Yuki Nakamura’s Reviews > Cirque Du Freak: A Living Nightmare > Status Update

In this installment, Darren reluctantly becomes a vampire’s apprentice for the sake of his friend; he then fakes his own death and leaves his hometown. Afterward, he accompanies Crepsley, but insists on living without consuming human blood—choosing instead to drink the blood of animals.

Characters：Darren, Steve, Crepsley.
The story begins when Darren visits a strange circus, where he discovers that none of the performers are human. Despite knowing this, Darren steals a venomous spider, nearly killing his best friend as a result. Afterwards, Darren becomes a vampire's apprentice to obtain a drug, and then fakes his own suicide to disappear from town.

Conflict : Character v. character
This is because, although it was to protect his friend, he ended up having to become a vampire and leave the human world behind. Furthermore, to avoid the suspicion that would arise from his sudden disappearance, Crepsley had Darren—now a vampire—consume a powerful anesthetic, then broke his neck and made it appear as though he had fallen from the balcony and died.

Prediction: I think he will become a vampire.
The reason is that he deeply values ​​his friends. If Crepsley were to tell him that becoming a vampire would save his friend, he wouldn't simply refuse. The second reason is his sense of responsibility; I believe he will become a vampire out of fear that his friend might die because of a mistake he made—specifically, his pet venomous spider biting his friend.

I believe that Darren Shan himself is the one telling this story. This is because the book describes exactly what he was thinking and when, and he refers to himself as "I" when recounting his actions. Most notably, early on, he writes, "I am now going to tell you about things that actually happened to me."

Protagonist: Darren Shan
He has a relatively gentle personality and is well-liked by everyone. However, he also has a slightly mischievous side and loves spiders. His best friend is Steve, who is Darren's only true friend.

This time, I'm going to tell you about my trip to the circus with my friend Steve. There were all sorts of creatures there, like werewolves and people with long limbs. But Darren has loved spiders since he was a child, so he was interested in Madame Octa, who had a powerful venom. When the circus ended, Steve said he wanted to talk to Crespree, the circus's leader, and disappeared into the darkness.

The chapter I'm currently reading is about the protagonist hesitating about whether or not to go to a mysterious circus show.