Publication Date: August 11, 2008 | Series: Cirque Du Freak: the Saga of Darren Shan
Time seemed to collapse... There was a sharp stabbing sensation in my stomach... Steve crowed, "Now I have you! Now you're gonna die!"
Dead if he loses - damned if he wins. The time has finally come for Darren to face his archenemy, Steve Leopard. One of them will die. The other will become the Lord of the Shadows - and destroy the world.
Is the future written, or can Darren trick destiny?
Lord of the Shadows 'Stephen King for kids ! Darren Shan has brought his own brand of vampire mythology into the heads and hearts of thousands of children with his vivid and compelling series The Saga of Darren Shan, about one boy's journey from ordinary lad to vampire prince. Once they're hooked, kids tend to rip into the flesh of these books, quickly draining them of their life blood. The covers, with images of ghouls, creeping hands and dripping fangs are terrifying alone. ' Metro Life, Evening Standard Cirque Du Freak "!fast-paced and compelling book which leaves the reader hungry for more." JK Rowling "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.
About the Author
Darren Shan was born in London but at an early age he moved to Limerick, Ireland, with his parents and younger brother. He grew up watching old Dracula horror movies and reading spooky comics, which were the inspirations for this series. Sons of Destiny is his twelfth and final novel in the bestselling Cirque Du Freak series.
--This text refers to the
Mass Market Paperback
edition.
Darren Shan's real name is Darren O'Shaughnessy (pronounced O-Shock-Nessy, though it can also be pronounced O-Shawn-Essy_. Although he is Irish, he was born on July 2, 1972, in St. Thomas' Hospital, London -- directly across the river from the Houses of Parliament in Westminster, which may explain his fascination with evil bloodsuckers! He lived in South East London, near the Elephant & Castle. He started school at the early age of three (he was such a wild child, no pre-school facility would have him!), in English Martyrs. At the age of six, he moved to Limerick in Ireland, with his parents and younger brother, and has lived there ever since.
Shan went to primary school in Askeaton, where his mother was a teacher, then to secondary school in Copsewood College in Pallaskenry. Later, he went back to London to study Sociology and English at Roehampton University. He then worked for a cable television company in Limerick for a couple of years, before setting up as a full-time writer at the age of 23.
Although Shan always wanted to be a writer, it was only in his teenage years that he began writing in his spare time for fun (before that, he only wrote stories if they were for homework). He bought his first typewriter when he was 14, and never looked back, knocking out loads of short stories and comic scripts, and making false starts on several books, which he never completed. He enjoyed his first taste of literary success at age 15, as a runner-up in a television script-writing competition for RTE in Ireland, with a dark comedy script titled A Day in the Morgue (he was morbid even then!).
Shan was 17 when he finished his first novel. Although it was never published, he relished the writing experience, and found himself focusing more on novels in the coming years, leaving behind the short-story format. For the next several years, sandwiched between university and work, he wrote an average of one book a year, experimenting with different ideas, genres, lengths and styles. When he started writing full-time, his output shot up to 5 to 6 books per year! But that has dropped back to 2 to 3 recently, due to all the travelling around he's been doing to promote sales of his books.
All of these early books were adult-oriented. Although Shan quite liked the idea of writing a children's book one day, he considered himself an adult writer first and foremost. In fact, Shan's initial breakthrough was with an adult book, in 1999, titled Ayuamarca (since re-released in the UK as Procession Of The Dead, and coming to the USA in 2010).
In January 2000, his first children's book, Cirque du Freak, which he'd written as a fun side-project, was published. The first book in a series titled The Saga of Darren Shan (or Cirque du Freak, as it's known in America), it attracted rave reviews and an ever-growing army of fans hungry to learn more about vampires which were quite unlike any that anyone had ever seen before!
Shan loved writing for children so much, that for the next several years he focused exclusively on his books for younger readers. First, he wrote a total of 12 books about vampires. He quickly followed up his vampiric saga with The Demonata, a series about demons. Running to ten books in total, The Demonata cemented Shan's place in the UK as the Master Of Children's Horror, and saw him score his first UK #1 bestseller. He also wrote a one-off short book, called Koyasan, for Wold Book Day in the UK.
There was a very successful manga adaptation of Shan's vampire series, drawn by the Japanese artist, Takahiro Arai. It was originally serialized in Japan, but collected volumes are now on sale in the USA, UK and other countries.
