Birth of a Killer (Saga of Larten Crepsley, book 1)
By Darren Shan
The highly anticipated prequel to the New York Times bestselling Cirque Du Freak series!
Before Cirque Du Freak...
Before the war with the vampaneze...
Before he was a vampire.
Larten Crepsley was a boy.
As a child laborer many centuries ago, Larten Crepsley did his job well and without complaint, until the day the foreman killed his cousin as an example to the other children.
In that moment, young Larten flies into a rage that the foreman wouldn't survive. Forced on the run, he sleeps in crypts and eats cobwebs to get by. And when a vampire named Seba offers him protection and training as a vampire's assistant, Larten takes it.
This is his story.
Review:
As a prequel, this book is great fun to read but as a stand alone series, it doesn't perform too well. However since it is intended to be a prequel, I think it's pretty good. I didn't know what to expect when I picked it up, I just knew I wanted to know more about Mr Crepsley as he was such a strong mysterious character in the Darran Shan Saga. I didn't expect the book to take a third-party biography perspective. It was done well though, as it felt like the retelling of his life by a mixture of chronological short stories.
The book begins with explaining the day he met the vampire Seba Nile (a character from the previous series) and how that changed his life. Even though it was a short story and it quickly fast forward a few years, this was by far one of my favourite origin stories. I believe I was about 5 chapters in and it already took such a dark turn that it's hard to believe this series was intended for a young audience.
*SPOILERS*
Only a few chapters in, the reader is exposed to a tragic death of Larten Crepsley's cousin when they were only little kids! This caused Larten to head down the path of vampires. As book intro goes, I don't think I've read one as thrilling as this.
Another thing, I love about this book is how fast Darren Shan throws in the characters from the previous series and hits you right in the nostalgic feels. Seba Nile is the first of the characters to be introduced, as the Master to Larten Crepsley. Although his character seems a lot stricter and very different to his portrayal in the previous series, he still warms my heart to see. I believe he's meant to look angry to show his ageing into his softness with Darren Shan.
A problem I do find with the series is that everything happens too fast. One second he is a young boy the next he's a full vampire in Vampire Mountain. It's a lot to take in from a short book. However, it can be forgiven since vampires have such long lives that there is still plenty of stories to tell.
The book ends where Seba Nile leaves his two vampire apprentices to fend for themselves among the cubs. These are group of vogue vampires who are trying to get the most of the Human world before fully committing to the vampires. Book 2 picks up a few years later while still with the cubs. This will be a later blog post, so subscribe to see when it gets posted.
I really enjoyed this book and currently enjoying the second. My only critique is that the story is a bit rush and there doesn't seem to be any overall plot but who knows that may change.
Check out my blog on book 2: Ocean of Blood
written by Lauren
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