History YMMV / TheSagaOfDarrenShan

* WTHCastingAgency: When the film adaptation came out, fans were baffled at the casting choices for Larten and Gavner. Not that John C Reilly and William Dafoe are bad actors - in fact, fans said they'd be better suited to the opposite parts.

* AmericansHateTingle: In the western part of the fandom, Glalda and Cyrus are hated due to participating in Kurda's ill-fated plan. However in the Japanese fandom, they're quite popular for being just minor characters.

* FanPreferredCouple:
** If you look on Fanfiction.Net, Deviant Art or any other poll site, you'll probably notice that Darren/Steve is the most popular. Either because of their tension in the books, because of the subtext they have in the manga, or both. It doesn't help that Takahiro Arai (the artist for the manga) likes them and deliberately added more scenes of them together that weren't in the original books. Also his next work ''Manga/{{Arago}}'' features Arago and Seth, whose designs resemble Steve and Darren respectively.
** Darren and Sam, Sam is prepared to leave his family and his life behind to join a circus just to with Darren (ok and Evra). They have lots of cute moments together with Sam telling Darren he doesn’t care that he’s a vampire. Also in the manga when it’s clear he won’t survive Sam asks Darren to drink his blood.
** Darren/Larten is also very popular towards those who saw their close bond as more than father-and-son.

* AuthorsSavingThrow:
** There were times in which Darren acted like a DesignatedHero, sometimes agreeing to do certain actions because it benefits him more and can be spiteful sometimes. The manga makes him more naive and heroic.
** The manga shows the point of view of other characters, not just Darren like in the novel.
** Kurda's two assistants only exist [[RedShirt to be used as cannon fodder]] and nobody bats an eye when they die. In the manga, Kurda is clearly upset about their deaths and part of why he decides to stay in the Lake of Souls is to be with them forever. They get drawn into a lot of the illustrations, and they even appear on a cover.
** The ending of the books was criticized due to [[spoiler:Darren going back in time so that the events of the series never happen]] and the BlackAndGrayMorality and ambiguous "heroics" of the cast. The manga ending however rectified this by [[spoiler:showing what happened to the rest of the characters after the time-reset, having Darren's friends helping him to deliver the books to Mr. Tall and alternate world!Darren still being friends with Steve]]. The manga ending also puts more emphasis in Darren and Steve's broken friendship, to the point it's a vital part of [[spoiler: Steve deciding to abandon his obsession with becoming a vampire in the new timeline.]]

* UnfortunateImplications: Noted [[https://whispersoftheunknowncom.wordpress.com/2020/06/19/debbie-hemlock-and-her-tragic-injustice/ here]] about the tendency for the adaptations to whitewash Debbie Hemlock. She's very clearly described as brown skinned and dark haired in the books, and the film notably completely replaced her with a white girl called Rebecca...and gave her a monkey tail (just adding to the racial implications).
--> "Debbie was the ONLY character to be completely erased and replaced with [Rebecca] to be Darren’s love interest. For what reason did they need to change specifically her? One of the only black characters in the trilogy the movie was adapting? Why make [Rebecca] white? Why make her a monkey girl?"

** Glalda's surname being Erefith. There's no mention of him having a surname either in the novels or manga.

** Darren's parents Dermot and Angela - GoodParents who love their children very much. First Steve gets paralyzed in their house, and Angela appears to be shouldering some guilt over it (having a child get dangerously ill under your supervision is ultimate AdultFear). Then Darren appears to die, and they were already suspicious of his parting words to them - so it's possible they wondered if Darren was suicidal without them knowing. When Darren returns to his hometown years later, it's said they couldn't bear to stay in the house and had to move away. [[spoiler: Unlike Annie, they never find out their son is still alive]].

** Steve. Many despise him for his continued antagonistic behavior towards Darren, acting like an UngratefulBastard for his sacrifice and [[spoiler: manipulating the events that resulted in Larten's death]]. Others believe he was forced into villany due to being manipulated by Mr. Tiny from the beginning and feeling betrayed and abandoned by Darren. Also, his friendship and eventual FoeYay with Darren is seen as either one of the best written relationships in the franchise or borderline abuse (Though few would call it very healthy).

