These Darren Shan books are very popular with my Japanese Junior High School students in translation. For a long time I actually thought these books were Japanese because of the publisher’s ploy of having Darren Shan, the main character from the books, credited as the author. Because I couldn’t see an author listed on the book cover, I simply assumed the Japanese translator was the author. Then, when I found these books in the English section of the bookstore, I decided to by a copy to find out what my students were so excited about. (I’m not sure if these books are as popular back home as they are in Japan. Perhaps someone who works with Junior High school kids could fill me in).
These books are fantasy adventure/ horror books aimed at the young adult market. When I was a kid I avoided these kinds of books like the plague. What could be worse than a horror book that adults had actually approved for kids?
And yet there’s some pretty frank stuff in here. Maybe the standards have changed since I was a kid. There are mildly graphic description of a vampire getting his intestines ripped out, a kid eaten alive by a wolfman, and a misguided environmentalist who tries to free the wolfman and gets his arms bitten off. (That will teach those dirty hippies.) Several of the main characters meet with gruesome ends, which adds a bit of suspense to the book. When a character is in danger he is really in danger. You can’t assume everything will turn out all right because it’s a children’s book.
What kills this book is the infantile style. Maybe it’s unfair to harp on a children’s book for stylistic concerns, but even when compared with other young adult books like “Harry Potter”, it really falls flat. The characters in “Vampire Blood Trilogy” talk like they’re in a book. Especially the children characters, all of whom have extremely flat dialogue. The principal characters often do stupid things apparently just for the point of creating conflict and advancing the plot.
Because of the bare bones style, it’s an easy read. But it’s broken into lots of short chapters two or three pages long, which makes it jarring to read too much of in one sitting.
Although this collection is referred to as a trilogy, there is no over arching story arc to connect these three stories. Rather they are just the first 3 stories in a larger series, combined into a trilogy edition for publishing reasons. I have to admit I’m somewhat curious to find how the series turns out, but these books are so poorly written that I doubt if I'll keep reading. If I end up reading further into the series, rest assured I'll review the other books on this blog.
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2 comments:
Hi. I've read 1 through 10 in the Darren Shan saga, and i'm in Jr. High, so...yeah, I would agree that the author has a very unique way of how things fit together in the series. I really enjoy reading these books, and own quite a few. Almost every single person, I've met, that reads these books has said that they love them, and would love to meet the Author.
I really can't wait for "Sons of Destiny" to come out!
And, also I have to disagree on one thing. I think Darren Shan is an excellent writer, and keeps the readers on edge. It may just be me, but He's probably one of the best Authors I know! But that's just my opinion....so, yeah.
This is just my honest opinion but I think Darren Shan did a really good job in showing each character's colors and characteristics. Despite the fact that the book is easy to read, I think it is well painted and very vivid. The "stupid" acts Darren makes shows how he is just a kid. I felt slightly unsure when I read the first "trilogy" but the follwing three or four books were well made and I got sucked into the plot. I recommend you stick to this series for a little longer. I trust you it's going to end in a very satifying way!!
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