This is probably the most-requested set of books in the Evans library. After reading A Living Nightmare (book 1), I can see why. Cirque du Freak books are fun, funny, exciting, scary (a little bit), and imaginative. They do for vampires what Harry Potter did for wizards. Here's how Amazon.com describes the action:

"Darren Shan, author and narrator, sets the book up as a true story, warning readers: "Real life's nasty. It's cruel.... Evil often wins." Indeed, evil begins to win when Darren and his buddies find a flier for "Cirque Du Freak," a traveling freak show promising performances by the snake-boy, the wolf-man, and Larten Crepsley and his giant spider, Madame Octa. Darren and his friend Steve wouldn't miss it for the world.
So, Saturday night they sneak out to the old theater, tall and dark, with broken windows. "Every act you see tonight is real," croaks Mr. Tall. "Each performer is unique. And none are harmless." That's for sure. (A werewolf bites off the hand of someone in the audience, for instance.) Things grow very serious for the two boys when Steve not only recognizes Mr. Crepsley as a famous vampire, but professes his true desire to join him! To make matters worse, the spider-obsessed Darren goes back to the old theater to steal Madame Octa so he can teach her tricks in his room. (He does, with mixed results.) The plot further coagulates as Darren is faced with some terrible decisions about what to do to save his bloodthirsty friend Steve."

I love all the vampire details that Darren Shan invents, going beyond the usual stake-coffin-garlic-can't tolerate daylight thing. Shan's vampires have a culture and a code of ethics. They are divided into two sects: the normal Vampires who only drink small amounts of blood to live and the murderous Vampanese, who drink until their victims are dead. Darren sides with the vampires.

Nice kid Darren is drawn unwillingly into the world of the vampires as Mr. Crepsley's apprentice. Forced to become a half-vampire to save his friend, he struggles to adjust to his new destiny (wink wink to those who have read the whole series).

It's not as beautifully written as Harry Potter but that's alright. It's great fun. After all, Darren tells the story in his own words and he's supposed to be a British schoolboy, not Shakespeare.

The books in the series are:

*A Living Nightmare
*The Vampire's Assistant
*Tunnels of Blood
*Vampire Mountain
*Trials of Death
*The Vampire Prince
*Hunters of the Dusk
*Allies of the Night
*Killers of the Dawn

*Lake of Souls

*Lord of the Shadows (not yet released in the U.S. but I have it!)

*Sons of Destiny (not yet released in the U.S. but I have it!)

Books 10, 11, and 12 have not been released in the U.S. yet. Right now you can only get them by going through Amazon.com UK (United Kingdom) and paying an extra $30 for shipping. I admit that I actually did this! Just had to find out how it all turns out, you know? :)

Check out this series on the web by clicking here.

Send me your comments about this series and I'll post them.