Larten Crepsley and his cousin Vur Horsten stuck together like glue. Living in a poor family of many children is difficult, especially due to the time era. Because of their poverty, Larten and vur work as child labourers at a silk making factory. In the factory to tell where each child should be at which job, they die the children's hair. Larten and Vur both ended up with an unnatural shade of orange. While at their job, they are under the watful eye of a brutal man who likes to beat the children for doing anything out of line. On one particular day, he chooses to take his wrath out on Larten's cousin Vur. After holding Vur's head in a vat of water until he drowned, Larten became insane with rage and attacked the brute, slicing his throat clean open with an unknown object he found on the floor. Frightened by his bloody deed and labeled a murderer, Larten fled. He ran until he was no longer able to, and when a heavy rain washed over him in the cold of the night, he took shelter in a nearby cemetery inside a crypt, eating spiderwebs to fill his starving stomach. There, he meets Seba Nile, and elderly man that tells the boy he is a creature of the night, a vampire, and that Larten may join him as his apprentice if he wishes to. That night Larten would have to choose between an immortal life and his humanity. And there is no going back...

By now nearly everyone knows the story of Darren Shan, a young half vampire under the service of master Larten Crepsley. But readers do not know Mr. Crepsley's story. The author Darren Shan fixes this particular problem with his new set of books coming out, the first one being titled, "Birth of a Killer." The book was fast paced, not watered down, and exciting, following in Darren Shan's traditional style of writing. While there is not an incredible amount of action in the first book, the series is looking very promising.

I picked this book up because I read everything by Darren Shan. I finished this book because it was a quick read and was also a great read! I'd give this book to any Darren Shan fan or anyone who is a bit bored with pansy vampires.

**** Really liked it!