Cirque Du Freak

Darren Shan

Publisher: Harper Collins

Year It Came Out: 2000

Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult, Horror, Paranormal, Vampires,

Grade: A/ 5 Stars

“Even in death may you triumphant”
― Darren Shan

If you are a fan of the dark side of the supernatural world and also enjoy a story full of character development look no further.

We all have those books we read that stick with us for the rest of our lives. For me that book series would be Cirque du Freak. There are many things about this series that I love and I could talk about for hours. It’s been a little while since I fully read the series but I can still remember almost every event that happened. That’s how much I loved it.

Cirque du Freak is about a boy, Darren Shan, who goes to a illegal freak show called Cirque du Freak with his best friend Steve. This isn’t the typical freak show of a bearded ladies(although there is one). At Cirque du Freak you meet and fall in love with characters such as a man with two bellies, a man who can cut off and regrow any limb, a wolf man who is more wolf than man, and my favorite of the Circus members, Evra, the boy with snake skin. The most important member of this circus though by far is Larten Crepsley who can hypnotize his pet spider, Madam Octa. Darren loves spiders and loves Madam Octa immediately, but his friend Steve sees Mr. Crepsley’s act and loves it for other reasons. He recognizes Mr. Crepsley as a famous vampire from one of his books. Of course Darren blows him off because vampires aren’t real, but when Darren steals Madam Octa and troubles happens Darren not only is forced to come to terms with the fact that Mr. Crepsley is a genuine vampire, but as payment for what Darren did he must become Mr. Crepsley’s half vampire Assistant, which to many would seem amazing. But as we follow Darren through the book series it shows why being a slow aging immortal is not ideal.

This series hits with its emotional ride right away in the first book and keeps going and progressing with it’s emotional ride. (I will never get over the second book. I want to cry every time I think about it.) Each book comes with its own problems that Darren has to solve or fix and as the story progresses. As Darren grows(though not physically by much) the problems became more serious. Though some things you should watch out for are that there are many deaths throughout the series, including children, and there are some scenes that are torture like. If you are sensitive to these things I would advise not reading or be cautious of it. Although it’s not terribly descriptive at times, It has been awhile since I read it so I can’t remember exactly how descriptive. Though I can say I read it as an eighth grader and I personally was fine.  

Pros:

• You start with Darren in middle school and get to read as he grows. As you read you can actually see him growing up in his decisions and thinking process. Although Darren doesn’t physically age more then a few year account of him being a half vampire, he does grow in a mature way and learn from everything he sees and goes through
• The character development is amazing. No character stays the same throughout the story, except Mr. Desmond Tiny, he stays weird. Some characters become better people while others become worse or even insane.
• The Relationships. Watching Darren and Mr. Crepsley’s relationship change from a more cold teacher like situation to actual friends and caring for each other is heartwarming. Darren makes many friends along the way and each of the relationships he forms with them makes you fall in love with all the characters more. Even some of the ones who do villain like things.  
• This book is full of lessons, like continuing to try even when you don’t want to. Be more aware of what your decisions will do to others. Always do what’s right, even if you’re scared to do so. And my favorite, just because someone does something bad doesn’t mean they are bad. Often people have reasons for why they do what they do, and it’s worth finding out why. It can’t change what they did but it can help you understand and even not hate them for it.
• The Quotes. When it comes to understanding life and how people are, Darren Shan does have a really good way of wording it.
• ALL THE DEATHS HAVE A REASON!!!

Cons:

• As much as I love this book, when I went to try to go reread it a few months ago I couldn’t. I read a lot of Young Adult books, or New Adult books with really good writing, and this series isn’t written like those. Granted, the series does follow a middle school boy into high school ages, but the writing is like a middle schooler is writing it. I’m not saying that it doesn’t have good grammar or is horribly written. It isn’t. Although Darren Shan does have many beautiful written thoughts and sayings from the characters, the normal writing writing is very simple, which is the way a lot of middle schoolers think. The book is written in a way so everything is very easy to understand and isn’t at all hard to follow. It’s written in a way anyone could read it without having to pause and try to think about what just happened. I just personally couldn’t reread it because i’m used to more adult like writing. (Though I do look through all the quotes on Goodreads from time to time. When he gets into the characters inner thoughts he does so well.)
• I hated the last book. I don’t know if i’m the only one who did but I did. It was interesting in a way and if people like the last book I could honestly understand why. And to the authors defense, he did foreshadow the whole time that what happened would happen, but I just didn’t like it. I thought the last book seemed rushed, and to me, was not the greatest ending to what was such an amazing series. When I think about Cirque du Freak I honestly forget about the last book because I just don’t like it.

Despite the simple writing and the last book being a bust, I think it’s a series that people should definitely read, especially people new to the reading world. I like to think of it as a beginner book that is opening you up to what the world of reading is. Monsters, deaths of your favorite characters, unforeseeable plot twists, and characters that leave their mark on you. I chose to do this book as my first review because I do think it is an amazing series and it’s not as well known as I think it should be.

“You do not have to be alone. The world never inflicts loneliness upon us. That is something we choose or reject by ourselves.”
― Darren Shan

Ps. The movie for this book is one of the worse book to movie adaptations I have ever seen and don’t compare the two. The movie combined multiple of the books together and was wrong throughout most of it.  The characters weren’t even right, nor did monkey girl exist. It is just terrible and if you thought it was bad don’t assume the books are bad. The movies were like someone was high on some real potent stuff, read half of the first and last few books then combined them and stamped it as good before reviewing it. The movie was an F.  I thought the Percy Jackson movie was better than this movie. At least it got a good chunk of the book right. The Cirque du Freak book was more of a parody. Although there was one line Mr. Crepsley said that made me laugh and still makes me laugh.