's dark desire, thus cutting off the original chain of events that ended with Darren becoming a vampire, freeing him for all the sins he committed in his life.
Evanna has stitched Darren's diaries into the robes he wears as a Little Person, and Darren gives them to Mr. Tall, hoping that he will give it to the human Darren Shan who will in turn publish it so the world can see what a meddler Mr. Tiny is.
Finally, Little Person version of Darren unravels and dies, and his soul goes to Paradise.
[edit] Fan Response
Many fans have been disappointed by the anti-climatic ending of the book, and even felt that it was rushed. But Darren Shan has stated that this would have been the ending no matter how many more Darren Shan books he had written.
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| Vampire Blood | Cirque du Freak · The Vampire's Assistant · Tunnels of Blood |
| Vampire Rites | Vampire Mountain · Trials of Death · The Vampire Prince |
| Vampire War (Hunters trilogy) | Hunters of the Dusk · Allies of the Night · Killers of the Dawn |
| Vampire Destiny | The Lake of Souls · Lord of the Shadows · Sons of Destiny |
| Main Characters | Darren Shan · Larten Crepsley · Desmond Tiny · Evra Von |
| Other Characters | List of characters from The Saga of Darren Shan |
| Other | Darren Shan (author) · Cirque du Freak (film) |
