Customer Reviews

The Vampire Prince (Cirque Du Freak: the Saga of Darren Shan)

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The book The Vampire Prince is the sixth book in Darren Shan's Cirque Du Freak saga. Since Shan is an adult now, the whole book is a flashback to his youth.A flashback is when the author describes something from the past. The first five Cirque Du Freak books are filled with action, adventure and violence. Shan's sixth book will not disappoint. The climax of the story is a very graphic war between the vampires and vampanese ( the vampire's enemy). A battle that could decide the fate of both groups.
Darren's The Vampire Prince tells about an act of treachery commited by one of the most respected and trusted in the vampire clan. This is irony at it's best. Irony is an unexpected twist in the story. Exposing the traitor may save Darren's life, after he escaped from the Trials of Initiation. The trials were tests to see if Darren would prove himself worthy of being called a half Vampire. If you do not pass the trials you will be taken to the Halls of Death and executed.
The great detail, excellent character development and overall extraordinary writing of author Darren Shan will leave you not only satisified, but begging for more.
A great book and you don't even have to read the first five books in the series to understand The Vampire Prince. Thanks to a prologue, you will get caught up on all five books in only three pages.
Check it out!!!!!

This was an absolutely spectacular book, and as with the rest of the series, as soon as I finished it I wanted to read the next book immediately. Unfortunately, I couldn't find book seven (Hunters of the Dark) anywhere. All of the local bookstores had books one through eight, but nobody had book seven. I had to drive about 25 miles round to get book seven.

However, Hunters of the Dark isn't the book being reviewed here. It's The Vampire Prince. As I indicated in earlier review regarding a book in this series, an author needs to hurt his character to create a sense of sympathy. You don't need to maim your character to achieve this. For example, Harry Potter was a sympathetic character (perhaps the most sympathetic character in all of children's literature, given the unparalleled sales of The Sorcerer's Stone) because he lived in a cupboard underneath the stairs and was denied the necessities of life, aside from food.

The author is in excellent form, as he introduces new and entertaining characters, and his plots and twists (even though by now we've come to expect them) still surprise us. Also, Darren kills in this book - and the tenderness with which the author handles Darren's emotions is exceptional. For an author who has been chocking gore at us (though not gratuitously) for the past five books, this takes us back to the very first book which I still think is the best book in the series because of the conflicting emotions and stunning turn of events is the best book in the series.

This is a very difficult book to review, for the subplots are so intricately woven that to comment on them would simply ruin the book. That's the problem with reviewing the Cirque Du Freak series. Commenting on events could ruin the book for other readers, and I certainly don't want any part of that.

I will say that the ending surprised me, and I'm not sure how I feel about it, even having read books seven and eight. Still, it's an excellent and passionate book.

All of the Cirque Du Freak books are awsome, they all have their strong points. The Vampires Assistent had the tear-jerking moments, Tunnels Of Blood had more gore, and the others had mixtures, this book has everything you could want. It's terribly sad and will have your feelings confused on a certain vamp. Characters die, and it has the gore of previous books. Yet again Mr. Shan leaves us craving more with an even better cliffhanger, you will be like "What the...." at the ending. Darrens courage and will to live is amazing, and this is definately a tear-jerker. This series is the best out there and it should be made into a movie. I highly recomend reading this series.

The Vampire Prince

By: Darren Shan

Reviewed by: J. Zhu

Period 6

Darren Shan, a half-vampire, is barely surviving this treacherous river down Vampire Mountain. When he finally stops to a place where the current is slow, he rolls onto his back and he swims toward land. Darren, on his way to Vampire Mountain, meets up with his old pal Rudi. Soon after Rudi howls and Darren is reunited with his wolf friend Streak. One day, Darren sees Mr. Crepsley, Arra Sails, Kurda Smalht, and three other vampires are searching for Darren. After searching all night, the vampires decide to go back to Vampire Mountain. Darren thinks for a while what Kurda might be planning and figures out that he is going to use the Stone of Blood to track and kill vampires when he becomes prince. After Darren finds out, he realizes that he must go back to Vampire Mountain to tell the other vampires about Kurda. When Darren gets to Vampire Mountain, a guardian of the blood sneaks Darren into the mountain undetected. After Darren is actually in the mountain he realizes that if he dies then no one will know what Kurda is planning. Darren then decides to tell his trusted friend Seba Nile. After he tells Seba Nile the story, Seba is outraged and decides that he should do something about it. Finally the investiture began and Seba had men positioned in areas during the ceremony in case any one had a weapon. When Kurda was about to be blooded to become a prince Darren shouted stop and Kurda's men saw him and tried to kill Darren. Luckily Seba's men reacted quickly enough and took Kurda's men out. A while later, Darren finally got to tell the princes about Kurda. It took a while for the princes to agree with Darren, but after a while they finally agreed with Darren and knew that he was not lying. Finally, the vampires went down into the tunnels and had a fierce battle with the vampaneze. One vampaneze took out Vanez's only eye and now Vanez could not see at all and had no eyes. In the end, the vampires won and everyone decided to make Darren into a Vampire Prince!

