Cirque Du Freak #2: The Vampire's Assistant: Book 2 in the Saga of Darren Shan (Cirque Du Freak: Saga of Darren Shan)
What if you were an unwilling vampire? You needed to drink human blood  to stay alive, but you weren't some horror-flick villain; you wereyou,  born human--a nice person, even. Thus is the dilemma of the young  narrator-protagonist, Darren Shan, in this tremendously suspenseful,  oft-sickening sequel toCirque Du  Freak: The Saga of Darren Shan. In the first book, Darren becomes a  vampire's assistant to save the life of his friend Steve. In order to do so, he  has to fake his death, get buried alive, and head out--half-human, homeless, and  friendless--into the world.The Vampire's Assistantchronicles his new  lonely life as a half-vampire, pumped with the cursed blood of his vampire  guardian, Mr. Crepsley. Darren has much to learn about his freshly supernatural  state. He doesn't grow fangs, for instance, like he thought he might. And he  can't change shape or fly. Garlic just gives vampires bad breath... And they eat  bagels. Some of the hardest lessons of all come when he joins the traveling  freak show Cirque Du Freak, the show that got him and Steve in trouble in the  first place. Readers won't be disappointed by this fast-paced, gory, but  strangely amiable sequel. In fact, the plot is much better paced than the first  and the dialogue far more natural. Deadly pythons, a snake boy, Cormac Limbs  (bite off his finger and it grows back!), and an entire cast of dreadfully  creepy characters offer excitement beyond expectation. Along the way, we come to  really like Darren, who will do absolutely anything for a friend. British author  Darren Shan promises more adventures in 2002. (Ages 10 and older)--Karin  Snelson