Cirque Du Freak #1: A Living Nightmare: Book 1 in the Saga of Darren Shan (Cirque Du Freak: The Saga of Darren Shan)

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It's a hit!

I read this book due to seeing the movie trailer and being moderately intrigued. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was actually a good rea... (show more)

I read this book due to seeing the movie trailer and being moderately intrigued. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was actually a good read. Most of the characters are believable and likable (or at least understandable). My only complaint concerns the character of Steve "Leopard" Leonard. He's a nice guy, then when one of the characters dubs him evil, he turns into a crazy, almost psychotic villain (though not one you take seriously, after all he's 13). A lot of his knowledge is very deus ex machina as well. I just found all of his actions to be frustrating.

Oh well. If you've got some time and don't mind reading YA books, check this text out. It's short, easy read and a lot of fun to boot. (show less)

 

 

by Facebook-användare

No, it's a flop!

I only read this book because I heard about the movie coming out, and I figured I might go see it with a couple friends because it looked interesti... (show more)

I only read this book because I heard about the movie coming out, and I figured I might go see it with a couple friends because it looked interesting. Now, I will not go one about how The author seems to be idolizing himself by putting his own name in the book (though that it seems like that is exactly what he's trying to do). And I will not complain about a certain lack for morals in the characters. However, I do want to comment about the book's quality. When I picked up the book, I knew about three or four pages in that Mr. Shan's writing could use a quite a bit of work. For one thing, his punctuation was driving me insane. He would randomly throw in a couple of parentheses to add stupid details that don't even add anything to the story. For example:

"We took a deep breath, crossed our fingers then started up the steps (there were nine steps leading up to the door, each one cracked and covered with moss) and went in."

Secondly, he has this annoying obsession with m-dashes. Now m-dahses are cool, especially when you're trying to add drama or feeling, but Mr. Shan went way over with it. One of the pages is just covered with them. It's like using the word "epic" for ever little failure. The ones that really are epic don't seem so much like it anymore. But even more annoying than his m-dashes and his parentheses were his exclamation marks. He would shout out obvious facts with exclamation marks at the end. It happens so many times throughout the book, I started making this little game of gasping aloud every time it happened, like I'm supposed to be shocked or something. The entire time I was reading the book, I felt like laughing at how bad the writing was. With his annoying way of writing and a near complete lack of character development, it read like cheap fanfiction. This is a NY Times bestseller?
However, despite the incredibly faulty writing style, I did enjoy the storyline. And my thought is that how bad the book is written is not going to effect how the movie turns out. If it's a good story, it will make a good movie. Unless the actors and screenwriters and etc. suck. But we will see. (show less)

 

 

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  I went and picked up the first three books after seeing the movie (and falling head over heels for Crepsley, to be honest). I really enjoyed all of them, and I was ready to jump up and buy book four the minute I finished book three. They're page turners, that's for sure. And I still love Crepsley. I would give all of them five stars, except one thing. Exclamation points!!!!!!! They're everywhere, and it drove me crazy in the first book. After that it tones down dramatically, but I thought I'd... (show more)

  I went and picked up the first three books after seeing the movie (and falling head over heels for Crepsley, to be honest). I really enjoyed all of them, and I was ready to jump up and buy book four the minute I finished book three. They're page turners, that's for sure. And I still love Crepsley. I would give all of them five stars, except one thing. Exclamation points!!!!!!! They're everywhere, and it drove me crazy in the first book. After that it tones down dramatically, but I thought I'd choke on all the exclaiming going on at first. I find it very immature; it reminds me of books I read in second grade, all those !!!!!

  But when I think about it, it makes sense. The writer is about ten or eleven, looking back through a diary and trying to recreate events just as he remembers (so goes the story). Once I realized that it became must easier to tolerate, and it was even fun to see the writing style mature and grow over three books.

  The prologue showed me that the actual author is much more mature than that and I expect more growth when I continue to read as Darren ages and the main writing will mature with him. If you can deal with exclamation points, read this book! (show less)

   

   

  by Sara Williams on Dec 03, 2009 at 12:04AM

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  I was very impressed with this book. The writing is very similar to that of J. K. Rowling: very simple and easy to read. It sounds like a 14 year old boy, and the characters are very compelling and as realistic as they can be for being 'freaks'. I'd recommend this to anyone who likes vampires, but, be warned that these vampires are not the usual vampires down the street. The mythos behind them is very different, but it make sense and makes them seem much more realistic. I can't wait to read t... (show more)

  I was very impressed with this book. The writing is very similar to that of J. K. Rowling: very simple and easy to read. It sounds like a 14 year old boy, and the characters are very compelling and as realistic as they can be for being 'freaks'. I'd recommend this to anyone who likes vampires, but, be warned that these vampires are not the usual vampires down the street. The mythos behind them is very different, but it make sense and makes them seem much more realistic. I can't wait to read the rest of this series, and see the movie! (show less)

   

   

  by Avian Jangula on Oct 01, 2009 at 05:22PM

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