Recensione su BookLover

Larten lives with his family and spends his days earning his keep in a workhouse. His only joy is spending his time with his cousin, Vur, and he doesn't expect to do much in his life but grow up and start a family of his own.
This all changes when Larten has to escape his town (and old life) forever. Sad, hungry, and desperate, he finds refuge in a crypt, and his life takes a turn for the best (or worse) when he meets Seba Nile.

I have to admit I like this first book in the Saga of Larten Crepsley much more than I liked andy of the Cirque du Freak books (apart from Vampire Mountain, that is still at the top!). The reason is very simple: I like the style and mood much better! As the SoLC is written for an older audience, the whole story is more serious and has a harsher description of the things that go on. I do wonder how scarier the life of Darren would've seemed to me if Darren Shan had used such a tone. Probably, I would love it even more than I do currently (and I'm kind of obsessed, so...). As for this book, the early life of Mister Crepsley, the old grumpy vampire we all must admit to having a crush on, it does not disappoint.

Apart from the writing, which I obviously loved so much I had to mention it first when I usually mention it at the bottom of my reviews, the story is REALLY interesting. Not only we see Larten's life as an apprentice and an early Vampire, but we see how different he was in his youth and how his life shaped him to become a Vampire of good standing. His life as a human was not easy, of course... I shudder at the only thought! But his life as a future member of the clan is way more difficult: his mixed blood and his headstrong personality surely don't help.
As the other fans keep talking of Vur and "uncle" Wester (an inside joke which is kind of a spoiler but not really), I was very pleased to meet them.
Vur, we met sparingly, and yet I could see why he made such an impression on the fandom, especially because of his role in Larten's story. Wester, I'm sure I'll get more accustomed to in the following books. As of now, I'm not that impressed.
And then, the star of the show! Seba Nile himself! Oh, how I wanted to see what kind of a master he was and how he taught his apprentices how to be vampires. In the books about Darren, we have some talk, and I admit I was disappointed to not see any nose hair pulling. Okay, yes, I am cruel. But I would've laughed my ass off.
Seba is so patient and nice, I am so sorry to know what future (or DesTiny?) has in store for him...

These prequel books seem like they're gonna give us a lot of background for Larten and the (then young) Vampires that we saw in Cirque du Freak, and honestly, I can't wait to read more!

What did you think of Larten's story? Did you like the difference in tone between the Larten books and the Darren books? Let me know down below!
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Before I right a review I'll tell you a story. I was there when Darren Shan first said he would be doing The Saga of Larten Crepsley . He was doing a small signing/reading/Q&A at a local children's theater near to me, so me and my best friend of the time (who lent me my first Darren Shan book) decided to go. Well at the start he told us that at the end of it he would read a chapter from his new 4 part series. As the Q&A come around lots of people were asking questions about possible films and what had happened to some characters. Well as I've always loved him and he was my favourite from the off, I asked if he had ever thought about doing a stand alone book about Larten Crepsley in his younger years, before the circus and maybe before and how he became a vampire. He said that it was a possibility, only to later go on and read a chapter from what would later be Birth of A Killer. After, when it came to the book signing, he couldn't stop laughing at me because my question left the perfect set up for his reading. And later emailed me to say thank you. (Yes, I did go all spazz fan girl arfter haha)

Growing up I didn't read much. From the moment I first read The Saga of Darren Shan I knew that things wouldn't be the same. It didn't take me long to connect with characters or to get the aching for more feeling you get at the end of a really wonderful. Basically those books made me who I am today.
Its taken me a long time to read this book because it came out when my little girl was still young, so I just didn't have the time, that and I think having to wait for his books before I thought it would be best till they were all out, knowing I would breeze through them haha. I don't think I could take the pain of waiting again. Reading it today brought back all those feelings I had when I was 12/13 and so many happy memories along with it.

