55. Cirque du Freak - Tunnels of Blood

Book 55: Cirque du Freak - Tunnels of Blood by Darren Shan (B-)

Sadly, this novel wasn't anywhere near as good as the first two. Darren, Mr. Crepsley, and Evra leave the Cirque after an old friend from Mr. Crepsley's past shows up. The trio arrive in a small town and stay at a hotel where the boys joke around and enjoy the wonder of television while Mr. Crepsley goes out at night and says nothing to no one. His secrets become scary when six murdered bodies are discovered in a warehouse near the outskirts of town. Evra and Darren think Mr. Crepsley has gone on a bloodlust killing spree and needs to be staked! They follow him one night and discover a whole new kind of freak!

Mr. Crepsley

While this may sound exciting, I found the novel dragged. I really enjoyed the Cirque life and wanted to explore more of it. There was a significant lack in the number of supporting characters, and it seemed that Shan grew bored writing only of the three. He set himself up for dragging moments with only Darren and Evra around to entertain themselves throughout the day and the night. While Darren scores a girlfriend, the introduction of Debbie only complicates matters because it causes paragraph after paragraph of Darren's inner monologue of worrying Debbie will find out the truth about Mr. Crepsley. And who has no reaction whatsoever to a boy with green scales for skin?? Who does that? Apparently, Debbie does.
Evra's character development was wonderful. Reading about the growing bond between the two boys was enjoyable and sweet. I hope Evra takes on a larger role in the later novels.
Overall, I was just not pleased with this third book. There was some suspense in the end, but it was easy to predict the outcome. I still believe number 2 was the best yet!

50. Cirque du Freak - The Vampire's Assistant

We're halfway there!!

WARNING: The following review has spoilers for the previous novel in the series. If you care about surprise endings, don't read this post!

Book 50: Cirque du Freak - The Vampire's Assistant by Darren Shan (A)

Evra

Yes, an amazing sequel to the first Cirque book!! More twists and turns, more great character development, and Darren, now a half-vampire and assistant to Mr. Crepsley, has joined the Cirque du Freak as a stage hand and worker. He finds a friend in Evra Von, the snake boy whose skin is tough green scales. Darren falls in love with cirque life and while he still misses his family, he's excited about making friends and being a part of something bigger than just him and Mr. Crepsley hunting people. However, Darren still refuses to drink human blood, and every day he becomes weaker and weaker. If he continues to refuse, he will soon die. Then Sam and R.V. come along, and Darren believes he's found more friends, but one is going to cause trouble that could destroy the whole cirque.
I've learned that Shan isn't good at foreshadowing. In fact, he's blatantly obvious about it. Nearly every chapter ending ends with something like this:
"When all was said and done, he was only a hairy harmless human, while those of us in the Cirque du Freak were strange, powerful beings. What could he possibly do to hurt us" (409)?
Or...
"None of us had any idea of the trouble the nice ecowarrior would soon create... or the tragedy he would unintentionally cause" (364).
Moments like these took away from the text because it was so obvious. In the first novel, there were many twists that the reader couldn't have predicted. Here, it is obvious which character is going to slip up, and simply putting the pieces together will help the reader quickly predict the end. Certainly, there are more subtle ways of foreshadowing the bloody end.
Once again, Shan uses amazing detail and description to bring these freaks alive. The story continues as a dark tale of friendship and loss. Darren makes the ultimate choice and continues exploring the Cirque in the next novel Tunnels of Blood.

Works Cited:

Shan, Darren. Cirque du Freak - The Vampire's Assistant. New York: 

Little, Brown and Company, 2009. Print.