The Saga of Darren Shan Book Two: The Vampire's Assistant

The nightmare continues as Darren Shan struggles with his new life as a Vampire’s Assistant. He tries desperately to resist the one thing that can keep him alive—blood—but a gruesome encounter with the Wolf Man tests his resolve to the limits.

So, it is 2 in the morning and I just finished the second book in Darren Shan's Saga. That's rather unusual for me, I don't normally read books by the same author one right after the other, but I guess there's a first time for everything! Not that I need more series to read.... I should probably finish some of the ones I already have on the go, but that would make too much sense, right?

Anyway, so this book takes place about two months after the first book in the series. In the first book, Darren was not a Vampire's Assistant until near the end, so in this book is is a lot about Darren coming to terms with who he is and what his purpose is now. Everything he had known before has been changed. He didn't even know there were such thing as vampires, and now he suddenly he is working for one. This book is a real page-turner, I must say! There was just enough action to keep me engrossed in the story, so I will be very interested to see what happens in the next book!

I am kicking myself, though, because the second-hand bookstore had books 3 to 11 the other day and I never bought them! When I went back today they only had books 3 and 4. I was trying not to add too many books to my house, but it was rather stupid of me. I did buy the first two, but I don't really want to have to pay for the rest of the series.... I have my fingers crossed the second-hand bookstore gets more in, but if I am looking for something I can never find it!

The Saga of Darren Shan Book One: Cirque du Freak

Darren goes to a banned freak show with his best mate Steve. It’s the wonderfully gothic Cirque Du Freak where weird, frightening half human/half animals appear who interact terrifyingly with the audience. Darren – a spider freak – ‘falls in love’ with Madam Octa – an enormous tarantula owned by Mr Crepsley. Darren determines to steal the spider so that he can train it to perform amazing deeds. But his daring theft goes horribly wrong. The spider bites Steve and Darren has to sell his soul to Mr Crepsley – a member of the vampire clan – to get the antidote. Something out of the ordinary is set against the background of children’s normal lives to chilling effect. Atmospheric, funny, realistic, moving and… terrifying.

I have heard of this series for years, this book came out in 2001 or so, and it was always on the list to read one day, but I had yet to pick up a book. Nicola has been reviewing them this year, though, and I must say she caught my attention. I had a bit of money as a Christmas present, so I decided to buy the first two books in the series and see what happened! I am rather picky about young adult books. There are many series out there that everyone loves and have been recommending to me over and over again that I just did not like at all! This one, though, I think I am going to enjoy!

I stretched out on the couch with a blanket, some fluffy slippers, comfy clothes, and orange juice and dived right in. I wasn't really scared, it takes a lot to frighten me, but I was caught up in the atmosphere and the creepy feeling that this book gave off. You knew right from the beginning that something bad was going to happen, so I had to keep reading to find out what that was! It's not a large book, but it is compelling enough that when you finish it you will want to read the next book (which I might just do) so that you can see what is going to happen next. You were right, Nicola, I think this is my kind of series!