The exciting vampire horror series Cirque Du Freak: A Living Nightmare is back with a story of a young boy’s difficulties when he saves his friend from the brink of death becoming a vampire in the process, the first in Darren Shan, Cirque Du Freak series. This story follows Darren as he and his best friend Steve go to see a freak show called Cirque Du Freak. Steve recognizes one of the entertainers as a vampire named Mr. Crepsley. The two end up getting more then they bargained for when Darren steals Mr. Crepsley’s spider Madam Octa. This wasn’t a normal spider; it was almost the deadliest spider in the world. Darren spends time trying to control the spider with a special flute. Steve eventually walks in and alerts the spider and ends up getting bitten. That is the moment Darren’s life will change forever.


Darren rushes to Mr. Crepsley seeking help. Mr. Crepsley expected this to happen and soon agreed upon one condition, “Mr. Crepsley pointed with his long bony finger again, and I knew what he was going to say seconds before he said it,” thought Darren. Darren would have to become a vampire and become Mr. Crepsley’s assistant. Darren hated the thought of it and wanted nothing to do with him, but he had no choice because without a cure his friend would die. Daren agreed and went through the excruciating process of becoming a vampire. The process was done by exchanging a vampire’s blood with the human’s blood. He saved his friend but realized he could not control the thirst of blood. The only way he could protect his family and friends was to leave, by faking his death.


I really enjoyed this book because of the idea and the way characters are developed. I also liked the book just because vampires are cool. The characters were believable even though some of them were vampires. My favorite character was the protagonist Darren because even though he became a blood thirsty vampire, he still managed to keep his human side alive.

My least favorite part of the book was probably toward the end, but I’m not going to give out specific details. If I could change anything in the book I would change the ending, or I would add to the ending of the book. Besides the ending, I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in horror stories, or even people who like vampires. I might even pay money out of my own pocket to read this book, depending on how much I have. If I could meet Darren Shan in person I would ask him where he got the idea.