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Cirque du Freak: A Living Nightmare
- The Saga of Darren Shan, Book 1
- Narrated by: Ralph Lister
- Length: 5 hrs and 34 mins
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Cirque du Freak: A Living Nightmare
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Summary
In the tradition of Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes and Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot, New York Times best-seller Cirque du Freak is the first title in the popular Saga of Darren Shan series.
Darren Shan and his best friend, Steve, get tickets to the Cirque du Freak, a wonderfully gothic freak show featuring weird, frightening half human/half animals who interact terrifyingly with the audience. In the midst of the excitement, true terror raises its head when Steve recognizes that one of the performers - Mr. Crepsley - is a vampire!
Steve confronts the vampire after the show finishes - but his motives are surprising! In the shadows of a crumbling theater, a horrified Darren eavesdrops on his friend and the vampire, and is witness to a monstrous, disturbing plea. As if by destiny, Darren is pulled to Mr. Crepsley and what follows is his horrifying descent into the dark and bloody world of vampires.
This is Darren’s story.
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What listeners say about Cirque du Freak: A Living Nightmare
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Dré3k
- 20-02-22
Childhood classic
Loved this series as a early-teen. Even met Mr Shan a few times in bookshops and enjoyed a couple of live readings from him too.
Has been over 15 years since I last read this story and it holds up surprisingly well.
Solid story without too much young adult nonsense to induce cringing. Great all-round performance from the narrator.
Looking forward to the rest.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 25-01-23
Fun but a patchy performance
A slower start to the series than I had remembered, but still fun. The reading performance really put me off at first - much too childish than the material deserves - but it did get better towards the end.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- kim b.
- 26-04-22
Loved this book
Takes me back to my younger days when I read this series. Amazing narrative well done
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Maria Bennett
- 16-01-24
Nostalgia that holds up
I was 7 when I first read this book and started the series over 20 years ago, beyond excited that I stumbled across it on audible. Holds up, interesting characters and very well narrated.
Looking forward to finishing the series again, it’s like meeting up with old friends.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mohammed Sadat
- 11-05-24
Decent
The story has always been good but the narration isn’t on par with what I thought it would be. Bit too heavy in posh accents for adults for whatever reason
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Louis-Sebastian
- 27-08-16
Stephen King meets Harry Potter
I am so excited to continue this series after this book. The story could trim a little fat and unessesery suspense slows down a otherwise fast paced and refreshing story. I can't say now, but it looks like this is a series I'll be reading for my kids one day, along with lotr and hp series. Give it a go!
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9 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Norma Miles
- 29-06-22
"Real life is nasty, it's cruel."
Simply and very effectively written in the first person from the point of view of young Darren Shan, who secretly goes with his best school mate, Steve, to see the illegal Cirque th Cream when it comes to town. Scared but fascinated, they watch the acts but when it ends, Steve wants to stay behind to speak with one of the performers he is certain he recognises.
The book is read by Ralph Lister, his pleasantly youthful voice well paced and modulated. He sounds just as a young boy telling his story might sound: a fine performance.
This is a great book for young tweenies and teenagers, and pretty good for older readers, too, with a real sense of danger running through it. This was my first encounter with Darren Shan and although not often a lover of horror stories, I enjoyed it enormously: it has the feel of a comic book brought to real life. I will definitely be reading more of the series which can be downloaded for free through Audible +. Thank you, Audible.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- JK
- 12-07-22
A return to my childhood
I read the books of this series as a child starting when I was ten. This listen was an amazing nostalgia trip to the time when I found the book very exciting and scary.
The reader on this entry is simply amazing! really capturing the characters.
I'll reduce the one star from story due to the Americanization of it. I read the original in my own language and loved when everything was so vague about the setting, the time period, the country that the story takes place but in this version you can tell it's made for an American audience.
Nevertheless, an absolute must read/listen and a massive recommendation from me!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- MartyMcfly
- 12-12-22
My review of “Cirque du Freak”.
I would give this book a five star review overall, but actors could be a bit more enthusiastic.
I like the actor of Mr Crepsley, and the way he performed.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 15-08-22
Cirque du Freak: A Living Nightmare
This is the best book series ever this is so interesting and addicting. I can’t think of anything bad. I love it!!!
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