Online Shopping Store for Expats in China
www.a-store.cn
 |
 |
[MP3-CD audiobook format in Vinyl case. NOTE: The MP3-CD format requires a compatible audio CD player.]
[*Young Adult Fiction]
[Read by Ralph Lister]
In the fourth book of the bestselling 'Cirque du Freak' series, Darren Shan begins a grueling, three-part adventure (The Vampire Rites Trilogy).
Darren has settled into life as a vampire's assistant and feels at home in the Cirque du Freak. But now he must leave the freak show and his friends behind. With Mr. Crepsley as a traveling companion, he embarks on a dangerous trek to the very heart of the vampire world. But they face more than the cold on Vampire Mountain -- the vampaneze have been there before them. -- Will a meeting with the Vampire Princes restore Darren's human side or turn him further toward the darkness? Only one thing is certain: Darren's initiation into the vampire clan is more deadly than he can ever have imagined. --This text refers to the Preloaded Digital Audio Player edition.Product details
Series: Saga of Darren Shan (Book 4)
Paperback: 176 pages
Publisher: Collins; English Language edition (2001)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0007114419
ISBN-13: 978-0007114412
Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 0.4 x 7.8 inches
Shipping Weight: 5 ounces
Average Customer Review: 4.5 star See all reviews (104 customer reviews)
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,874,225 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)#90781 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Horror
More about the author
Darren Shan's real name is Darren O'Shaughnessy (pronounced O-Shock-Nessy, though it can also be pronounced O-Shawn-Essy or O-Shan-essy). Although he is Irish, he was born in 1972 in London. He moved to Limerick in Ireland with his parents and younger brother when he was six, and has lived there ever since.
Darren always wanted to be a writer. He bought his first typewriter when he was fourteen and never looked back. He enjoyed his first taste of literary success at fifteen, as a runner-up in a television script-writing competition for RTE in Ireland, with a dark comedy script titled A Day in the Morgue.
Darren was seventeen when he finished his first (unpublished) novel, and wrote lots more unpublished novels over the next several years. All of his early books were adult-oriented. Although Darren liked the idea of writing a children's book one day, he considered himself an adult writer first and foremost, and his initial breakthrough was with an adult book, in 1999, titled Ayuamarca (since re-released as Procession Of The Dead).
In January 2000, Darren's first children's book, Cirque du Freak, was published. The first book in a series titled the Cirque du Freak series (The Saga of Darren Shan in the UK), it attracted rave reviews and an ever-growing army of fans known as the Shansters! For the next several years Darren focused exclusively on his books for younger readers. First, he wrote a total of twelve books about vampires.
He followed up his vampire saga with The Demonata, a series about demons. Running to ten books in total, The Demonata cemented Shan's place as the Master Of Children's Horror.
Then came The Thin Executioner, a one-off fantasy novel, which Darren has cited as his favourite out of all his books.
Next he wrote The Saga Of Larten Crepsley, a four book prequel series to his original vampire saga.
Most recently Darren has written about zombies, in the twelve book Zom-B series. He also wrote a short, tie-in ebook called Zom-B Circus.
There was a very successful manga adaptation of Shan's vampire series, drawn by the Japanese artist, Takahiro Arai. It was originally serialized in Japan, but collected volumes are now on sale in the USA, UK and other countries.
In addition to writing for children, Darren has published a number of books for adults, starting with The City Trilogy, comprising Procession Of The Dead, Hell's Horizon and City Of The Snakes.
He followed up the trilogy with a one-off supernatural thrilled called Lady Of The Shades, only available in the USA as an import.
After that he started publishing his adult books under the name of Darren Dash.
By 2016, Darren's books were on sale in every continent, in 39 countries, in 31 languages, and have been children's bestsellers in America, Britain, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway and other countries. The books have topped adult bestseller charts in Hungary, Japan and Taiwan. In total, Shan's books have sold over twenty-five million copies worldwide.
The movie rights to Cirque Du Freak were bought by Universal, and the first movie (which combined elements from the first three books in the series) was released in October 2009, starring newcomer Chris Massoglia as Darren Shan, along with a wide array of established stars such as Josh Hutcherson, John C Reilly, Salma Hayek, Willem Defoe and Ken Watanabe. The movie was called Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant. It was released on DVD and Blu-Ray in February 2010.
A big film buff, with a collection of more than four thousand movies at home, Darren also reads lots of comics and books, and likes to study and collect original artwork, especially comic art and impressionist and post-impressionist art. Other interests include long walks, watching soccer (he's a Tottenham Hotspur and Ireland fan), listening to pop and rock music, theatre, worldwide travel, sampling the delights of both gourmet cuisine and finger-licking junk food, and dreaming up new ways to terrify his readers!
Darren spends most of his time in Limerick, Ireland, with his wife Bas and son Dante.
Darren's web site: https://www.darrenshan.com
Darren's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/darrenshanofficial
Darren's Twitter page: https://twitter.com/darrenshanEditorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
The Cirque Du Freak saga continues with book four, Vampire Mountain by Darren Shan. Here, fans find Darren and Mr. Crepsley on a trip to the very seat of the bloodsuckers' empire, where a meeting with the Vampire Princes puts Darren in a precarious position. Ages 10-up.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Preloaded Digital Audio Player edition.From School Library Journal
Grade 5-8-Darren Shan, the loquacious vampire's assistant, narrates another blood-and-guts tale. Having tracked a horror-movie-stereotype vampire in their previous adventure, Darren and his master, Larten Crepsley, take another hiatus from the bizarre circus of the series title to make a pilgrimage to the Halls of Vampire Mountain to meet with the generals and princes in charge. The peregrinators are accompanied by a pair of ugly, speechless Little People who carry an ominous message for the council from their "old as time itself" master, Mr. Tiny. The road is perilous, of course, and getting to their destination is only half of the problem. Darren's biggest challenge, following a run-in with a crazed grizzly bear and a foolhardy confrontation with a rare, Xena-like vampiress, comes in defending his maker, the one who inexplicably violated the proscription against blooding a child. While the previous trio of "Cirque du Freak" books could each relatively stand alone, this fourth entry marks a definite transition, a critical segue into adventures to come that will revolve around Mr. Tiny's foreboding and Darren's impending Trials of Initiation (book nine is already in the works in the U.K.). The book ends with a "to be continued-" teaser along with an excerpt from the next book.