I really enjoyed this book. I enjoyed it partially because Darren Shan is a wonderful writer. In the book he has many descriptions that gives you a good mind picture such as this quote from the book: " Darkness - cold - churning water - roaring, like a thousand lions - spinning around and around - bashing into rocks - arms wrapped around my face to protect it - tucking my legs to make myself smaller, less of a target." I also like this book because there is a lot of action in The Vampire Prince such as this quote from the book: "Its OK," I lied. "It's only a fresh wound, you'll be up on your- " Before I could say more, he coughed. Blood pumped out of his mouth, a huge torrent of it. His eyes widened, then closed. He groaned softly, fell back, shuddered then died."

My favorite part of the book was when Darren was chosen by the Vampire Princes to be one of them! This was my favorite part because I was really into the book and I felt that Darren deserved to be one. I think he deserves to be a Vampire Prince because after he knew that if he went back to Vampire Mountain, he would be killed and he went back just to warn his fellow vampires of Kurda's evil plot.

If Harry Potter is your type of choice, surely, "Cirque De Freak: Saga of Darren Shan" wouldn't let you down. This matchless classic sequel arrives to the climax, "The Vampire Prince". Darren Shan, the author, has managed to demonstrate his talents and creativity into generating vivid images that led the readers into the presence of the story. This sequel flourishes with suspense, and the betrayal of friendship.
Darren Shan was an everyday ordinary student until he met a vampire. The admiration of the vampire influenced and distorted his whole life. The minion of the night introduced him into the world of darkness, violence, and despair. Overwhelmed by the powers of the new world, he unconsciously harmed humans without noticing. He was then forever bounded and banished from the world of human beings. As Darren Shan gradually becomes accommodated with his new life, he meets several vampire friends. They fought together through trials of hardship. His new life seemed promising until one of his friends was assassinated. Surprising and heart wrecking, the assassination was through a betrayal of another friend. This is when everything started to crumble and odd events occurred.
"The Vampire Prince" is a part where events of previous sequels sum up and combines into the height of the book. This sequel commences with Darren Shan flowing in the river. Although struggling to survive, he insists in seeking his way back to the vampire mountain to report his momentous information that might threaten the life and death of the vampires. In the meantime, Kurda Smahlt, the betrayer of the vampires, is planning ahead on his next step in the upcoming ceremony. This book keeps pacing and solves mystery by mystery, like a spider web with events crossing one another bringing into the entire big picture view.
How would Darren Shan be able to get back in time and end the insidious conspiracy of the betrayer? Read this thrilling sequel to find out! The ending of this story will not disappoint lovers for unexpected endings. If you are a blood thirsty shark preying in the ocean of books, this would be the one for you.

