The Vampire's Assistant: Cirque Du Freak (Cirque Du Freak: Saga of Darren Shan (Pb)) [School & Library Binding]

The Vampire's Assistant is the second instalment in the saga of Darren Shan, which began with Cirque du Freak. Then, Darren made the difficult decision to become a half-vampire to save his best mate Steve Leopard's life. Now, he must leave his friends and family behind as he travels cross-country with the vampire Mr Crepsley and the Cirque du Freak. Early on, Darren dispels the vampire myth in his typically facetious fashion:

Crosses and holy water didn't hurt us. All garlic did was give us bad breath ... A stake through the heart would kill us, of course, but so would a bullet or a knife or electricity ... We were tougher to kill than normal people, but we weren't indestructible.

However, despite Darren's seeming flippancy, The Vampire's Assistant is not for the squeamish or faint-hearted. How long can Darren go before he must drink human blood? How safe are Darren's new-found friends? Why don't the mysterious, blue-hooded dwarves speak or cry out in pain? And does their master Mr Des Tiny really feed on little children? No one is safe in this gruesome, macabre tale--more a who's-going-to-do-what than a who-dunnit:

And then the red monster was on him. Stanley opened his mouth to scream, but before he could, the monster's hands--claws?--clamped over his mouth. There was a brief struggle, then Stanley was sliding to the floor, unconscious, unseeing, unknowing.

Familiar characters include Mr Tall, the wolf-man and Evra, the snake boy, who are more fleshed out in this follow-up. New characters include Darren's new mate Sam and R G (Reggie Veggie), an ecowarrior. If book one whet your appetite, then The Vampire's Assistant will certainly leave you hungry for more. Watch out for the next fang-tastic sequel. --Nicola Perry --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

The Vampire's Assistant is the second instalment in the saga of Darren Shan, which began with Cirque du Freak. Then, Darren made the difficult decision to become a half-vampire to save his best mate Steve Leopard's life. Now, he must leave his friends and family behind as he travels cross-country with the vampire Mr Crepsley and the Cirque du Freak. Early on, Darren dispels the vampire myth in his typically facetious fashion:

Crosses and holy water didn't hurt us. All garlic did was give us bad breath ... A stake through the heart would kill us, of course, but so would a bullet or a knife or electricity ... We were tougher to kill than normal people, but we weren't indestructible.

However, despite Darren's seeming flippancy, The Vampire's Assistant is not for the squeamish or faint-hearted. How long can Darren go before he must drink human blood? How safe are Darren's new-found friends? Why don't the mysterious, blue-hooded dwarves speak or cry out in pain? And does their master Mr Des Tiny really feed on little children? No one is safe in this gruesome, macabre tale--more a who's-going-to-do-what than a who-dunnit:

And then the red monster was on him. Stanley opened his mouth to scream, but before he could, the monster's hands--claws?--clamped over his mouth. There was a brief struggle, then Stanley was sliding to the floor, unconscious, unseeing, unknowing.

Familiar characters include Mr Tall, the wolf-man and Evra, the snake boy, who are more fleshed out in this follow-up. New characters include Darren's new mate Sam and R G (Reggie Veggie), an ecowarrior. If book one whet your appetite, then The Vampire's Assistant will certainly leave you hungry for more. Watch out for the next fang-tastic sequel. --Nicola Perry --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Cirque Du Freak
“…fast-paced and compelling book…full of satisfyingly macabre touches…which leaves the reader hungry for more.”
JK Rowling

‘Brilliant, macabre tale.’
Guardian

"I read Cirque Du Freak last week. I loved it. I love the way you manage to juggle the funny with the unpleasant, the affection with the hurt. It's
great story-telling."
Roddy Doyle

The Vampire’s Assistant
“The Vampire’s Assistant blazes a thrilling, gruesome trail through a fascinating plot.”
The Good Book Guide

Vampire Mountain
“Get your teeth into it!”
Funday Times

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

The amazing manga retelling of Darren Shan’s international best-selling vampire saga, with illustrations by Japanese artist Takahiro Arai.

