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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. Cirque Du Freak it a very interesting book by Darren Shan. It is about a teenage boy who goes to this freak show with his best friend. During the show his best friend notices one of the performers as an ancient vampire named Mr. Crepsley. After the show his friend tried to convince the vampire to bite him and turn him into a vampire as well. Mr. Crepsley attempts to but says that he has bad blood and can not be a vampire. Darren decides to steal Mr. Crepsley's spider from his coffin and took it home. After a couple of days Darren and his friend were playing with the spider and it bit Darren's friend and they had to take him to the hospital. There was no cure or the spiders venom becuase he was a unique spider. Darren had no other choice but to talk to mr crepsley and ask him to cure his friend. He said he would if Darren agreed to become his assistant which meant that he would become a.......half-vampire! (darren agreed) (  ) NeemaA13 | Nov 30, 2009 |  I liked this book. It was short and simple and sweet. It made me cringe though, as Darren has a fondness for spiders as I love my cats and spiders aren't exactly my favorite insect in the world. There's a nice underlying creepiness throughout the book which I enjoyed as it kept me focused and my attention did not wander off. It was extremely fast paced and the book was far from boring. There were a few revelations and some parts where I thought sounded so predictable, actually surprised me as it didn't go the way I thought it would. Although I rather figured Steve would go the way he would, but if he didn't, the book wouldn't have ended as it has and it wouldn't have been as exciting. I like Steve though, he's fearless and he's got a reckless streak that you can immediately identify as him being the one bringing all the trouble (not on purpose) but it's him that keeps the plot flowing and making it exciting. Although Darren is the main character, if it weren't for Steve in many aspects of the story, the plot would have stayed flat. I like Darren for his loyalty, although it didn't do much good anyway. There's a great cliffhanger ending, and now I'm left wanting to read some more. It's certainly a great start to the series and will keep readers interested and engrossed as to what will happen next to these two boys. The only thing I thought was a little odd was sometimes the boys talked like adults so at times it just didn't sound so real, although I'm willing to let it go. The book was good enough that you can just ignore that little error. Overall, a wonderful start to an interesting series. It gives freak shows a whole new meaning of creepiness and with a cliffhanger ending, you're bound to swallow this series up like candy. (  ) sensitivemuse | Nov 26, 2009 | This book was pretty good! Except since I saw the movie before I read the book, I couldn't concentrate too much on the book, and kept thinking of the movie! So much was different! I can't believe they would actually change so much for the movie! But to tell you the truth, I don't really like Darren Shan's style of writing. Everything goes too fast for me, and I can't really remember all of the details. He was trying to cramp all the facts in a short little book, and it just isn't working! But I can't wait to read the next book, but I saw it in the movie too, so I hope it's better than this one! Oh yea, I hate how Darren Shan made himself as the main character. To me, it's just not right. It's really....weird, and when I write, I never even mention my name, or my friends. So it's sort of creepy to see the author use his own name! ( ) 8F_SAM | Nov 15, 2009 | this book does not require for you to read the next in the series but there is a movie that it is combined with the vampires assistant. this book is very sad and heartwarming ( ) MrFClass | Nov 13, 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 (  )1  | Apr 12, 2009 | edit | |    no reviews | add a review
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| Book description |
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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)
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