Finishing "Cirque Du Freak - A Living Nightmare..." - Chapters 26-33 - My Thoughts

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Chapters Read: 26-33

Ah well, just like that I am 1/12th of the way finished with 'The Saga of Darren Shan'. Pretty weird feeling, but there's many adventures ahead!

This book was actually really balanced and just a tremendous way to begin an epic series. I'm actually impressed. It was certainly well thought out.

This book is actually really sad, one of the saddest in the series. Imagine having to fake your own death and listen to everyone around you sobbing over you. Lying to your own family all the while. Heavy indeed. Darren explaining all of his last moments with his family, and appreciating every detail was just super emotional. 😢

I'm struck by how much Steve believes that Darren betrayed him. I suppose in a way I could somewhat understand Steve's perspective, but ultimately he is being unreasonable. Steve was seemingly the leader of this friend group, kind of, so perhaps Darren being independent and adventuring off (from Steve's perspective) in a realm Steve has researched on irked him. I guess his heart was set on becoming a vampire and everything. Darren's secrecy about events and just watching Darren pretty much steal Steve's life goal must have been frustrating. It may have made Steve connect dots that weren't necessarily accurate. Also, the sheer shock of actually realizing vampires are real must have seriously blown his mind to an extent. But....

I think the main reasons Steve refused to listen to Darren are:

• Steve's family life and circumstances
• Steve being young
• Steve perhaps naturally being disagreeable and intense
• MR. TINY influencing Steve's perspective

Tragic, my dude. When I first read this book many moons ago, I didn't really take Steve very seriously. It's remarkable just how long Steve is sort of forgotten in this series after this first installment. I'm curious to get a better idea on how much time passes and if Steve is even mentioned in certain books before he's reintroduced later.

It's clear now though, that Steve was not going to fade away completely. This dude is determined and displays surprising knowledge and intelligence in this first book alone.

I also am surprised at how this series slowly showed Steve and Darren's friendship slowly split even before Steve was ever bitten by the spider.

I'm also surprised that Mr. Crepsley is as nice as he is so far. Well, there's still many books to read but I remember him being a bit more harsh. I'm sure there will be classic mentor/father figure moments that are annoying but we shall see. Maybe now that I'm older I'll understand Mr. Crepsley's perspective better.

Now I move on to the second installment. If I recall correctly, this was not one of my favorite books ever in the series but, it's of course still enjoyable enough, and necessary to get to know characters more and just deepen the plot etc. I'm going to enjoy it. Who knows when I'll read these books again.

On to book two... Let's GOOOO! 🌌🌃🌆😄😎🕷️