The Saga of Darren Shan
Boxset of books 1-6 of the Saga, published by HarperCollins.
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| Author | Darren Shan |
|---|---|
| Country | Ireland |
| Language | English/Irish |
| Genre | Horror, fantasy, thriller |
| Publisher |
HarperCollins Children's Books (UK) Little Brown and Company (USA) |
| Published | 4 January 2000 – 31 March 2004 |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) Audiobook ebook |
The Saga of Darren Shan (known as Cirque du Freak: The Saga of Darren Shan in the United States) is a young adult 12-part book series written by Darren Shan (pen name of Darren O'Shaughnessy) about the struggle of a boy who has become involved in the world of vampires. As of October 2008, the book has been published in 33 countries around the world, in 30 different languages. A film based on the first three books in the series was released in theatres on October 23, 2009. Blackstone Audio has also released CD recordings of all 12 books in the series, read by Ralph Lister.
Darren Shan, whose real name is Darren O'Shaughnessy, wrote and published the first book of the series, Cirque du Freak, as a side project between two adult books. Cirque du Freak received good reviews and Warner Bros. bought the movie rights in a seven figure deal prior to publication, though the film was never made and the film rights returned to Shan after three years. Now, Universal Pictures own the film rights and a feature film was released in theatres on October 23, 2009.
The Saga of Darren Shan follows the story of Darren Shan, a normal human boy who is coerced by the vampire Larten Crepsley into becoming his assistant and a half-vampire.
The vampires in The Darren Shan Saga are different from the standard vampires found in popular culture. They are truly alive, meaning that they can be killed by a well-placed bullet, mutilation, decapitation or piercing of the heart, (though they will wake up within a day or less if their neck is broken) and are not inherently evil. Vampires do not drink from the neck, but cut a vein of a victim, drinking small amounts of blood, and then healing it with their saliva. Draining all of a human's blood would have a vampire part of the spirit of the human, allowing the vampire to see into their memories (Darren does this in The Vampire's Assistant, to save the spirit of his dying friend). Vampires do not have fangs, but instead use their hard, sharp nails to cut into their prey. These nails can also be used to scale walls in a spider-like manner. Vampires do not combust when exposed to sunlight, but it will burn them easily and exposure for four to five hours will kill them. They can, however, remain active during the day (provided they remain in the shade) and are not bothered by garlic, silver, or holy objects (such as crosses and holy water). Fresh human blood is the most nutritious for vampires, but they can feed on preserved human blood or the blood of certain animals when necessary. Some animals' blood, however, is toxic to vampires. Vampires cannot reproduce; further vampires are created by blood-to-blood contact with humans, traditionally through the fingertips, but if any creature, human or animal, were to orally ingest vampire blood, it would be driven into a murderous frenzy and then die (similar to rabies). Vampires are not immortal either; they age at one-tenth the human rate (half-vampires at one-fifth). This comes into play in the series when Darren meets an old girlfriend he had; now they are adults but Darren still looks about the same as he did when they first met. The oldest vampire in the series is Paris Skyle (claimed to have inspired the popular vampire folklore entity, Dracula), who was "blooded" at age two and lived for over 800 years. Vampires cast reflections and shadows but cannot be photographed due to a particular vibration of their atoms. Also, as in folklore, vampires sleep in coffins.
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