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Cirque du Freak: Vampire Mountain

The novel follows the story of Darren Shan, a half-vampire who works and travels with a freak show called the Cirque du Freak. Along with his mentor and guardian Mr. Crepsley who is a full vampire. The cirque is full of different kinds of freaks, from people who can eat anything to people with green and scaly skin. The freak show is always traveling so it is never at one place at one time. The story starts off with Darren packing bags for a long trip that him and Mr. Crepsley are headed to, when Mr. Tiny, the head of the circus, forces Mr. Crepsley to take two Little People with them on their journey. Little People are a race of people that are incredibly strong and always wear hoods and who are supposedly are not able to speak. Darren sets off on his journey to Vampire Mountain where he will meet the Vampire Princes. On their way they find way stations where they stop for a day and rest, while at one they find three coffins to rest in but one of the coffins is smashed and broken apart with the blood of a vampire on the floor. The two are confused as to what could have happened there when all of a sudden Darren is grabbed around his throat but then Mr. Crepsley leaped and sliced at the hand of the man who had hold of Darren and later was revealed he is one of his old friends - Mr. Gavner. After the incident Mr. Gavner goes along with the group to Vampire Mountain. One day when they decide to rest for the day Darren goes to a nearby river to have a drink where he also makes friends with a pack of wolves by accident. Later Darren learns that vampires and wolves are like brothers from Mr. Crepsley.

As the days go by Darren is soon attacked by a bear. Darren kills the bear but in the process one of the Little People are killed. Mr. Crepsley and Mr. Gavner then find out that the reason the bear attacked them was because it drank the blood of a vampaneze, the enemies of the vampires. Their blood is considered poisonous so the bear would have died anyway. At that moment the other Little Person was the first Little Person to ever talk. The Little Person had a message for the Princes, a message that says “The night of the Vampaneze Lord is at hand” (Shan 73). Mr. Crepsley and Mr. Gavner are left speechless while Darren doesn’t have a clue as to what the message means.

A few hours later the group finds the dead body of the vampaneze the bear had bitten out of, at that moment Mr. Crepsley and Mr. Gavner think that the vampaneze may be trying to break into Vampire Mountain. A couple days later they all arrive at Vampire Mountain shortly after entering Mr. Crepsley meets his old teacher Seba Nile. Later on Darren meets the best female vampire fighter at Vampire Mountain Arra Sails and tries to fight her. He comes close to beating her but loses in the end. A few days later Mr. Crepsley and Darren are called into the Hall of the Princes where Mr. Crepsley is “punished” for blooding a child. Instead of him being punished though, one of the princes suggests to challenge Darren. Nobody disagrees with the idea and Darren excepts to the trials when later on he finds out that the only way out of the trials is by dying in a trial or being executed painfully by being dropped into a pit full of stakes.

Characters
Darren Shan is a half-vampire who regrets ever becoming one Mr. Larten Crepsley, a full vampire, is Darren’s teacher and guardian Harkat Mulds, the only known Little Person to ever speak, accompanies Darren Mr. Gavner Purl, a general in the council of vampires, is an old friend of Mr. Crepsley’s Seba Nile is Mr. Crepsley old mentor and teacher Arra Sails, one of few female vampires, is an expert fighter Kurda Smahlt, a pacifist, is the only map maker at Vampire Mountain Vanez Blane is a fighting coach for vampire generals Mr. Desmond Tiny, head of the Cirque du Freak

Reception
Vampire Mountain received mostly negative reviews. Kirkus reviews thought the novel “lost whatever freshness it once had.” They said that the author “commits cardinal sin of the gross-out horror genre by being boring.” The reviewers also thought that “nothing happens in this,” and that “even the most devoted fans will feel cheated.” “Slipshod writing, banal characterization, pedestrian pacing, and overly telegraphed foreshadowing” are other problems the reviewers thought the book had. The reviewers think that the book is “Utter dreck.” The School Library Journal was having same thoughts, they thought that some characters were “horror-movie-stereotypes”, and that the “previous trio of books could stand alone” from this book. The Canadian Review Of Materials was thinking otherwise, they thought that the book was a “fast paced page turner.” The book apparently “keeps readers involved,” and that people who have read the books before this one that it “will undoubtedly find this an excellent continuation.” This reviewer also “Highly Recommended” this book at the end of the article.

Style
Vampire Mountain is written in a “to be continued...” teaser at the end of the book, along with an excerpt from the next book. Resources -