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Loading... Cirque du Freakby Darren Shan
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. geminilass | Jul 9, 2009 |   Some books are born with a surrounding buzz; this one even has Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling's stamp of approval: "Fast-paced and compelling, full of satisfying macabre touches," she writes. Eventhough "Cirque Du Freak" is a thrill ride that will keep even the most reluctant readers turning pages, it will never take its place in the literary canon. Darren Shan, author and narrator, sets the book up as a true story. Evil begins to win when Darren and his buddies find a flier for "Cirque Du Freak," a traveling freak show promising performances by the snake-boy, the wolf-man, and Larten Crepsley and his giant spider, Madame Octa. "Every act you see tonight is real," croaks Mr. Tall, the freak show owner. "Each performer is unique. And none are harmless." That's for sure: a werewolf bites off the hand of someone in the audience, for instance. Things grow very serious for the two boys when Steve not only recognizes Mr. Crepsley as a famous vampire, but professes his true desire to join him! To make matters worse, the spider-obsessed Darren goes back to the old theater to steal Madame Octa so he can teach her tricks in his room. (He does, with mixed results.) The plot further coagulates as Darren is faced with some terrible decisions about what to do to save his bloodthirsty friend Steve. Readers may be too enthralled to notice some clumsy editing (the aforementioned bitten-off hand is later referred to as an arm, Darren stops dead in his tracks when he's already stopped, etc.). They may also not notice that the boys constantly use adult-sounding expressions like "his breath stank to the high heavens," though the book is clearly set in the 21st century. The author has difficulty holding the child's-eye view and slips back into adult-type observations. Book Details: Title Cirque Du Freak #1: A Living Nightmare: Book 1 in the Saga of Darren Shan Author Darren Shan Reviewed By Purplycookie (  ) | Apr 12, 2009 | edit | |   I'll comment here for the series. Overall very good. My son got me interested - he's 15. They are short but if you can get them all they are worth reading. Vampire Mountain was the only disappointing one as nothing really happened. Very good imagination by the author and the final books race along. I would recommend them. (  )DavidBurrows | Apr 9, 2009 | For young adult boys I would probably give this a 3.5 but for adults I would rate this at a 2. I did see on IMDb that they are making a movie out of the book. Description: Darren Shan’s an ordinary schoolboy, until he and his best friend Steve get tickets to the Cirque Du Freak, a bizarre freak show featuring such arcane performers as Hans Hands, Gertha Teeth, the Wolf Man and Rhamus Twobellies. In the midst of the ghoulish excitement, true terror raises its head when Steve recognises that one of the performers — Mr Crepsley — is in fact a vampire! I have been on a vampire kick lately so I was hoping this would be another good series. It was very simple and it felt like it was geared more towards younger boys which was actually nice as most of the books vampire books I’ve been seeing lately are geared towards teenage girls. I was surprised by the turn Darren and his best friend’s, Steve, friendship takes. It definitely leaves you at a cliff hanger to see what will happen. (  )dasuzuki | Feb 26, 2009 | 1  This is a scary keep you geusing type of book ( )MrFClass | Feb 20, 2009 | 0.076 seconds to build listing  no reviews | add a review
Amazon.com (ISBN 0316905712, Mass Market Paperback)Anyone who loves the humorous but hair-raising horror in R.L. Stine's Goosebumps series will devour British author Darren Shan's first novel with equal zeal. Some books are born with a surrounding buzz; this one even has Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling's stamp of approval: "Fast-paced and compelling, full of satisfying macabre touches," she writes. Warner Brothers will be making it into a movie, and the rest of the series is already in the works. Given all that, you'd expect a tour de force! Really, though, Cirque Du Freak is a thrill ride that will keep even the most reluctant readers turning pages, but will never take its place in the literary canon.Darren Shan, author and narrator, sets the book up as a true story, warning readers: "Real life's nasty. It's cruel.... Evil often wins." Indeed, evil begins to win when Darren and his buddies find a flier for "Cirque Du Freak," a traveling freak show promising performances by the snake-boy, the wolf-man, and Larten Crepsley and his giant spider, Madame Octa. Darren and his friend Steve wouldn't miss it for the world. So, Saturday night they sneak out to the old theater, tall and dark, with broken windows. "Every act you see tonight is real," croaks Mr. Tall. "Each performer is unique. And none are harmless." That's for sure. (A werewolf bites off the hand of someone in the audience, for instance.) Things grow very serious for the two boys when Steve not only recognizes Mr. Crepsley as a famous vampire, but professes his true desire to join him! To make matters worse, the spider-obsessed Darren goes back to the old theater to steal Madame Octa so he can teach her tricks in his room. (He does, with mixed results.) The plot further coagulates as Darren is faced with some terrible decisions about what to do to save his bloodthirsty friend Steve. Readers may be too enthralled to notice some clumsy editing (the aforementioned bitten-off hand is later referred to as an arm, Darren stops dead in his tracks when he's already stopped, etc.). They may also not notice that the boys constantly use adult-sounding expressions like "his breath stank to the high heavens," though the book is clearly set in the 21st century. If this book gets under your kids' skin (and it probably will), they're in luck--we haven't heard the last of the Saga of Darren Shan. (Ages 10 and older, not for the faint of heart) --Karin Snelson (retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:12 -0400) The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details. |
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The five stars are his rating for this book. (