John Sigwald, Unger Memorial Library, Plainview, TX
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Preloaded Digital Audio Player edition.Customer Reviews
4.0 star
Intriguing!
ByAliciaon June 6, 2016|Verified Purchase
This book had elements that were good, but again, it felt just like a setup to something bigger. In this case, it’s obvious. (It’s in the title of the next book. No spoilers here.) All the same, I liked it. (But really. All four of these books have felt like setups for some big plot. There are parts that definitely hint at it, and this book has the biggest reveal yet, but no real action so far.)
In any case, the journey to Vampire Mountain is dangerous, but a few notable things happen. Darren makes friends with wolves. I loved this especially because Darren really cares about the wolves and animals in general. You can tell. He’s reluctant to leave them. He even goes after a bear to protect a wolf cub. It’s crazy. Bears are dangerous, man. But I liked what they added to the story.
One of my favorite parts was with one of the Little People sent to escort them by Mr. Tiny. We learn a whole lot more about them. Again, no spoilers, but I love it. They’re fascinating.
Vampire Mountain is pretty cool in its own way. Vampires are a bit stuffy and prefer to be primitive and stick to tradition, but they still have a pretty cool way of life. Wouldn’t fancy it myself, but it’s fun to read about. We also meet a lot of new people.
Then of course there’s the big reveal that makes it pretty clear what the main plot is going to be of the next several books (if not all of them). We don’t get many answers or much information, but it’s intriguing enough. And then Darren has his own quest to fulfill first. I look forward to reading about that next.
See the full review on my blog, Awesome Book Assessment: [...[
5.0 star
My Son's Favorite Series
ByMelinda Cummingson March 21, 2013|Verified Purchase
My son loved reading the Curque Du Freak series in middle school. Now that he is a soldier serving in Afghanistan, he asked me to send him the series to enjoy anew. Perhaps he wanted a little slice of his carefree childhood back, or maybe he just remembered what a spellbinding, mesmerizing story Shan weaves. Whatever the case, I was happy to find each book in the series on Amazon and send it to him in a care package for Christmas.
Any series that can appeal to both a middle school 12-year-old and a soldier in the US Army has merit in my book. I was further pleased that, although used, the condition of the book was like new.
5.0 star
Cirque Du Freak series
ByD. R. Pittson July 10, 2010|Verified Purchase
Love love love this vampire-based book series. I am a 58 year old female, however, I have always enjoyed "boy" type, action based fiction books as a reader. What I found about the entire Cirque Du Freak series, however, was that it was not JUST about being a vampire, or a member of a Freak Show. It teaches about loyalty and friendship; what a real 'family' is, even without the blood-relation.
In fact, I was so smitten with this series (Mr Shan, are listening?), that I made a gift of all my books to a then 11-year-old friend, because I was confident there was little to no swearing of any consequence, no real sexual content, but a good wholesome and fun teaching story definitely well-worth my time and my young friend's.
Hours and hours of good reading fun and miles of smiles afterward. I cannot wait to read more from Darren Shan.
5.0 star
Is Darren Worthy of the Vampire Clan?
ByJarrod T Thompsonon January 25, 2005|Verified Purchase
Darren Shan wins again in the fourth installment of this addictive series. I challenge anyone who has read one of the books in the series to claim that anything else was on their mind until reading the next book in the series...and the next, next, next...
Vampire Mountain presents several new twists and pieces of information that add even more intrigue to an already addictive and entertaining series.
We learn more about little people and tons more about the ways of vampires. This book is a setup for the next in the series which occurs four hours after the end of this book.
The biggest and most important part of this piece of the series is the news of what is on the horizon of the clan's future and their biggest challenge ever--The Vampaneze...I will say no more as I do not want to spoil the experience.
This series is brilliant. What a fantastic and creative journey!
5.0 star
good
ByBrad Lovett Cohenon October 26, 2014|Verified Purchase
I love this series and I can only imagine what I will do when I'm finished it. I can't really say anything without giving anything away. All I can say though is it will surprise you. I am so glad I got Devin, Courtney, Zack, Daniel and maybe Mr.C reading this series. I hope they all love it as much as I do, and as always I can't wait to start the next one!
5.0 star
MY GRANDSON LOVES THIS SERIES.....
Bymeshlaon May 19, 2014|Verified Purchase
He asked me for for the first two of the series, and has read all but the last two.It is so great to see him really enjoy reading a real book that isn't on his computer. A friend of mine recommended them to him because her teenage niece really enjoyed them so much. It is such a pleasure to see him "hooked on books",as my daughter and I to read, too.
5.0 star
Great series
ByMS1971on March 20, 2013|Verified Purchase
Bought this book for my 13year old boy who doesn't like to read. He now is interested and asking for the next book in the series!
5.0 star
... more for young teens but it is a really good book for all ages
ByAmyon April 27, 2016|Verified Purchase
i thought this would be more for young teens but it is a really good book for all ages. its exciting, sad, scary, and it keeps you wanting more a very good book!!
Attribute []
Bought notes(bought amounts latest0)
No one bought this product
User Comment(Total0User Comment Num)
- No comment
