Usually it can be quite cringeworthy when an author writes themselves, or a version of themselves, into a novel. However Darren Shan’s The Vampire’s Assistant saga featuring the conventional teenage protagonist, Darren Shan, is a far cry from cringeworthy.
When reading the first instalment of the saga, Cirque du Freak, you are invited into the mundane world of teenager Darren Shan - ordinary life, ordinary grades, ordinary friends; well except for Steve...
...and then there’s the whole Vampire’s Assistant thing. As the saga goes on and Darren’s life is changed forever (literally forever) not only do you discover the dark world of Vampirism (or Vampaneze-ism) but also the time old, logistical world of vampires and their council, as well as the community of loveable freaks who give the novel so much life.
With so many turns and plot twists to make you dizzy, Darren Shan has created a reality inside the one we live in. He chooses to end the series (in the 12th and final instalment, Sons of Destiny) in an incredible yet clever manner so that we can’t really afford not to believe in the vampire world laid out before us.
- Buy this book at the Guardian Bookshop