** If you look on Fanfiction.Net, Deviant Art or any other poll site, you'll probably notice that Darren/Steve is the most popular. Either because of their FoeYay in the books, because of the subtext they have in the manga, or both. It doesn't help that Takahiro Arai (the artist for the manga) likes them and deliberately added more scenes of them together that weren't in the original books. Also his next work ''Manga/{{Arago}}'' features Arago and Seth, whose designs resemble Steve and Darren respectively.

* LauncherOfAThousandShips: Darren is shipped with almost everyone in the series: from Steve, Sam, Evra, Larten, Debbie, Kurda, etc.

** Darren/Larten is also very popular towards those who saw their close bond as more than father-and-son.

* LauncherOfAThousandShips: Darren is shipped with almost everyone in the series: from Steve, Larten, Evra, Debbie, Kurda, etc.

* DarknessInducedAudienceApathy: The series is relentlessly grim, with common criticisms being that nothing ever goes well for anybody.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids: This is a kid's book series, but the author himself says that he knows people both above and below the series' age demographics read them.
** Book two has R.V. recommend drugs to three 12-year-olds, who don't get the reference... but the readers do.
** Book eight has a character who, though appearing to be fifteen (and probably around the same stage of puberty as any ''real'' teen), is really about 27, first outright saying that he wants to date said real teens ("That's the thing I love about high school girls: I keep getting older, they stay the same age") and then trying to do... ''something'' to his much-older teacher (who is very likely younger than him.)
** Plus, the books are so violent and gory, it's not even funny.

* WTHCastingAgency: When the film adaptation came out, fans were baffled at the casting choices for Larten and Gavner. Not that John C Reilly and William Dafoe are bad actors - in fact, fans said they'd be better suited to the opposite parts.

** Vancha being the older of the Harst brothers, because he's taller and older-looking compared to Gannen. The Japanese translation has it this way, because in Japanese, it would be an awkward usage to call someone a "brother" without specifying older or younger. ''Literature/TheSagaOfLartenCrepsley'' implies it's the other way around, though.

** Back when the series was originally being printed, Darren/Steve was ''the'' series's pairing of choice, to the point where the manga made their friendship more codependant before their fallout. But as the fandom's matured, a lot of the more uncomfortable aspects of their relationship have been acknowledged. Not to mention ''"Sons of Destiny"'' reveals they're related.

* ValuesDissonance: Setting example. Although the setting is vague, the books were written and published in Ireland, and the setting can be given away for one very specific plot point: Darren's fake funeral. In the UK, it can often take at least a week to have the wake and service. Ireland by contrast usually does things very quickly - within three or four days. The text implies that Darren was lying for only a couple of days. It's also very clearly Catholic.

** Some fans think the vampaneze characters should have been developed more, that the story should have made them more sympathetic, instead of having them all be either AxCrazy (Murlough, R.V) or extremely strict (Gannen). It would certainly have made Kurda's insistence of saving both sides seem much more well-founded. As it is, it feels like it's trying to get credit for open-mindedness without actually showing any.

** Kurda being the youngest of the vampires due to his looks. Jossed, as ''Literature/TheSagaOfLartenCrepsley'' reveals he's actually 30-40 years older than Gavner.

** The book ending splits fans pretty evenly. Was [[spoiler:Darren pulling a ResetButton by going back in time as a reconstructed Little Person and scaring away his younger self so that the events of the series never happen in that timeline]] a fitting end to the saga or a cheap cop-out that renders the reader's investment in the series completely pointless?

** Kurda's two assistants only exist [[RedShirt to be used as cannon fodder]] and nobody bats an eye when they die. In the manga, Kurda is clearly upset about their deaths and part of why he decides to stay in the Lake of Souls is to be with them forever.