The Saga of Darren Shan
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| The Saga of Darren Shan | |
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 Boxset of book 1-6 of the Saga, published by HarperCollins. |
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| Cirque du Freak The Vampire's Assistant Tunnels of Blood Vampire Mountain Trials of Death The Vampire Prince Hunters of the Dusk Allies of the Night Killers of the Dawn The Lake of Souls Lord of the Shadows Sons of Destiny |
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| Author | Darren Shan |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Fantasy, thriller |
| Publisher | HarperCollins Children's Books (UK) Little Brown and Company (USA) |
| Published | 4 January 2000 6 September 2006 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover and paperback) Audiobook |
The Saga of Darren Shan (known as Cirque du Freak: The Saga of Darren Shan in the US) is a young adult 12 book series written by Darren Shan about the struggle of a boy who has become involved in the world of vampires. As of October 2008, the book is published in 37 countries around the world, in 30 different languages[1]. A movie based on the first three books in the series was released in theaters October 23, 2009. Harper Collins Audio have also released CD recordings of the first three books, read by Rupert Degas.
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[edit] Background
Darren Shan wrote and published the first book of the series, Cirque du Freak, as a side project between the two adult books. Cirque du Freak received good reviews and Warner Bros. bought the movie rights in a seven figure deal[citation needed] prior to publication, though the film was never made and the film rights returned to Shan after three years. [2] Now, Universal Pictures own the movie rights and a feature film was released in theaters October 23, 2009.
[edit] Plot outline
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.
- In the first trilogy, known as Vampire Blood, Darren learns about and comes to accept his vampirism.
- In Book One, Cirque Du Freak, Mr. Crepsley makes Darren a half-vampire in return for saving the life of one of Darren's best friends.
- In Book Two, The Vampire's Assistant, Crepsley notes that Darren is quite lonely and brings him back to the freak show, where he befriends a snake-like boy.
- In Book Three, Tunnels of Blood, Crepsley goes back to his hometown, where one of the vampires' enemies, a Vampaneze, is murdering innocent people.
- In the second trilogy, known as Vampire Rites, Darren learns about the vampire clan and seeks their acceptance.
- In Book Four, Vampire Mountain, Mr. Crepsley and Darren make their ascent up Vampire Mountain and learn about the rites of the vampires.
- In Book Five, Trials of Death, Darren faces the Trials of Death to gain the recognition of other vampires as one of the youngest vampire to be recruited in decades.
- In Book Six, The Vampire Prince, Darren finds out about the traitor and tries to stop plans to destroy the vampire clan.
- In the third trilogy, known as Vampire War, Darren learns he may have a larger role to play in the fate of the vampires (and of the world) than he had ever thought.
- In Book Seven, Hunters of the Dusk, the hunt for the Lord of the Vampaneze, who is destined to destroy the vampire clan, begins.
- In Book Eight, Allies of the Night, Darren meets some of his past friends who now fit into his quest.
- In Book Nine, Killers of the Dawn, Darren faces the Lord of the Vampaneze for the second time.
- In the fourth trilogy, known as Vampire Destiny, Darren is forced to make some difficult decisions, finally taking his destiny into his own hands and dealing with the consequences.
- In Book Ten, The Lake of Souls, Darren travels to an unfamiliar land to find out who his best friend, Harkat Mulds, used to be; as a "Little Person," Harkat's mind sans memories was placed into a new body after his death.
- In Book Eleven, Lord of the Shadows, Darren finds out more about the Lord of the Shadows and gets closer to his last confrontation with the Lord of the Vampaneze.
- Book Twelve, Sons of Destiny, Darren faces the Lord of the Vampaneze for a final fight.
[edit] Main characters
[edit] Darren Shan's vampires
The vampires in the Saga are different from the standard vampires found in popular culture. They are truly alive, can be killed by several means,--including, but not limited to, decapitation or piercing of the heart--and are not inherently evil. Vampires do not drink from the neck, but cut a vein of a victim, drinking small amounts of blood from the vein and then healing it with their saliva; a breakaway group called the "vampaneze" insist on killing their victims and draining all their blood, meaning they need to feed less often. Draining all of a human's blood would have a vampire or vampaneze absorb part of the spirit of the human, allowing the vampire or vampaneze to see into their memories (Darren does this in The Vampire's Assistant, to save the spirit of a dying friend). Neither vampires nor vampaneze 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 extended exposure 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 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 be inspired by the popular vampire folklore entity, Dracula), who was "blooded" aged two and lived for over 800 years. Vampires cast reflections and shadows but cannot be photographed due a particular vibration of "vampire atoms".
