The Vampire's Assistant and Other Tales from the Cirque Du Freak (Cirque Du Freak, #1-3)

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The Vampire's Assistant and Other Tales from the Cirque Du Freak (Cirque Du Freak #1-3)

by Darren Shan

4.20 · rating details · 925 ratings · 83 reviews

Darren Shan is just an ordinary schoolboy who loves to ride bikes and hang out with his three best friends. Then one day Darren and his friends stumble across an invitation to visit the Cirque Du Freak, a strange and mysterious freak show. Almost as if by destiny, Darren wins a ticket and what follows is his horrifying descent into the dark and bloody world of vampires.

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Paperback, 720 pages

Published September 15th 2009 by Little, Brown Young Readers

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Nov 18, 2009

Ronda Foust rated it

Shelves: ya, supernatural, horror_suspense, books-into-movies

As I read the first of these three volumes, my initial two thoughts were (1) Snakes are not slimy and (2) I don't really like Darren's character very much--and this bugged me. Now that I've finished these three stories, I have to admit that I ended up liking Darren's character after all and enjoyed the story--and, book 3 left me wanting more. Is Evra safe? Will Darren see his family again? Steve? Debbie? Does Mr. Crepsley rejoin the Generals? What about the Little People? Is Lefty a frie...more

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Jun 07, 2010

Vera rated it

Shelves: 8th-grade-2009-2010-sam

This book by Darren Shan, is about a boy named Darren who is half human and half vampire. He abandoned his old life as a full human because the only way he could save his friend was by becoming a vampire. Darren now lives in the cirque with a bunch of half-human freakish creatures. Mr. Crepsley and one of the freaks Ezra, tell Darren that they need to leave the cirque. They go to the city where Ezra and Darren find Mr.Crespley. He is always out and never around, but they soon come to find a whol...more

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May 12, 2010

Darlyn rated it

· review of another edition

Superb!! I totally love the first three series of The Darren Shan Saga a.k.a. Vampire Blood. What I like the most is that the author is Darren Shan himself. Well, maybe it is the twist of his own life journal but I found it rather amusing and a bit neat.

There are few interesting facts about vampires in the series.

1) Vampires are immortals. But they don't live forever as they will die eventually. Vampire's aging 1 year in 10 years of human world. So I guess if I'm 100, the...more

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Nov 19, 2011

Laila Al Khoury rated it

· review of another edition

The Vampire's Assistant-
The ending of this book upset me. I didn't think Sam deserved to die, but other than that, I really enjoyed this book a bit more than the first. I really started to like Mr. Crepsley and the fact that Evra has yellow-green hair and scales just fascinated me. R.V.'s just a mad vegetarian. Mr Tiny creeped the living hell out of me. Although the end upset me, it was the most exciting part of the whole book. The fact that Darren risked his life to go after the Wolf-Man a...more

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Mar 28, 2011

Megan rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: Pre-Teens, Particularly 9+

