The Vampire's Assistant (Cirque du Freak, Book 2) Paperback – October 1, 2002

Wow the action scenes are so intense and the horror scenes are so brutal! I love how well they flow.

I was really looking forward to this book and I was not disappointed. I have been a fan of Darren Shan for many years now. I have read several of his books and quite a few comic book adaptations of some of them. I have enjoyed every single one of them and I’m always happy to get a new one to read. If you enjoy the McCabe, then you should really try his work out. The Cirque Du Freak what’s my first introduction to his universe, but it was in a comic book. I have saw many of them out through the years and then the ones that have tied into it as well. There is always something new between the comic books, trading paperbacks and actual books. There is something for everyone.

Love love love this vampire-based book series. I am a 58 year old female, however, I have always enjoyed "boy" type, action based fiction books as a reader. What I found about the entire Cirque Du Freak series, however, was that it was not JUST about being a vampire, or a member of a Freak Show. It teaches about loyalty and friendship; what a real 'family' is, even without the blood-relation.In fact, I was so smitten with this series (Mr Shan, are listening?), that I made a gift of all my books to a then 11-year-old friend, because I was confident there was little to no swearing of any consequence, no real sexual content, but a good wholesome and fun teaching story definitely well-worth my time and my young friend's.Hours and hours of good reading fun and miles of smiles afterward. I cannot wait to read more from Darren Shan.

I must say that the Vampires assistant was not the book I was expecting it to be. Having begun reading the series because I saw the movie and was intrigued, I expected the second book to follow pretty much the same story line as the movie much the way the first one had. Oh was I wrong. The second book was nothing like the movie and it was all the better for it. I couldn't put it down! While no one will ever claim that the dialog is too advanced but it was a fun and interesting book non the less. I have never read a book so fast in my life. I bought the book at 2:00 today and I finished it about 6:00 and I am well on my way into the third (here at 9:00). While it may seem as if the storyline could become boring to some, it has a way of sucking you in, making you desperate to see what happens next. I could really feel the emotions of Darren. {spoiler ALERT!} especially at the death of Sam, i rejoiced with him at his discovery of the memory of Sam in deed living on inside of him. I can't put my finger on exactly what I like about this series but it has been an exciting plunge into the world of the macabre. I would defiantly recommend this book to anyone. My only critique is that there is not enough "storyline" in each of the books, for instance in the first he went to a show, stole a spider, became a vampire, and faked his death, in the second he worked at the show, made some new friends, and then watched one of them die. It just would have been nice to see more of the story unfold at a time , perhaps then there would not have had to be 12 of them and I would not have to pay 7.99 a piece to read them all...which of course I will definitely be doing 'cause they are so good...but still. Of course that could have been done on purpose...:)

I read the first book and wanted to complete my collection

Darren Shan left his home town to live as half-vampire, then he started to find home at the Cirque. Then he made friends there, especially with the boy who lives near where the Cirque stationed. The boy Sam gave Darren a great joy and pain though in short terms. It's fun to read but sad what happened to the two friends in the end.

The whole series is great for teenagers. One of my favorite series

Originally posted at Fantasy Literature.Warning: This is the second book in the CIRQUE DU FREAK series, so this review necessarily contains spoilers for Book 1.Darren Shan’s life is officially a mess after several monumental screw-ups which were detailed in the previous appropriately named book, A Living Nightmare. He has left home and joined the Cirque du Freak as Mr. Crepsley’s assistant. Mr. Crepsley is a vampire and Darren is now a half-vampire. Darren has super strength and speed and, he discovers, he’s dangerous to humans. He’s bummed out because not only has he left his family and friends (who think he’s dead), but he now worries that he’ll never be able to have any friends at all. He also despairs because he knows that, eventually, he’ll have to start drinking human blood…. or die.Darren’s a sweet kid, despite his mistakes, so readers will be pleased to see Darren making a couple of friends in The Vampire’s Assistant. One is Evra, the snake-boy from the show, and another is Sam, a kid from a town near where the Cirque du Freak is camped. Author Darren Shan is wise to give us a little break from the terror as Darren, Evra and Sam act like normal boys for a while and as Darren meets his new freaky “family” and learns how to do his chores for the show. Readers will also be pleased to notice that Mr. Crepsley, who’s become sort of a father figure, is pretty ethical for a vampire. (Although, paradoxically, what he did to Darren in book 1 is not very ethical.)Soon enough things start going wrong. There’s a camp of environmentalists nearby and one of them takes an interest in the goings-on at Cirque du Freak. When he gets involved, something gruesome and horrible happens — something that will haunt Darren for the rest of his life. I was grossed out and disturbed by these events and I’d recommend that parents read The Vampire’s Assistant before giving this series to a squeamish child. The massive popularity of the series suggests that many children can handle the horror, but I don’t think my 11-year old daughter can.Author Darren Shan does a great job creating tension. Foreshadowing and short chapters with cliffhanger endings keep the reader turning pages. I didn’t believe in some of Darren’s actions, especially at the climax of the story, but younger readers probably won’t notice. (But I do hope they notice the improper use of the personal pronoun “me” instead of “I” in several of Darren’s sentences. Inexcusable.) (Update: Mr. Shan has informed me that this particular use of poor grammar was deliberate and is corrected by an English teacher who interacts with Darren in a future book).I’m listening to the audio version of CIRQUE DU FREAK which is produced by Blackstone Audio and narrated by Ralph Lister. Again, Lister’s reading is a little too emphatic for me, but younger readers are likely to approve.