Review of "Cirque du Freak"

The “Cirque du Freak” series by Darren Shan, also known as the “Saga of Darren Shan,” is a series that has some hype surrounding it but not as much as it deserves. In my opinion, it’s better than both the “Hunger Games” and “Twilight,” and my favourite vampire series ever written (though in single volumes “Dracula” is pretty high up there). It is absolutely amazing with a breathtaking end that you will never see coming! Seriously. Formal review:

If you’re looking for the next “Twilight” filled with lovely romance, happy endings, and predictable plots, then you’re in the wrong place. But if you’re looking for the next great vampire series, the next great plot twisty series, or the next great funny, action-filled series then this is perfect for you!

This series is one of the best long series’ I’ve ever read, spanning over twelve (albeit short but still—twelve is a fair amount) novels that never let you catch a breath or take a break from their epicness. They will make you laugh out loud at some points, sob at some points, and gasp in shock as the pieces of everything fall into place.

Darren Shan takes you on a journey through small towns, large mountains, circus campgrounds, crazy minds, and even at one point something like the afterlife. Clustered in arcs of three books each which end up connecting brilliantly in the final volume, this is one series you don’t want to miss. The writing style is wonderful; there’s description there but not so much that you get tired and want to give up reading because of it.

The characters themselves could make the series even if it didn’t have one of the most intelligently played plots ever. Darren is interesting enough so that you don’t mind being in his head, and Steve is absolutely wonderful as the morally grey character. Mr. Tiny really isn’t your typical mean, serious antagonist; in fact, he’s a rather hilarious little fat man. Mr. Crepsley is also hilarious; instead of being the wise, kind mentor, he’s the grumpy and often cynical teacher. You can’t forget about the amazing Harkat Mulds; mysterious little person who befriends Darren and joins him on his adventure. All of these characters will make you laugh, groan in exasperation, cry or grin stupidly. And there’s more besides these that are absolutely amazing; these are simply the main characters. There are other characters that play large parts in small ways, that you really won’t understand until it’s all connected, but you’ll love them nonetheless. I could go on and on simply about characterization and how all of these people grow and mature while still managing to simultaneously make you laugh and cry, but that would spoil things so you should go on and read it yourself to meet all of these wonderful people.

The next thing that could make this series wonderful even if the characters weren’t there (though it might be difficult to carry it out without the characters) is the plot. It is absolutely, 100% unpredictable and will shock you at almost every single twist and turn. The ending is phenomenal and you will never, ever see it coming but when it occurs you’ll look back and realize that there were hints all along the way leading up to it, maybe in small sentences and maybe in small descriptions, but there were hints so it doesn’t smack you upside the head out of nowhere and make you think it was a ridiculous stretch. The traits of the vampires are also quite different; wonderfully fresh and refreshingly original. The plot never leaves you with an unsatisfied feeling or an unanswered question and there is never a dull moment throughout the whole series. Despite its fast pace and action filled sequences you never feel overwhelmed and there is never any times when there’s too much information to process at once. While it’s true that this series gets progressively darker as it goes on, the progression is slow enough so that it doesn’t feel like a different series from one book to another, though it may if you read book one and then read book twelve, you’ll definitely notice the difference.

In all, I’m sure that you’ll love this series whether you’re ten or forty, and anywhere in between and over. I could talk/write for hours and hours about this series but I won’t because that’ll take up time you could take reading it. So that’s all I’m going to say. And GO READ IT NOW!

As for recommendations, I’d recommend this to anyone over the age of ten who loves a good humorous, vampire, or action novel. I love this series and will be passing it on to my siblings and then my children when I have some.

Final Verdict: 8.1/10

Happy Reading!

~Amber