This review for Cirque Du Freak, on the Books Let Us Escape blog, appeared earlier this year. It contains quite a long summation of the book, which will be handy for those of you who might now have read it in a while... :-)

https://booksletusescape.wordpress.com/2022/03/31/cirque-du-freak-by-darren-shan/

The reviewer first read the book when they were younger, and it's interesting to get their thoughts upon returning to it as an adult reader. I've read quite a few reviews and posts recently from people who've returned to the book many years after first encountering it, and they've all been extremely positive. When I was writing Cirque Du Freak, I was trying to appeal to both the child and adult within me, and write a book which could work as well for older readers as it could for its core, younger audience. I've always loved reading books for children and teenagers, and the very best ones can be equally enjoyed by adults. I hoped to hit that sweet spot and create a story which, first and foremost, would work for children, but which could also be savoured by parents and teachers, and even those children when they grew up and maybe returned to it to see how it held up. Retrospective reviews like this one make me feel very relieved that I wasn't wasting all that time and effort 25 years ago!!!! :-) :-) :-)