Customer Reviews

The Vampire's Assistant and Other Tales from the Cirque Du Freak (The Saga of Darren Shan)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I read this book because I enjoyed the movie a lot. The book, while quite different, was an enjoyable one to read. This particular edition has the first 3 books in the series. The first book was okay... but the second two are much better. In particular, the author's writing improves drastically after the first, which is littered with exclamation points!! As for a comparison, the book reminds me of a blend between Series of Unfortunate Events, Harry Potter, and a touch of kid-version Stephen King. Easy to read and enjoyable.

I saw the movie first and liked it so well I sought out the book series which never would have happened without the movie. I am desperately waiting on book 7 (for some reason twice now it became out of stock after I ordered) and I really want to continue on. I should mention I am 37 and saw the movie with my kids who also really enjoyed the movie and are reading the series too. I enjoyed Twilight but this is a much different take to which I find myself addicted. I anticipate reading Darren Shan's other series too. I also look forward to the DVD release of The Vampire's Assistant on Feb 23 and hope another movie will follow. As with all books to movies take the movie for the movie and the book for the book, things always get lost in translation and you can enjoy them for what they are seperately.

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 wanted to read this book since I not been able to see the movie (I have seen it since then - and enjoyed the book better) All three tales inside the book need to be read to get the full story. I enjoyed it very much and even though I am an adult with 2 grown children, I read up on vampire stories more and more thanks to the TWILIGHT series. This was an interesting book delivered quickly by the seller.

I saw the movie Vampires Assistant,loved it.So i checked it out more online and found out this was based on a book.I had to read them,so i started with this.They do leave stuff out of the movie,so it is good to start from book 1,or get this bookm which has the first 3 books the movie was based off of..Once i started reading i was hooked,after i read this i had to read the rest (12 in all) This is a great read for kids and adults..

This book wasn't actually up on my radar. I won a free copy through a book review website. When i got around to reading it i couldn't stop. I was hesitant at first since this was geared towards a teen audience. I read it in 2 days! this one combines the first 3 books of the series. It's writing style reminded me of the days when i read harry Potter. I am an adult but sometimes a book comes around that is so good i think all ages should read. I'm glad i read this one and have since ordered all the remaining books! Don't let the age rating stop you this is a must read for anyone who digs the paranormal.

I had originally purchased this book after my son had seen the movie. Being that I was "in between" books, I decided to go ahead and read it myself.
It was really entertaining - albeit rather dark, but no darker that the Harry Potter series.
Although the size of the book may seen daunting to a young person, once started, it really does become difficult to put down. Each of the three stories flows into the other. Before you know it - you're done!!! I was actually left wanting more!

The main character is just what you would expect a boy to be like: there is nothing extraordinarily special about him (ie: no magic powers. no parents with magic powers that he will "inherit) just a pre-teen boy who is a good kid and who is good at soccer. The characters about him could also be real people too. It's at the Cirque du Freak that unlikely characters appear - and the fun begins!

Again, good book, fun, easy read.

Though I wish the books were longer (I finished all three in two hours each), these were quite thrilling and fun to read. I haven't seen the movie yet, but after hearing all the negative reviews, I'm not really in a hurry to either. I do want to read the other books in this series, though.

The Vampire's Assistant is an excellent book! My policy is "Read the book before you see the movie" and when I saw the movie trailers for The Vampire's Assistant I had a hunch it was a book by the gaps they had in the quick flashes of the story line, so I looked it up. If you can't read the Twilight book's for err... "Some reasons" this is it! All you have to have is a stomach for horror and suspense; there are only 3 or 4 parts that are a bit graphic or ... gory. It gives you info about vampires that WILL argue with that of the Twilight books to warn you if you are a fanatic about Stephanie's works. Like the sun WILL kill full vampires, they can not drink from all animals such as cats, they can not survive on solely animal blood they must drink some human blood otherwise they will die of starvation. One more point is that they don't use their teeth when they drink (even though they can bite through things harder then flesh and bone, very messy if they do) Their fingernails are like steel and can cut things very easily all they do is cut open a vein. Any way! Darren Shan is in for the shock of his life when a traveling freak show rolls in called Cirque Du Freak. He finds out creatures of the night are real, and one of his friends want to be one! But thing's spin out of control when he steals Madam Octa, a highly venomous spider, from one of the Cirque performers called Larten Crepsly. I loved this book ... no THESE books a lot (this book is the first three in the series) and if you're big into vampire books you'll definitely enjoy The Vampire's Assistant.

If you've seen the movie and that's why you're looking for this book, then Buy It Now! The movie Vampire's Assistant was made from the first three novels in the series, and are contained in this omnibus. It's cheaper to get this book, rather than buying each book individually.

There is so much more stuff in here than what they put into the movie. If you liked the movie, you will love this book.