Darren Shan has been made a half-vampire by Mr Crepsley, but the Cirque Du Freak holds more unpleasant surprises for the vampire's assistant.

Darren joins the vampire, Mr Crepsley, as his assistant and they return to the Cirque Du Freak. There, Darren makes friends with the snake-boy, Evra Von (who knows what Darren is) and a local boy, Sam, and RV, an eco-warrior and animal lover (who do not). Darren begins to enjoy his life among the Cirque performers as the youngest half-vampire in existence, but he defiantly refuses to drink human blood - the whole idea sickens him - and he tries desperately to cling on to the part of him which is human.

Darren comes face to face with pure evil in the form of Mr Tiny, the leader of the Little People who join the Cirque Du Freak, and who eat anything - including human flesh. When he discovers animal bones, RV frees the wolf-man from his cage - and no-one could possibly guess how truly terrible the whole effect would be.

This is volume 2 in Saga Of Darren Shan .

This book has been graded for interest at 9-11 years.

There are 176 pages in this book. This book was published 2011 by HarperCollins Publishers .

Darren Shan is the New York Times bestselling author of Cirque Du Freak and The Demonata, whose novels have sold over 15 million copies worldwide. Darren lives in Ireland, where he writes and collects art, comics, and film.