In addition to writing for children, Shan has now returned to his first love and is once again writing for adults as well. He has had two adult books published in the UK, Procession Of The Dead and Hell's Horizon. They have been released in a number of other countries too, and are due to hit the USA in 2010. A third, City of the Snakes, goes on sale in the UK in March 2010. His first adult books were released under the name of D B Shan, but they are being reprinted under the name of Darren Shan in March 2010, and City of the Snakes will be released under the Darren Shan name.
By the start of 2010, Shan's books were on sale in every continent, in 39 countries, in 31 languages, and have been children's bestsellers in America, Britain, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway and other countries. The books have topped adult bestseller charts in Hungary, Japan and Taiwan. In total, Shan's books have sold close to 15 million copies worldwide!!!!
The movie rights to Cirque Du Freak were bought by Universal, and the first movie (which combines elements from the first three books in the series) was released on October 23rd, 2009, starring newcomer Chris Massoglia as Darren Shan, along with a wide array of established stars such as Josh Hutcherson, John C Reilly, Salma Hayek, Willem Defoe and Ken Watanabe. The movie was called Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant. It was released on DVD and Blu-Ray in February 2010.
A big film buff, with a collection of more than four thousand movies at home, Shan also reads lots of comics and books, and likes to study and collect original artwork, especially comic art and impressionist and post-impressionist art. He has recently started adding sculptures to his collection, making use of the large, empty field outside his back door. Other interests include long walks, watching football (he's a Tottenham Hotspur and Ireland fan), listening to pop and rock music, theatre, worldwide travel, sampling the delights of both gourmet cuisine and finger-licking junk food, and dreaming up new ways to terrify his readers!!!
Shan spends most of his time in Limerick, Ireland, with his girlfriend Bas. He has no pets, but a neighbourhood dog called Goldie joins him on his walks most days. He also feeds a variety of wild birds, and spots the occasional hare and pheasant strolling through his back yard. In addition to his main home in Ireland, Shan has an apartment in London, to which he escapes for a burst of high-speed living every so often, when he feels the need to get his juices flowing!! Shan rarely writes when in London or on the road, preferring to tie himself to his computer when at home in Limerick, where he can work away solidly without any distractions in the peace and quiet of the Irish countryside.
I've been following this series for awhile now. At one point, a few years ago, I was so addicted that I had to order the 3 books that had been released in the UK because I couldn't wait for the US versions to come out. So, it was with much pleasure and anticipation that I sat down to read books 10, 11, and 12 in one sitting.
I have to say that Book 12 left me a bit disappointed. At the end of the book, Shan has the main character go back in the time & prevent himself from making the mistake of kidnapping Madam Octa. Since Darren manages to stop himself from kidnapping the spider, he never makes the deal with Mr. Crepsley & ends up leading a normal, healthy, life as a human. This, of course, means that Darius is probably never born (because Annie wouldn't be a single mom at 16). But there is a possibility that others still die the same way -- Mr. Crepsley, Shancus... their fate may be the same, but Darren won't be around to witness it.
I understand that Shan felt that this was the only way to resolve the convoluted system of "Destiny" that he created in the past 11 books. However, in the process, it left the reader high and dry because the ending basically told us that the stories we had just invested time and effort in for the past few years didn't happen. Sure, they would still happen in a way -- but these trials and tribulations wouldn't fall on a boy named Darren Shan. Some other, nameless, person would step up to take over Darren's destiny. And we're just supposed to leave to our imagination how the universe righted itself & who was affected by the change in the end. Will the ones who died still end up dead? Will this new child (whoever it is) end up sacrificing themselves & floating to Paradise (as Darren predicts he/she would) or, maybe, they cannot resist the lure that Mr. Tiny places on them.
The biggest issue I have with this ending is that it makes us wonder -- why'd we read the past 11 books if they were all irrelevant? This is the equivalent of Shan ending the series with a scene where Darren wakes up from a nightmare and finds out it was all a dream. I invested time and emotion in Darren's Saga. And now you're telling me that it wasn't Darren's saga, at all. And, perhaps, even the people mentioned in the book might not have had anything to do with it, because Darren changed the course of history.