Darren joins the vampire, Mr Crepsley, as his assistant and they return to the Cirque du Freak. There, Darren makes friends with the snake-boy, Evra Von (who knows what Darren has become). He also meets a local boy, Sam, and RV, an eco-warrior and animal lover (who do not).
Darren begins to enjoy his life among the Cirque performers and starts coming to terms with his half-vampire existence. But he defiantly refuses to drink human blood and tries desperately to cling on to the part of him which is still human.
Then disaster strikes, and Darren has to make a terrible choice…

The stunning illustrations and manga format give a new dimension to this ever-popular vampire saga, available for the first time in translation in the UK. This will be a must-have for Shan fans and manga aficionados alike.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

SOMETHING TO GET YOUR TEETH INTO ...
Have you ever thought what it would be like to become a vampire? In most movies and books it's simple: if you join the ranks of the walking dead, you turn into an evil monster who loves to drink blood. But what if vampires weren't evil? What if you were to hold onto your humanity when you changed, but needed to drink blood to survive? Could you bring yourself to attack a fellow human being, to bite them, to drink from their veins?

This is the key problem Darren Shan faces in the second book of his Saga, THE VAMPIRE'S ASSISTANT. As Mr Crepsley's assistant, he must tend to the needs of his master. But Darren has needs too -- he needs B*L*O*O*D! Can he bring himself to drink, or will he cling to his principles ... and DIE? Join him -- and others, including the performers of the Cirque Du Freak, such as the Snake Boy and Cormac Limbs -- inside the pages of THE VAMPIRE'S ASSISTANT and find out. But be warned: this one gets awful bloody before its gruesomely fierce finale ... --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Darren joins the vampire, Mr Crepsley, as his assistant and they return to the Cirque du Freak. There, Darren makes friends with the snake-boy, Evra Von (who knows what Darren has become). He also meets a local boy, Sam, and RV, an eco-warrior and animal lover (who do not).

Darren begins to enjoy his life among the Cirque performers and starts coming to terms with his half-vampire existence. But he defiantly refuses to drink human blood and tries desperately to cling on to the part of him which is still human.

Then disaster strikes, and Darren has to make a terrible choice…

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Darren Shan is the author of the monsterific ten book series known as ‘The Demonata’ and the twelve book vampire series 'The Saga of Darren Shan'. His adventures have been read by millions of people around the world in several different languages, yet much of his life remains shrouded in mystery. He lives in seclusion in the depths of Ireland. And he never drinks blood. Or so he claims.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

MY NAME’S Darren Shan. I’m a half-vampire. I wasn’t born that way. I used to be ordinary. I lived at home with my parents and younger sister, Annie. I enjoyed school and had lots of friends.

I liked reading horror stories and watching scary movies. When a freak show came to town, my best mate, Steve Leopard, got tickets and we went. It was great, really spooky and weird. A super night out.

But the weirdest part came after the show. Steve recognized one of the characters from the show ... he’d seen a drawing of him in an old book and knew he was- a vampire. He stuck around after the show and asked the vampire to turn him into one, too! Mr Crepsley - the vampire - would have, but he found out Steve’s blood was evil, and that was the end of that.

Or it would have been the end, except I stuck around, too, to see what Steve was up to.

I wanted nothing to do with vampires, but I’d always loved spiders - I used to keep them as pets - and Mr Crepsley had a poisonous performing spider, Madam Octa, which could do all sorts of great tricks. I stole her and left a note for the vampire, saying I’d tell people about him if he came after me. To cut a long story short, Madam Octa bit Steve and he ended up in hospital. He would have died, so I went to Mr Crepsley and asked him to save Steve. He agreed, but in return I had to become a half-vampire and travel with him as his assistant! I ran away after he’d turned me into a half-vampire (by pumping part of his own horrible blood into me) and saved Steve, but then I realized I was hungry for blood, and was afraid I’d do something terrible (like bite my sister) if I stayed at home. So Mr Crepsley helped me fake my death. I was buried alive and then, in the dead of night, with no one around, he dug me up and we set off together. My days as a human were over. My nights as a vampire’s assistant had begun. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.