Shelves: british-fiction, fantasy, read-2011, paranormal, pre-teen

3¾
These three books reminded me of that child-like fear of monsters, a time when the fear is more innocent and almost realistic. I’m not sure what it was about the books, but they just took me back to my first horror novel, that scared me far more than it should have, and haunted my nightmares a little. Of course, these books didn’t scare me witless, but the writing and the story brought the memories back to me.
This is definitely a book for younger readers – young teens or pre-tee...more3¾
These three books reminded me of that child-like fear of monsters, a time when the fear is more innocent and almost realistic. I’m not sure what it was about the books, but they just took me back to my first horror novel, that scared me far more than it should have, and haunted my nightmares a little. Of course, these books didn’t scare me witless, but the writing and the story brought the memories back to me.
This is definitely a book for younger readers – young teens or pre-teens, maybe 9 year olds and above – and I can see why for that age group Darren Shan is known as “The Master of Horror”. But even if it was quite far below the level that scares me, I actually enjoyed this book quite a lot.
Darren was a mystery to me: I couldn’t figure out his age. I saw the movie before I read the books, and pictured Darren as a sixteen-year-old. But he definitely isn’t in the series. It bugged me. Sometimes he’d seem old – but, then again, not surprising after everything he went through – yet he was young enough to get away with drinking blood from his friend’s knee and act like it was a joke. He also cried a fair bit, and was called “young boy”, yet had a girlfriend at one point. So confusing! Also, he wore a pirate-style outfit, which fitted in at the Cirque, but not so much out in public. Despite the contradictions, I quite liked Darren, he was a good lead boy: smart, resourceful, and brave. But still can’t get the pirate and the annoying age stiff out of my head... it’s bugging me.
Evra was my favourite character, I think. Evra’s a snake boy, born to perfectly normal parents, who gave him up, so he’s lived in circus freak shows all his life. He’s got a good sense of humour, and I love his easy-going personality, and his attachment to his snake. Also, he’s a really friendly guy who took Darren under his wing, and became his best friend. I just loved him!
Mr Crepsley’s kind of creepy, and very mysterious. Although he’s a little harsh at times, and often very distant, I could tell he cared about Darren. And I loved the way Shan slowly revealed snippets of his past, and of the vampire heritage.
Cirque du Freak, the first in the saga, is mainly for setting the scene: nothing particularly terrifying happens in it. It introduces all the characters, and presents the world of Darren Shan to us. Admittedly, this one wasn’t as exciting as the others, and was rather short, but it did set the scene well. Basically, it explains how – and why – Darren (the character, not the author) becomes Mr Crepsley’s Vampire’s Assistant, and how he deals with the consequences.
The Vampire’s Assistant starts one or two months after Cirque du Freak, and is about how Darren adjusts to life in his new role at the Cirque. It’s far more exciting, mainly because of all the brilliant Cirque members, including The Wolf Man (a half human, half wolf mix – and the blend of the two blood has driven him insane. I don’t even wanna know how he happened), Cormac Limbs (he can grow all his limbs back at will: cool or what?) and Truska (a woman who can grow a beard with a single thought, and make it retract back in as well). And that is only touching the surface of the group. They’re just brilliant, and a really tight-knit group. And then there are the Little People (teeny, carnivorous people who never speak and are somehow connected to Mr Tiny, whose full name is Mr Des Tiny. Mr Destiny. Can’t be coincidence), who appeared in this book, and made me wonder who – or what – they are. I have no idea. But a good book with laughs in it, along with terror, death and insane eco-warrior. I’m all for saving the environment, but this man was seriously unbalanced. You have to read The Vampire’s Assistant to find out what he did, though.
Tunnels of Blood takes place a year or so after The Vampire’s Assistant, and is by far the best. Mr Crepsley needs to leave the cirque for unkown business, and Darren and Evra have gone with him. Crepsley disappears at night, leaving Darren and Evra to do as they please, but when six bodies turn up, drained of blood, the two boys instantly become suspicious of Crepsley and his bizarre habits. Could he be the killer? And if he is, what would they do? Yes, this one was more exciting by far, although it starts off not-so-scary, really picking up the suspense approximately half way through. And Darren gets a girlfriend! Sweet, and very interesting to read about. Yes, the best by far, full of suspense, suspicion, murder, and “Young Murlough”, who made me laugh.
Other than the age and questionable fashion sense of Darren, there were a few parts that niggled at me. These were the fact that too many “!”s were used. The other is Shan had little snippets at the end of lots of the chapters. Some made me want to read on to see what happened. Others gave too much away and made me want to scream “I don’t want to know this! I want this to be a surprise! A shock, a twist, build suspense!” But, no. I had to put up with annoying teasers that I really didn’t want to know. Plus, no female leads: so annoying! It was boys boys boys everywhere. Admittidly, they were good characters, but still.
The good points outweighed it all, though. The chapters were nice and short, making me want to read on, the writing was simple and flowed, and overall the book was rather addictive. I loved the characters, wanted to live in the Cirque, and really liked the way the vampire heritage slowly unfurled.
I'm definately either buying the rest of the series, or getting them out of the library!

