Review - Books 1-3 in The Saga of Darren Shan

Have you watched the movie Cirque du Freak? I have, and after I watched it I immediately looked for a second movie, but to my surprise there wasn’t one. That is when I started looking, and hoping, I would find a book series.


I found it. The Saga of Darren Shan. (Or Cirque du Freak series) This series of 12 books *gasp* are teen/young adult level so they are a very easy read.


Book 1 - A Living Nightmare by Darren Shan


Darren was a normal kid. His friend found a flyer for a freak show, they went. Steve had saw one of the performers before -in his vampire book. Darren stole his performing spider, Madame Octa (he had a thing for spiders). Steve wasn’t a fan, and Madame Octa bit him. She was poisonous. Only one person knew how to cure Steve. Darren goes to Mr. Crepsley(the vampire), and asks for help. In return for the antidote Mr. Crepsley wants Darren to become his assistant.


Do you say yes, give up half your life to save your best friend?


Go ahead, read the book. Its better than the movie! ;)




Book 2 - The Vampire's Assistant by Darren Shan

I was dying to know what happened in the book -if it followed the movie, or went a different way. I think we all know the answer -went a different way. It is so much better though, but of course it is.


Darren is now Mr. Crepsley’s assistant, a half vampire. Mr. Crepsley urges Darren to drink from humans, he needs it to survive and even though Darren does not have to kill his victims, he will not drink their blood. He wants to keep his humanity. They decide to travel with the Cirque du Freak so Darren can have some friends. He bunks with the snake boy, Evra who becomes his closest friend. Darren also meets two humans -Sam and RV. Sam becomes close to Darren. Sam wants to join the circus, and RV finds out some information he decides to deal with on his own, which puts himself and Sam in great danger.




Book 3 - Tunnels of Blood by Darren Shan
Mr. Crepsley is found by an old friend, Gavner Purl, after their secret meeting Mr. Crepsley informs Darren they are going to leave the cirque for the time being. Darren brings along his friend Evra, as if it were a vacation. Darren and Evra are free to do as they please while Mr. Crepsley is sleeping. One night while Mr. Crepsley is out they watch the news which reports the finding of 6 dead humans, all drained of their blood. Believing it is Mr. Crepsley they start to tail him each night, until one night when it seems he is going to kill an innocent man. Darren jumps into the rescue, only to find a mad vampaneze was who Mr. Crepsley was actually following. (Vampaneze are vampire’s who always kill the humans they are going to drink from) The vampaneze runs off, and kidnaps Evra on his way out. Mr. Crepsley believes Evra is dead, and the vampaneze long gone. Darren does not agree -Evra is his best friend, he must be alive. Darren must now risk his life -and others- to try and find his best friend, and outsmart the wild vampaneze.


This book was a little slow going with the action because we learned a lot about the history of vampires, and of the vampaneze. All in all it was still a great book, and the information really put things together.


..on to the next book!