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This
is the
fourth
volume
in
Darren
Shan's
searingly
spooky
Cirque
Du Freak
series,
and the
first
episode
of an
adventure
in three
parts.
It has
the best
cover
yet,
showing
a castle
on a
peak
that
could be
in
Transylvania,
but is
actually
(of
course)
Vampire
Mountain.
The
story
begins
after
six
years of
stability
for
Darren,
following
his
defeat
of
Murlough,
the mad
vampaneze
in
Tunnels
of Blood.
Larten
Crepsley
and his
assistant
must
take the
gruelling
trip to
Vampire
Mountain,
in order
to
present
Darren
to the
Council
of
Vampire
Generals,
whose
rare
meetings
occur
only
every
twelve
years.
Despite
having
outgrown
their
friendship,
Ezra
(who has
aged at
a normal
rate)
helps
Darren
make
preparations.
Darren
is
somewhat
frustrated
at
remaining
in a
young
body for
so long,
after
calculating
that
it's now
going to
take him
thirty
years to
grow up!
The
sinister
Mr. Des
Tiny
(yes,
the name
probably
is
significant)
insists
on
sending
two
Little
People
(one of
whom is
Lefty)
as
guards.
It's a
toughening
trip
barefoot
through
snow, so
much so
that
Darren
even
looks
forward
to
sleeping
in a
coffin
at the
occasional
waystations
supplied
with
vampiric
essentials.
Along
the way,
Darren
and the
reader
learn a
great
deal
more
about
the code
of true
vampires,
and he
makes
new
friends,
in
particular
Streak
and
Rudi,
who are
sure to
be
prominent
in later
episodes.
Then
comes a
mystery
as the
travellers
find a
couple
of dead
bodies
(vampire
and
vampaneze).
Lefty
reveals
both his
real
name and
a
terrifying
message
for the
Vampire
Princes;
there
are
perilous
times
ahead
for
vampires,
whose
only
hope
lies in
the
Stone of
Blood.
Lefty
delivers
the
message
when
they
arrive
at the
mountain
and the
huge
(and
largely
unexplored)
system
of
caverns
and
tunnels
underneath
it.
There
are
amusing
episodes
involving
bat
broth
and
Darren's
cocky
challenge
to a
tough
female
vampire.
Darren
gets a
closer
acquaintance
with Mr.
Crepsley
through
the eyes
of an
old
teacher,
and
meets a
liberal
young
General
soon to
become a
Vampire
Prince -
Kurda
wants to
reconciliate
vampires
and
vampaneze.
There is
also a
mysterious
race
under
the
mountain,
the
Guardians,
'thin
and
ill-looking
with
lank
hair and
rags for
clothes;
their
skin was
deathly
pale and
dry, and
their
eyes
were an
eerie
white
color.'
Then
comes
the
showdown,
when Mr.
Crepsley
has to
account
to the
Vampire
Princes
for
breaking
the
rules by
blooding
a
child.
Unfortunately
Larten
does not
have a
good
explanation
and is
in great
danger
until
his
assistant
accepts
a
challenge
on his
behalf.
But
Darren
soon
finds
out he
has
agreed
to take
the
Trials
of
Initiation,
which
have
defeated
even
full
vampires
after
years of
preparation,
and that
the
penalty
for
failure
is a
gruesome
death.
We
leave
our
tough
young
hero in
the
cliffhanger
realization
of what
he has
let
himself
in for
(an
extract
of the
upcoming
Trials
of Death
makes it
even
more
clear).
Though
this
volume
isn't as
compelling
as
Tunnels
of Blood,
my sons
still
gulped
it down
in a few
hours of
nonstop
reading
and we
were all
left
anxious
to read
the rest
of the
adventure,
culminating
in #6:
The
Vampire
Prince.
http://www.bookloons.com/cgi-bin/Review.asp?bookid=2143 |