P.S. If you’ve seen the movie, does anyone know why it’s American, why the characters are all older? It doesn’t make sense!
(less)

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Jul 28, 2011

Too Many Thoughts rated it

· review of another edition

This was a great book. I want to read the next in the series! It took me a while (and when I say a while I mean it, it took me a MONTH to finally start consistently reading it) to get through the first book in this 3 in 1 because I found the main character (Darren) a bit too childish for my liking.
What with the picture of the 17-old guy on the front cover I asumed that Darren's character voice in the story would be more mature and I wasn't thrilled by his juvenile thinking. But as I got to...more

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Mar 11, 2010

Alicia rated it

On the good side: the author created his world well and fleshed out a fairly believable mythos. This book is the pseudo-autobiographical tale of Darren Shan - half-vampire and assistant to a vampire who travels with a freak show, the Cirque du Freak. The character, especially the freak were fun to read about. The story was easy to follow and there are enough hanging plot threads by the end of book 3 that I would seek out the next book.

On the not-so-good side: It's definitely written...more

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Jul 22, 2011

Caitlin rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: loved-in-middle-school

When I was younger, I devoured these novels as quickly as I could get my hands on them! Looking back at the books with a more critical eye, they don't hold up as well. I loved Darren Shan's flair for the dramatic, he really can tell a story, but his writing style is not very sophisticated. Of course, these are meant for a younger audience. I encourage kids with a interest in the morbid and for adventure to read the Cirque du Freak Saga. If your child doesn't like to read, this series (along with...more

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Jan 17, 2010

Moni rated it

Recommends it for: teenage boys

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Sep 16, 2010

Trisha rated it

While the cover has The Vampire's Assistant as the title, this book is actually a collection of the first three installments in the Cirque du Freak series: A Living Nightmare, The Vampire's Assistant, and Tunnels of Blood. These three stories take us through young Darren's initiation into a world he didn't believe existed.

You should read this. All three of these books kept my attention, and not just for short spurts of reading. I read all 692 pages during the readathon and honestly, ...more

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May 30, 2010

Vani rated it

Another Vampire story out in the book shelf! My sister and I got this book that has 3 novels in one. To be honest, I don’t think one book could stand alone. The good thing about this book however is that it is not about some forbidden love between a Vampire and mortal (thank goodness!). it is about family and friendship and how one boy (Darren Shan) can sacrifice his life to save a life of a friend and also his happiness to save his family and every one he loves. This book is light, funny and wi...more

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Oct 19, 2009

Kadiatou Kamara rated it

Recommends it for: everyone

Recommended to Kadiatou by: heard about it

another vampire book, woot woot, lol, i absolutely LOVE this series,(even thouqh im not done), it starts off about a boy, livinq a normal live, until this circus come in time and it chanqe his life completely. he becomes a vampire assistant in exchanqe to save his friend life. he travels around the world with the circus meetinq the most extraordinary people you can thinq off. this first three books takes him to a journey unlike any othet, this is a fun and cute readinq, but its very enjoyable wi...more

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May 04, 2010

Stray rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: vampire lovers

Shelves: zzz-2010, in-english, aareviewed

I really liked this first part of the series.I think Ill get the next.I cant wait!!

this book has the first 3 books of the cirque du freak series (i think in the uk is the saga of darren shan)

in tunnels of blood, darren's friend gets them tickets to go to a mysterious new show in town - cirque du freak, which is a freak show.there, he meets mr crepsley who is not what he seems

in the vampire's assitant, darren resists to the urge to drink human blood - wi...more

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Jul 02, 2010

Bella (Bella's Wonderworld) rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: all-age-fantasy, joung-adult, jugendliteratur

Rezension zu Buch 1 "Der Mitternachtszirkus"

In Darren Shan’s erstem Band der Reihe "Mitternachtszirkus" begegnen wir dem gleichnamigen Jugen Darren Shan. Auf den ersten Blick sieht alles ziemlich normal aus, Darren besucht die Schule, spielt gerne Fußball und hat mehrere Freunde, wobei Steve Leonard sein bester Freund ist. Darren fühlt sich in seiner Umgebung wohl, er mag seine kleinere Schwester und auch seine Eltern und unser Hauptprotagonist hat eine Schwäche f...more

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Jun 06, 2010

Artemisa rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: borrowed, vampire-fantasy, children-or-teen, journal

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This book is a omnibus with the first 3 books of the Darren Shan saga.

I have read the first book on this saga. The book is called Cirque du Freak and is about a young teenager that goes to a freak circus, meets a vampire, kidnaps (or pet-naps) the vampire's poisonous spider and ends up as the vampire's assistant to save is best friends life.
This part of the book has almost 200 pages, but in the end it still feels like a short story, not a full YA book. in fact in the beginning ...moreThis book is a omnibus with the first 3 books of the Darren Shan saga.