Vampires are strong, fit, and can run at a very high speed, called "flitting". Flitting causes a static charge to build up in a vampire's body, which Mr. Crepsley learned to use to force open locks. A vampire's senses are all superhuman. They can endure incredible amounts of physical trauma, are resistant to most chemicals and diseases, and heal quickly. A vampire's healing factor is not as effective as in most fiction, and, unlike the beautiful vampires of Anne Rice, most of Shan's vampires are heavily scarred and unattractive. Vampires' more exotic abilities include breathing an invisible gas that renders a human unconscious, can telepathically communicate with other vampires and humans (three vampires could also mentally command spiders), and locating vampires and humans whose thought patterns they have learned to recognize. Vampires cannot dematerialize into a mist, nor can they transform into bats, rats, or wolves. Theses animals are friendly to vampire, although cats and dogs hate them.
Vampire society is ruled by honor, personal pride, and tradition. They have a strict hierarchy with higher ranking vampires having absolute rule over lower ranking ones, though they exercise their powers in moderation and are respectful of those beneath them. There are far fewer female vampires than male ones. Vampire matings last only ten or fifteen years with the couple then choosing to re-mate or go their separate ways. Vampires are forbidden to use projectile weapons like guns, bows, and crossbows as they view these as dishonorable, preferring hand-to-hand fighting with swords, axes, etc., or throwing weapons such as a shuriken; the vampaneze are forbidden from using any form of throwing weapons. Vampires live old fashion lives: no vampire is shown making references to pop culture, driving a car, or using computers. Vampires see humans as a chaotic and slightly inferior race, but most value human lives. Some vampires form friendships with humans and many fall in love with humans.
Darren Shan's vampires do not follow the religions they did as humans, but worship an unidentified pantheon. They believe that the souls of good vampires are reborn as wolves in the eternal nights of a distant world called Paradise, while evil vampire souls remain bound to the Earth for eternity. Vampires believe they are descended from wolves, just as humans are believed to have evolved from primates. Wolves are held as the cousins of vampires.
[edit] Vampaneze
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This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2008) |
In the Saga of Darren Shan the Vampaneze are sworn enemies to the vampires, cousins in fact. They were vampires who broke away from the clan and claimed themselves a new race (vampaneze) because of different beliefs, such as the vampaneze find it honourable to drain the blood of humans and kill them, vampires drink small amounts and let humans live. The vampaneze are considered the antagonists, though they only appear that way due to the misleading image of Murlough (a mad vampaneze), The Vampaneze Lord and the War of the Scars. The vampaneze have purple skin and red hair, eyes, lips, and fingernails. This is a side effect due to drinking a lot of blood. The vampaneze are first mentioned in Tunnels of Blood and become a main part of the plot throughout the rest of the series.
[edit] Manga
A manga series called Cirque du Freak based on the Darren Shan novels was published in the Shogakukan anthology Shonen Sunday by Takahiro Arai in a weekly serialization. It has been confirmed that Yen Press will be publishing all volumes of the manga in North America beginning in 2009.[1], [2]
[edit] Short stories
Darren Shan has released numerous short stories on his website, all of which tie into the saga.
- "An Essay on Vampires" "by" Steve Leopard - book 1 tie-in story. The essay was written sometime before Cirque Du Freak.
- "Annie's Diary" - Based on Darren's sister's diary during the events of Cirque Du Freak.
- "Tiny Terrors" - Takes place during The Vampire's Assistant. It centres around the mysterious Desmond Tiny.
- "Transylvania Trek" - a short story "written" by Sam Grest, a character from book 2.
- "Shanta Claus" (only available at Christmas). A special story that follows Shanta Clause as he visits the homes of many characters in the series.
- "Lonely Lefty" - A story centering around Harkat Mulds that takes place during the events of Tunnels of Blood.
- "Bride of Sam Grest" - another short story "written" by Sam Grest, a character from book 2.
- "An Affair of the Night" - A story centering around Gavner Purl, before his untimely death. Ties in with Trials of Death.
The Sam Grest stories have been included in the Midnight Feast collection. Sam Grest was only significant in The Vampire's Assistant.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Saga of Darren Shan |
- Darren Shan website
- Cirque du Freak at the Internet Movie Database
- Darren Shan manga series website
- The Saga of Darren Shan at Cirque du Freak Wiki
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