Another thing that bothered me were the holes in the whole "fate vs. destiny" situation. Darren managed to overcome the two set futures by killing himself and Steve. However -- why didn't he just have the power to "Just Say No" to Des Tiny's edicts? Why not just say, "Thanks, but no thanks, I choose my own fate and I don't want to rule the world." Particularly when he'd already been shown the consequences his actions if he did get mixed up with Mr. Tiny's vision. The author was feeding us two messages: (1) You control on your fate in a manner of speaking and should choose the path of good, but (2) If Mr. Tiny makes you evil, there's nothing you can do about it. I was like, "huh??" Not to mention -- Mr. Tiny had waaaayyy too much power & I didn't like the fact that he wasn't facing any consequences for his actions.
Also, why did Darren go the Lake of Souls... he was a decent guy and sacrificed himself. I didn't buy the whole "guilt" thing. Other vampires had probably done much more bad things in their long lives (like Mr. Crepsley) and they went straight to Paradise. It made no sense that Darren -- a half-Vampire who constantly did the ethical thing -- would end up in the Lake of Souls for hundreds of thousands of years & there would be no force in the universe that could right that mistake. Again, giving Mr. Tiny way too much power.
Basically, I give this 3.5 stars because the series, as a whole, is excellent. And, naturally, if you read Books 1-11, you have to read this finale. However, this particular reader was left unsatisfied with the resolution of the series. I was hoping for more closure.
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For a while now the Cirque Du Freak has captured my imagination and been one of the best series i've ever read. It was exciting to start reading the last book and finaly find out the awnser to all my questions.
I have to say as much as I like the Cirque series the 12th book slightly disapointed me. It wasnt a page turner like the rest and it seemed too predictable. What made me give it 4 stars was the ending I didnt like it very much. The other books were so good that I expected the ending to be a lot better.....too high expectations? maybe. Dont get me wrong though the book defenantly had its good parts but it seems to lack the "after shock" like the 11th book left on me.
Although im not a fan of the ending to this beloved series I do recommend this book to fans because its not bad, just dont expect it to be great like I did. And who knows everyones different you might think its one of the best books yet. :)
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Ok, I will start by saying that I loved this whole series, and even this one up to the last chapter or two, that's why it got such a high rating from me. I probably went through books 1 - 11 in less than a week, and they have the potential to be read over.
Book #12 Bugged the hell out of me. Ok, Darren sacrificed himself for the greater good. I was pretty much expecting this so no big deal. I could even see the story ending here and despite the sad ending, it would be a good piece of work.
The problem comes in when Darren, trying to keep things happy, happy, joy, joy, does a 360 at the end so everyone lives happily ever after. THIS DOES NOT WORK IN REAL LIFE. Ok, so stories aren't real life and even ignoring the paradox of Darren going back in time to stop himself from becoming a vampire, which means he wouldn't have a reason for going back in the first place, etc... etc... The whole end seemed like a cop out. It says to me "I couldn't think up a better ending, so I nullified the whole story", which any idiot can do.
I can say that I'd be right up front with those that like a happy ending, but this was worse than killing everyone off. The author made the whole storyline irrelevant, and I find that unbearably sad. All the time Darren spent with friends he cared for no longer happened. So Darren goes back to his nice normal life with his family and best friend Steve (Someone who was willing to kill Darren because he was chosen for something Steve wasn't, I might add) and someone else takes Darren's place. Assuming the rest of the story goes pretty much as prophesied this is what we are left with...
Mr. Crepsley makes some boy a vampire (who isn't Darren) They join the circus and the boy (who isn't Darren) makes friends with Evra and Sam. Mr. Crepsley and the boy (who isn't Darren) go to vampire mountain and go through the trials. Kurda betrays the vampires and the boy (who isn't Darren) stops him. The war (which still happens) is fought by the boy vampire prince (who isn't Darren) He and Mr. Crepsley go to the town where Debbie lives and Mr. Crepsly still dies. The boy (who isn't Darren) fights the vampaneze boy (who we can assume isn't Steve) for the title of Lord of the Shadows. Now, after getting all of that out, there are 3 ways (again) that this can go - The boy who isn't Darren can win (world ends) The boy who isn't Steve can win (again world ends) or both can die (back to where we started again)
I don't mean to sound sarcastic. I really loved the whole series. I would just rather it be Darren's adventure instead of some doppelganger's because Darren wimped out at the end. He shouldn't have the option of choosing a different path because for whatever reason he didn't like his original choices.
IMO Read the books. Even read number 12! Just skip the last few chapters, you'll be glad you did.
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