I have read the first book on this saga. The book is called Cirque du Freak and is about a young teenager that goes to a freak circus, meets a vampire, kidnaps (or pet-naps) the vampire's poisonous spider and ends up as the vampire's assistant to save is best friends life.
This part of the book has almost 200 pages, but in the end it still feels like a short story, not a full YA book. in fact in the beginning of the second part, Darren tells the whole story in less than 2 pages.
But in the end is a nice read, with a not so good ending that I usually find a nice touch.

Now on to the second book.
I started to hate the writing. almost all chapters end with a teaser, not even a cliff hanger, a teaser, some sentence like "if I knew what will happen to Sam I would let him join" (I'm paraphrasing it). It really marked the end of the chapters, and threw me off story. Considering that each chapter is about two or three pages long it is really annoying. Comparable to the experience of watching an american reality TV show, cut down to Portuguese cable TV (Americans have commercial breaks every 7 to 10 minutes, but in Portugal we have them every 15 to 25 minutes, so a TV show will have the teaser and them instead of a commercial it has the next segment of the show).
And once again, in spite of the almost 200 pages of the book it also feels like a short story, it can be reduced to a couple of juicy pages, and all the rest is set and details that don't contribute to the story. At least some of those details to a nice world building and try to leave threads to other stories (but not much curiosity).
I'm still deciding if I read the 3rd book in this omnibus or if I just say it's enough. Something is not attracting me. Maybe the characters are just a bit too flat, and not nearly as engaging as my usual vampires.
I have seen this I don't want to drink human blood, because it is evil drama done before, and better.

But my inner twelve year old boy liked. My 28 year old girl mind didn't...

I finally decided to read the third book in the omnibus. I wanted to return the book to bnoir.
And I actually liked this book. it wasn't all that good, but it felt like a good YA book. And considering the death count it has to be Young Adult, or at least late teens.
The story wasn't all that new but it looked like a full size story, with more action than the last 2 books. And it dit didn't have those teasers at he end of chapters to put me out.
In the end I think it was good enough to make the other 2 books worth a read. And I will read the next books if they happen to fall in my hands, but I won't go looking for them.(less)

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Dec 13, 2010

Nerone rated it

· review of another edition

This book is series about a young boy you who always wanted to go to the circus and see some freaks that had a good talent.

A character that i identified is Darren Shan he is the the main character, who get himself into a little trouble with on of the freaks and there spider. The spider bits him and turns him into a half vampire. He has to live his life as a human and as a half vampire.

I would recommend this book to anybody who loves action, suspense, and romance.

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Jul 11, 2010

Deviki rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: books-i-enjoyed-reading, kids-and-teen-books

When the movie came out i didn't bother watching after i heard bad reviews about it ...not because i don't like his movie but i heard comments and bad rating for the movie so i decided to read......it turns about a VERY GOOD STORY !! and i realized why the movie had bad rating/......its a complete different story !! And I think they added a few characters ....i think if i watched the movie i would have the same impression....THIS BOOK SERIES STORY WAS BETTER !! I wish they sticked to the storybo...more

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Aug 06, 2011

Quintin Merwe rated it

· review of another edition

I started this book off knowing it was a kiddies book and regardless of the 'teen' vibe I finished the book before I could even stop to criticize it any further.
Reflecting back though, the worst part of this book is the condescending approach the author takes, especially with repetition and some useless explanations.
I would not walk around telling my friends that they have to read it but should I find them with the book I won't tell them not to either.

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Dec 20, 2011

Sasy rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: prestados-biblioteca

Que queréis que os diga, pasó por mi vida sin pena ni gloria, atrapando mi mente un par de días y ya. No es que sea malo, es que me parece no estar en el rango de edad de las personas a las que les pueda gustar ese libro. He encontrado cosas muy infantiles, sobre todo ciertas actitudes de la gran mayoría de los personajes, y luego cosas sumamente gore, con sangre y descripciones desagradables. Para leer y olvidar.