If you have ever heard or picked up the book Cirque Du Freak you would know it has a special place in many hearts. Unfortunately the book Cirque Du Freak The Vampire Prince by Darren Shan falls short in the series. The Vampire Prince is the sixth book of a horror series, but as some may have discovered it shouldn't be classified under horror. The first novel was fantastic, meaning The Vampire Prince had a lot to look up to considering Cirque Du Freak's powerhouse name.
Cirque Du Freak is an ongoing horror series which revolves around the Cirque which was introduced during the first novel. The series is constantly leaving you emotionally confused and frustrated at cliff hangers. The Vampire Prince is no exception. Cirque's main character Darren, not coincidentally the author's name, grows up during each book of the series, you come along with him as he matures. The Vampire Prince is told when Darren is an adult, the entire book is a flashback to his youth. The book picks up where Trials of Death left off; Darren is traveling on a dangerous stream struggling to survive. He has to get back up to Vampire Mountain facing his fear of death along the way. Darren had failed his trials in the previous novel;his punishment is death. He has a dark secret about the prince-to-be Kurda Smahlt. Kurda sends his minions to kill Darren along the way. Darren encounters Streak and Rudi, two wolves he had acquainted with from a previous encounter, and with their help he travels back to Vampire Mountain safely. Characters from previous books in the series complicate the conflict further. Mr. Tiny, a tall skinny man and his pet spider Madame Octa are both past characters that get involved in the conflict.
After completing The Vampire Prince, I was confused. I couldn't decide whether I enjoyed or hated the book. The Vampire Prince doesn't do it's job very well in the series, yet story is very gripping. You feel an emotional connection to the characters if you read the first books; you care about them almost the same as real people. But due to the book's lack of detail every page turned felt like a waste of time, and the result for me was loss of connection with the characters. The Vampire Prince had overwhelming potential, unfortunately it was unable to live up to previous novels in the series.
Unfortunately Shan's poor execution cripples the entire series. The Vampire Prince depends too much in previous novels, resulting in continuous frustration. The satisfaction from reading The Vampire Prince wasn't there, the plot and story both were plain horrid. The novel's setting is very dark which is very common with other books in the series. It's theme isn't very clear and Darren fails to get it across. To be honest, never had I thought that a novel in the Cirque Du Freak series could be wretched, however The Vampire Prince proves my theory wrong. The story is corny and the print is so easy to read, it shouldn't be in a middle-school library. The novel seems to constantly struggle with content, The Vampire Prince tends to give you "fillers" just to take up space. The unfortunate loss of connection between characters negates the incentive of continuing the series. The novel ruins your experience in the Cirque Du Freak series.
Cirque Du Freak is intended for a younger pre-teen audience. To be frank, it could potentially be attractive to the younger audiences. However, I can't recommend this book to any audience. Financial incentive is quite possibly the only reason why the series continues. The franchise is following the wrong path, and due to this rubbish I will not be to reading any further into the series. Cirque Du Freak's powerhouse name is completely soiled in The Vampire Prince.

They suck your blood, haunt the night, and terrorize little children.

We all know and love em', Vampires. Well what if you were told that vampires aren't evil? That they are just trying to live in this world like we are? Darren Shan flushes vampire myths down the drain with this unique series. As this sixth volume in this action, horror, mystery series of Cirque Du Freak Darren Shan survives a near drowning, plummeting down though Vampire Mountain current after ( in previous books ) he has witnessed a murder and is trying to escape. He is nurtured back to health by wolves and struggles to return to Vampire Mountain in order to warn the other vampires of the secret plan to invite the vampaneze (who are evil forms of vampires) into Vampire Mountain, where they are certain to gain control. The story has numerous plot twists and there is plenty of blood, gore, and suspense. The fantasy is plentiful throughout the series, and in past books Darren has endured many tests, fights and losses. I love this book because it is also about how Darren pulls though all of his hardships and moves on with his life.

Darren Shan is once again successful in continuing to build on the interest already built up in this addictive series. I recommend this book to mystery and suspense fans who seek to be surprised at every page and thrown back by mind-boggling events. This book includes lots of new plot lines that continue to leave the reader hungry for more. It takes a lot of talent to continue to create more flavor in an extremely interesting series. I loved these books because they offer such heart stopping events, and you never know what will happen next.

This was one of the best books i've ever read[ until I read more of them which, I encourage you all to do.]and I am still excited because i'm on 6. I gave this book 5 stars and am still sticking to my decision. Darren Shan/o'saughsey makes you want to keep reading and find out what happens!!!!!!!!!!!! *****

i think that this book deservies many awards. this book has death, gore, tratiors, and much more. there are many battle scenes. Darren has to out wit a vampire prince. the vampire princeses are the most powerful and smartest of the vampires. will Darren live to see day again? or will he die in the Hall of Death? find out in this bone chilling book. the end will leave you hungry for more.

Hey! when i finished this book the first words that came out of my mouth were "wow." The first sentence of this book had me amazed by the book..."Be careful who you trust." This book was a fun filled white nuckle thrilling book. I loved it each step of the way. Darren was an ordinary boy until he met Mr. Crepsley who showed him into the world of vampires. Darren worked his way up to the vampire's assistant. In this edition of Darren Shan, Darren runs from his fears. Recently, Darren failed his trials and the suspence of that was death. He ran from this penalty and found that his own friend had betrayed him, killing his dear friend and ally Gavner Purl. Darren proves himself to the vampire princes and tells them about the stories he has witnessed they except his noblness and bravery. Read on to find how Darren works his way up to the top of the vampire counsil.