the thin executioner by darren shan

Title: The Thin Executioner
Author: Darren Shan
Pages: 496
Rating: 4/5

Summary (Goodreads):

In a brutal nation of warriors, Jebel’s family holds the highest honor: his father is executioner. But Jebel is considered too thin to compete to replace him. Humiliated and furious, Jebel vows to regain his honor in a quest to petition the fire god for invincibility. The journey is long, filled with unknown monsters. And by the end of it Jebel isn’t quite sure what he wants anymore. In Darren Shan’s imaginative first standalone novel, he explores themes of religious tolerance and cultural understanding, and champions the idea that peace is often the bravest choice of all.

My Thoughts:

This is a book that really drawing me in! Darren Shann never fail to attract my attention of reading his books. I like his Cirque Du Freak books and this one is also is a very good premise. It starts with an awful beginning as the head rolling and also the sound of how the head cut from the neck of the prisoners. I thought, "I'm not good with with this dreadful reading stuff". Turn out, it is not so bad at all.

Thin executioner is actually introducing us a very thin young man who is on a quest with his slave to a far away on highest mountain to harbor a fierce God to give him a superhuman strength so that he could prove to everyone back ta home that he's also worthy man to be honored like his two brothers. However, the quest with his slave open his eyes about the outside world since he's been thought that his tribe is very respectable tribe compared to others. His character is so arrogant, proud, selfish, and he likes to snort. While he's slave/companion is very humble, obedient, sometime very optimistic for a slave. He's also very patient with Jebel's grunts and sulking. Every characters are well described and yes, they are quite interesting. Shann imaginations in his writing is very impressive.

The book has a fast pace, likely a page turner, imaginative, interesting, alluring your interest and imagination. It may sound quite disturbing whenever Jebel remembers how the executions stuff, heads rolling and everything but I ensure you that the book has so much to give. The story itself is very adventurous, engaging and very consistent excitements. Although they have quite a lot of adventures in a very short period like in 2 or 3 chapters, every adventures ends with a good closure, very well put and no cliff hanger.

It maybe sounds a bit weird, but I really enjoyed reading the book, very much. And I should tell you this, I was quite frustrated with the ending but it was satisfying once you know why, and I think it is for the best. A very good twist.