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Dec 27, 2009

Bluesky rated it

· review of another edition

I picked this up at the airport yesterday to read on the way home! It's YA fiction but, unlike other YA I have read, it has nothing to offer the older reader! It has so many holes, discrepancies and contradictions in the plot (I suspect "Darren Shan" has not read his own words!) that I can't see it exciting anyone over the age of nine years! And be warned; the author LOVES exclamation marks!!!

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Apr 25, 2011

Misha Fitt rated it

· review of another edition

3 books in one - they were all pretty good! I saw the preview of the movie and it seemed really cool, so i thought i would check out the book while i wait for it to be released in NZ and the book was really good. again, a nice quick and easy read but nonetheless interesting. More vampires and fantasy stuff, but im into that kinda thing :)

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Jul 21, 2011

Jianne rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: library-books, part-of-a-series, horror, young-adult

Individual book rating:

Cirque Du Freak: A Living Nightmare - a stars.
` It was good. But it just lacks dept.

Vampire's Assistant - 4 stars.
` Good. But too depressing to read.

Tunnels of Blood - 4 stars.
` Good. But in the previous book, I guess the sadness already started. :/

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Nov 05, 2009

Kim ~*Nina*~ rated it

Shelves: vampires-witchs-shapeshifters

this book i could not put down . It kept me reading past midnight .This book I really liked cause of how it shows that even if you wish to be a vampire sometimes its not the wisest decision . I like how it describes darrens grief so detailed and how it shows the friendship of Darren and steve . It really gets you thinking about what reall friendship is like?

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Sep 09, 2011

Matilda added it · review of another edition

I really enjoyed this book. Life was quite difficult for the half vampire, he looks at things in different ways, aspects different from the full vampires. He was unsure sometimes. The end was the best part that he tries to help his friend and when he met the girl and I like the way he treated her.

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Oct 14, 2009

Summer rated it

wow this book is amazing!!! its not at all what i expected. i was expecting lots of gore and guts for this is darren shan we're talking about!!!!! but instead i found my self smiling and cheering the character on. and surprisingly enough i cried. i did i did i did. it hit me hard haha. i didnt even laugh at the gory part when.......................something happened. tehe

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Jun 27, 2010

Danae Armstrong rated it

· review of another edition

i really liked these boooks they were llike quirky awesome. i also like reading about the diffrent takes on vampires that diffrent writers have. This series was definetly an orginal.
The vampanese was also an incredible touch to the vampire world.

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May 08, 2011

Viridiana Ivashkov rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

Una historia que te atrapa. Te adentrarás en un mundo oscuro y lleno de criaturas grotescas pero no por ello dejan de ser hermosas. Cargado de humor negro. Vampiros, hombres lobo y demás abominaciones encierra este mundo.Me encanta!!! definitivo quiero ser aprendiz de vampiro.

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Jul 18, 2010

Jamie rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: gave-up-on-it

I wasn't even going to rate this, but I tried and tried to read this book on and off, and I just finally said forget it. I don't normally give up on books, even if they are horrible, I still like to follow it through just to say I did indeed read it, but this one just couldn't cut it for me. I didn't even make it a quarter of the way through. Maybe one day I'll pick it up again, but not anytime soon. This book goes back to my sister who recommended it to me in the first place. *Note to self, don...more

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Dec 02, 2009

Amanda rated it

Started reading this because I saw the movie and I am on a 3 day road trip from MN to CA. It is ok light and definitely for young adults but I was disappointed in that the characters of Steve and Darren are portrayed as much younger in the books than the movie so it has been a hard transition for me. I hope they make more movies though!

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Jun 10, 2010

Sylvia Ryan rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: YA

I rate this book a 4 star for YA readers. My 10 year old daughter read this compilation of the 1st 3 cirque de freak books in 4 days. But, for adults...it kept my attention, but is only a 3 star in my rating.

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About Darren Shan

Librarian's note: Also writes under the name D.B. Shan.

Darren Shan (born July 2, 1972 in London, England) is the pen name of the Irish author Darren O'Shaughnessy, as well as the name of the protagonist of his book series The Saga of Darren Shan, also known as The Cirque Du Freak Series in the United States. He also is currently writing The Demonata series, as well as a series of books...more

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Books by Darren Shan

A Living Nightmare (Cirque Du Freak, #1)

The Vampire's Assistant (Cirque Du Freak, #2)

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