Cirque Du Freak by: Darren Shan


Cirque Du Freak: A Living Nightmare is the first installment in Irish author Darren Shan’s widely successful book series Cirque Du freak.. Book one of the series (A Living Nightmare) takes place in a unknown place in the world but somewhere in the city. A young boy named Darren gets thrown into the mysterious world of vampires. Overall I enjoyed this book very much and found it very entertaining to read. I give this book a 7/10. Since it is the first book of a 12 book series, Darren Shan could not throw all of his amazing ideas of his twist on the world of vampires into one book so the story doesn't really start to get its true path till the final few chapters. But that doesn't mean that it was not a good book.

Let me give you a short summary of the book. Darren a normal 12 year old boy and his friend Steve go to a freak show. They expect your average “freaks” but they are so wrong. The Cirque Du Freak is the longest running freak show in the world. Both Steve and Darren find something to their personal liking, Darrens being spiders, and Steves being vampires. Darren and Steve enjoy the amazingly unique show (I won't say anymore just in case you want to read it) when Steve all of a sudden recognizes one of the performers from one of his vampire books. Steve confronts the vampire after the show and they are thrown into the dark world of vampires.

This is not your average vampire either. In the world of the Darren Shan vampires, some rules are not just bent, but broken. Holy water does not affect them, and garlic only makes these creatures laugh. Mr. Crepsley is one of the most interesting characters you will ever encounter in your book reading career.

Cirque Du Freak: A Living Nightmare is a great way to start of Darren Shan's horror novels for teens. If you are looking for a book series that is not only entertaining, but surprising, and keeps you on the edge of your seat, then Cirque Du Freak is the series for you. I loved it and I'm sure you will too.