The Saga of Darren Shan: Difference between revisions

The Saga of Darren Shan
	Boxset of book 1-6 of the Saga, published by HarperCollins.
	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;
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

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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 is currently in production by Universal Studios.^[2] Harper Collins Audio have also released CD recordings of the first three books, read by Rupert Degas.

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 prior to publication, though the film was never made and the film rights returned to Shan after three years. ^[3]

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 Harkat was a "Little Person", who were creatures resurrected to life after 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 to the death.

Main characters

Darren Shan's vampires

The vampires in the Saga are different from the standard vampires found in popular culture. They cannot transform into bats, they do not need stake in the heart to die (although they are harder to kill than humans), and they are not necessarily 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. Vampires are not turned to dust by the sun, but sunlight will burn them easily. Vampires are strong, fit, and can run at an very high speed, called "flitting". 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 shuriken. Vampires cannot reproduce; further vampires are created by blood-to-blood contact with humans, traditionally through the fingertips. 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 when both were 14; now they are 24 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 the inspiration for Dracula), who was "blooded" aged two and lived for over 800 years. Vampires cannot be photographed due a particular the vibration of "vampire atoms".

Note: It is said that one vampire named Paris Skyle inspired Bram Stoker to write Dracula. Dracula became the archetype of the vampires in popular fiction.

Vampaneze

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 the evil vampires if you will, 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.

Darren Shan manga

A manga series based on the Darren Shan novels is currently being 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]

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.

References

External links

[1] Shanville Monthly 99(See Section titled SHAN ACROSS THE GLOBE)

[2] Cirque du Freak(2009) IMDB

[3] Darren Shan/Facts: Biography

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[2]

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 ==Darren Shan's vampires==
-The vampires in Darren Shan's story are different from the vampires found in popular culture. They can't turn into bats, they don't die only with a stake in the heart, and they ''aren't'' evil. Vampires have sharp nails that they use to cut a vein. They drink small amounts of blood from the vein and then heal it with their saliva. Vampires don't die immediately in the sun. However, they burn easily. Vampires are strong, fit, and can run at an very high speed. This is called flitting. Vampires are forbidden to use projectile weapons like guns, bows, and crossbows as they find it dishonorable. They believe in hand to hand combat like swords, axes, etc. There is one vampire who only believes in using his bare hands or his shurikens to fight. His name is Vancha March. Vampires can be killed but it's harder for them to be killed. Vampires cannot reproduce. However, they create more vampires with blood to blood contact with humans, traditionally through the fingertips. Finally, vampires don't live forever. They age at one-tenth the human rate. Half-vampires age one-fifth. Vampires can't be photographed because the flash bounces off of the vampire's atoms.
+The [[vampire]]s in the Saga are different from the standard vampires found in popular culture. They cannot transform into [[bat]]s, they do not need stake in the heart to die (although they are harder to kill than humans), and they are not necessarily 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]]. Vampires are not turned to dust by the sun, but sunlight will burn them easily. Vampires are strong, fit, and can run at an very high speed, called "flitting". 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]], [[axe]]s, etc., or throwing weapons such [[shuriken]]. Vampires cannot reproduce; further vampires are created by blood-to-blood contact with humans, traditionally through the fingertips. 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 when both were 14; now they are 24 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 the inspiration for Dracula), who was "blooded" aged two and lived for over 800 years. Vampires cannot be photographed due a particular the vibration of "vampire atoms".
 Note: It is said that one vampire named Paris Skyle inspired [[Bram Stoker]] to write [[Dracula]]. [[Dracula]] became the archetype of the vampires in popular fiction.