A Living Nightmare (Cirque du Freak #1)

This book was a favorite of mine as a young girl and now as an adult I still love it. It's so fast paced and a very easy read If left alone I could easily finish in only a couple of hours. It has some gore but to me it's not scary. Even when I was younger, nothing made me jump out of my skin.

It has a very simple, easy to understand plot, but it is a children's book. Nevertheless, it's still fun and interesting to see it play out. Darren and his best friend, Steve, get tickets to a freak show. Once they arrive, Darren finds himself enthralled by the spider. He later steals her and she bites his best friend Steve. In order to save his life, Darren must become a half-vampire! He'll have to leave his whole family and travel the world at Mr Crepsley's beck and call.

I do love Darren. He's such a good kid. Giving up everything for his friend's life. Knowing he'll have to leave his family. He's an amazing friend to have.

Crepsley is also an amazing character, there's something behind the surface of this vampire that drawls you in and makes you want to know more.

Well, this book SEEMED interesting enough, and it was. It really was. But, as the more I read the more it just seemed to go on and on and I just started to loose interest in the story. While it started off grabbing my attention, near the end of the book (where the vampire comes in for good) started to get dull. You'd think Crepsley would have been more interesting, but he alone seemed to drag the whole book down and made it fall flat and monotone, so it made getting through the rest of the book kinda annoying. Though I liked the story line and the idea of it, it just seemed to be lacking in some places and I expected more of Crepsley. I'm hoping book two will be better and have more 'bang' to it.

Cirque Du Freak A Living Nightmare is a great book that was wrote by Darren Shan. In this Book The character Darren is a normal kid in a normal town, but things seemed a little to boring for him an his friend steve. Until There lives change forever, But it was all because of one little piece of paper. Steve found a flyer for a freak show called the Cirque Du Freak. They snuck out and went to the freak show. Freak shows are Illegal so they have to keep a very low cover until they get there. At first it was fun until Steve noticed that one of the people that worked there was a real vampire that he read about in one of his books. When he found this out both Darren and Steve’s lives changed forever. I recommend this book to people who like a little bit of suspense in the books that they read even to the people that don't because you could be surprised on how much you love this book.

I really like this book because of the horror and disturbing elements. Some of my favorite characters are Mr. Crepsley, Darren, Steve, and Madam Octaca. It's a really great start to an awesome series.

* reviewed by Chance, because he's to lazy to make his own profile.

Reader reviewed by Jamie

This is no ordinary travelling cirque  of freaks . It all started when Daren shan the main character and his michevious/snarky best friend Steve "leopard " leonard  got a ad which their friend Allan took from his brother. This ad is about a cirque du freak  who is  an travelling cirque currently visting Daren's hometown. There's creepy yet amazing acts such as beard lady, snake boy, Wolfman etc.Steve got  tickets but only for two people so in the end daren and his best friend sneak off to the circus. Daren expected it to just be people in  costumes. But no it was too real the wolfman is half man half wolf who they got to pet and one person hand got bitten OFF, followed by act of freaks with long arms and big teeth etc, Last but not least the act daren waited for THE POISONOUS SPIDER Madame OCTA along with mr crepsley who got spider to go to  his mouth to do tricks.Steve was obssesed with vamps he knew crepsley was a vampire since he read alot of comic books. He confirmed it with crespley  and asked if he can be turned into a vampire but he has bad blood and in the end daren stole a spider, octa bit steve   and daren has to become a VAMP to save his life and become Crepsley assistant. It had some humour ,action and horror.Great start to a seriesof 12 books!

Reader reviewed by Billy Burgess

After seeing the movie trailer, I checked out the first three books at my local library. I have never heard of the series before now, and was surprised to learn that there are twelve books. I read the first book in one night.

Two teenagers, Darren & his best friend, Steve, sneak out and go to the mysterious Cirque Du Freak, a freak show. Mr. Tall, Snake boy, a wolfman, Alexander Ribs and Mr. Crepsley.

Mr. Crepsley is pale faced, redheaded man. He is a real vampire and the owner of Madam Octa, a spider. Darren loves spiders and steals Madam Octa. This causes a chain of events that will forever change Darrens life.

Reader reviewed by Randi Sue

Darren shan started out as a young boy going to school, hanging out with friends and liveing at home. a totally normal little boy. Utnil the day him and his best friend Steve leonard get two tickets to a freak show. Darren is cahnged from that night on. After steeling a spider a vampire shows interest in him as his assistant. Darren now has to leave his life behind and becomes a half vampire for the rest of his life.
       This story is full of twists and turns. It will have you glued to your seat in fasinated horror. You will not put the book down until you have finished the enitre series.

Reader reviewed by Jenna

Cirque Du Freak a living nightmare is great, it was almost the best book I have read this summer. When a vampire was first introduced, I was very very very excited! One Thing that I noticed is that the main character, Darren, is the same name of the author whose name is Darren Shan, I thought this was very interesting, and thought that maybe, just maybe wanted a teeny little bit more recogniton, what do you think? Anyway, it was just plainly a great read over the summer, and I am also going to continue reading the other eleven books!!!! This book contains vampires, blood, and some exremely scary and some gruesome parts. If you do not like what I just listed, then please, do not read the book, for feat of puking.

Reader reviewed by Sage

 In this book Darren becomes a vampire in order to save his friend steve from dying from a posionous spider bite but when his powers kick into hight gear he must make a decision, to leave his family forever or put the family he loves in danger.

I love this book. Darren Shan is a tallented writer. It was a terriffic book and the rest of the series is amazing too!

Reader reviewed by Brittany

Darran Shan and his best friend decide to go to a Cirque Du Freak. They see a vampire in the show and his friend wants to be a vampire, so he asks the vampire if he can be his assistant and....

I'm not really into all of this vampire stuff. But this book is an acception. I really like the series. Vampire lovers will adore it. Even people who like normal things will like this. I will recomend this for any one wanting a SCARE!