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Title details for Cirque Du Freak by Darren Shan - Available

Cirque Du Freak

A Living Nightmare

#1 in series

by Darren Shan
Ralph Lister
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
Borrow Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
1 of 1 copy available

In the tradition of Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes, and Stephen King's Salem's Lot, New York Times bestseller Cirque du Freak is the first title in the popular Saga of Darren Shan.

Darren Shan and his best friend, Steve, get tickets to the Cirque du Freak, a wonderfully gothic freak show featuring weird, frightening half human / half animals who interact terrifyingly with the audience. In the midst of the excitement, true terror raises its head when Steve recognizes that one of the performers—Mr. Crepsley—is a vampire!

Steve confronts the vampire after the show finishes—but his motives are surprising! In the shadows of a crumbling theater, a horrified Darren eavesdrops on his friend and the vampire, and is witness to a monstrous, disturbing plea. As if by destiny, Darren is pulled to Mr. Crepsley, and what follows is his horrifying descent into the dark and bloody world of vampires.

This is Darren's story.

  • Creators

  • Series

    Cirque Du Freak: The Saga of Darren Shan

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    September 1, 2013

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781481597210
      • File size: 160350 KB
      • Duration: 05:34:03

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      February 19, 2001

      With strong sales overseas and a movie deal in the works, book one in The Saga of Darren Shan series is poised to capture a wide audience of series horror readers. After a rather slow buildup, a boy with the same name as the author sneaks out with best friend Steve to an illicit freak show, and his life becomes entangled with a vampire spider-wrangler, Mr. Crepsley. "This is a true story," writes Shan. "In real life, bad things happen. People die. Fights are lost. Evil often wins." The scenario is compelling, and the author mines the exploitative history of early 20th-century sideshows to create an artfully macabre "Cirque du Freak." But Darren's actions are often undermotivated: "I can't explain why Madam Octa meant so much to me, or why I was placing my life in such danger to have her. Looking back, I'm no longer sure what drove me on." Also his intermittent attraction to and repulsion by the vampire is never fully explored. His behavior may be explained in the sequel, The Vampire's Assistant
      (due in Sept.), but the open ending leaves so many loose ends that readers may leave more frustrated than intrigued, especially since the characters' wooden dialogue drains them of personality ("I'm upset," says Steve. "It hurt, what Mr. Crepsley said, and you ignoring me at school... If you break up our friendship, I don't know what I'll do"). Readers interested in boys becoming vampires would be better served by M.T. Anderson's Thirsty
      —and those fascinated with freaks by Iain Lawrence's Ghost Boy. Ages 10-up.

    • Publisher's Weekly

      July 8, 2002

      A boy sneaks out to an illicit freak show, and his life becomes entangled with a vampire spider-wrangler. "The author mines the exploitative history of early 20th-century sideshows to create an artfully macabre 'Cirque du Freak,' " wrote PW. Ages 10-up.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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