A Living Nightmare by Darren Shan

And thus begins Materials for Adolescents.  It’s an easy read: sentences, word choices and everything.  Darren is definitely an average teen.  To me this book actually reads almost more like the pilot episode of a television series.  There is danger and things happen but you are definitely left with the sense that it is just the beginning.  Darren and Steve are best friends but their trip to the dangerous Cirque du Freak will change both their lives.  The book is fast paced with a definite adrenaline.  If you’re worried about it being gruesome.  I would say it is as gruesome as it needs to be to fit the story and keep it interesting, but really it isn’t any worse than if as bad as Goosebumps books.  I think also to any concerned parent it should be pointed out that these boys face consequences and sure one of them goes on to become a vampire’s apprentice, but the scene when he was leaving nearly made me cry.  The vampire chose him because he was smart and not a killer.  It leaves you with such a cliffhanger I want to know what happens in the rest of the series but I definitely do not have time to find out now.