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Title Cirque Du Freak: A Living Nightmare
Author Darren Shan
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Publisher Little, Brown and Company - 2002
First Printing Collins - 2000
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Title The Vampire's Assistant
Author Darren Shan
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Publisher HarperTrophyCanada - 2008
First Printing Collins - 2000
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Title Tunnels of Blood
Author Darren Shan
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Publisher HarperTrophyCanada - 2008
First Printing Collins - 2000
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Title Vampire Mountain
Author Darren Shan
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Title Trials of Death
Author Darren Shan
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Title The Vampire Prince
Author Darren Shan
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Title Hunters of the Dusk
Author Darren Shan
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Title Allies of the Night
Author Darren Shan
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Title Killers of the Dawn
Author Darren Shan
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Title The Lake of Souls
Author Darren Shan
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Title Lord of the Shadows
Author Darren Shan
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Title Sons of Destiny
Author Darren Shan
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Publisher ---
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Category Middle Grade
Warnings None
Main Characters Darren Shan, Mr. Crepsley, Evra Von
Main Elements Vampires
Website ---




Click to read the summaryCirque Du Freak: A Living Nightmare

Click to read the summaryThe Vampire's Assistant

Click to read the summaryTunnels of Blood




I saw the movie a few years back but took till now to see if the library might have the books. By this point I remembered little but that's sometimes for the best when it comes to movies, they can diverge so much from the original books. The first book had me hooked. Crepsley in particular was a complex character. He could have easily been evil, but he wasn't. But he's hardly a good guy either, after all he could have helped Darren without exacting a life changing price. He's kind of apologetically evil, it was interesting.

And Darren is similar. He's not a bad kid, but he's no saint either. After all, there wouldn't be a story if he wasn't so brazen as to sneak into an illegal freak show, as well as steal from a vampire, and then his friend nearly paid the price with his life.

And that was one creepy freak show...I mean people were ok with a werewolf that bit a woman's arm off? Sure the attendants sewed it back on but, yikes! Maybe the show was able to filter the audience with a lot of skill, ensuring nobody would report the show no matter how things went.

In the second book Darren is getting a little lonely living just with Mr Crepsley, obviously there's the age gap and Darren isn't all that fond of the man that turned him into a monster and forced him to leave his family. So Crepsley suggests they rejoin the Cirque, where Darren can befriend the snake boy, Evra, as well as get to know all the other characters when they aren't performing.

Now the library had this under YA and I couldn't understand why, the language used and writing style is very middle grade if not younger. But oof, by the end of the book it go really dark and graphic so that's likely why. If you're unconfortable with your protagonist running through the woods snapping the next of little animals, or someone's internals being consumed, and another getting his arms bitten off, not a book for you.




Posted: April 2025

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