Warning: May contain spoilers

I could not put this book down and smiled from ear to ear while reading it. Why? because Darren had brought back a lot of old characters from The Saga of Darren Shan such as Vancha, Paris, Evanna, Seba and Mr. Tall, Mr. Tiny and Murlough. Even though some of them were only mentioned it still made me smile remembering all I had read when I was a teenager.
At first I was a bit worried about this book. Even though its something I've dreamed about since I finished Sons of Destiny, I was concerned in case Darren had lost touch with the characters, forgotten what made them great. I am thankful he didn't and curse myself for doubting him in the first place.

I think the thing I loved most about this book was that young Larten is so much like young Darren. Head strong and determined. His relationship with Seba is very much like his with Darren's and I'd be lying if I said it didn't warm my heart. Seba is strict with his assistant, always correcting his grammar and making him rebel against him, thinking its his own decision when really its what he wanted all along. He's very hard on him but deep down loves him like a son.
I love the introduction of Wester, Seba's other assistant, how they went up against Murlough when Wester wanted revenge. He's a nice addition to the family, someone Crepsley can turn to when he's second guessing Seba and trust. Something his hasn't had other than Seba since his cousin Vur Horston was killed in those factories. (also love his cousins name. It shows that no matter how old Crepsley got he still missed his cousin and part of him was still human. If you're wondering what I mean, Vur Horston was the name that Steve knew him by in Cirque du Freak)

Some people who have read it might have thought it was a little fast paced. Darren said that the 4 books will be set over the space of 200 hundred years so with that in mind, and the fact that the most interesting and apart things happen to him as a vampire, I think it was necessary to skip some points in his life and not focus too much on him when he was human. It was timed perfectly

Sorry this review wouldn't make sense to a lot of people, but this ones mainly for me. My advice to those who haven't read anything by Darren Shan is to start with The Saga of Darren Shan before moving on to The Saga of Larten Crepsley. Only then will you truly get this book.
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Most readers of The Book Zone will not need me to tell them that Birth of a Killer, the new book from Darren Shan, is actually a prequel to his fantastically successful Saga of Darren Shan series. One of the key characters in that series was Larten Crepsley, the vampire that first blooded Darren Shan, thus turning him into a creature of the night. Larten is a very popular character with Shan fans, and in my opinion is one of the author's greatest creations: his personality seemed so well developed, with his emphasis on the correct use of grammar when speaking, his moody, withdrawn manner and his flame orange hair (who ever heard of a vampire with ginger hair???). When I first read the original Saga I was left with many questions about the back history of this great character, and it would appear that Darren Shan felt the same.

The book opens with Larten as a young boy, working all hours loosening silk from the cocoons of silk worms in a factory with his cousin Vur Horston (a name familiar to Saga fans). Immediately we discover the reason for the bright orange hair, and inventive it is too (and no I'm not going to tell you what it is - you will have to read the book yourself). Darren Shan also does not keep us waiting long before revealing the life-changing moment in his hero's life, the moment that has him running away from home and very soon finding himself in the company of the vampire that will become his mentor and eventually blood him, Seba Nile. Birth of a Killer does not have the blood-splatter moments of the Demonata series, but it is still violent enough in places to keep fans grinning from ear to ear, and this early scene is one of those moments.

Although in familiar territory this book never seems like a reproduction of the previous series. Those stories were very much a coming-of-age story for the main character, whereas these are spaced over a much greater period of time. As such we start off with Larten as a boy, and then pretty much immediately after he has met Seba Nile we get to part two of the book, and we jump five years in time. Eight short chapters later and the narrative jumps through time again, with Larten now at the age of 30. The author set out to tell the story of a man who is over two hundred years old, in a mere four volumes, so temporal jumps in narrative like this are going to be essential for the story to be told. At times I felt that although getting older in years, Larten's character did not necessarily seem to be maturing in the same way. However, once Larten attended his first Council I realised just how immature and naive he was in vampire terms and this side of his personality made much more sense. I am still trying to decide whether I would have liked to see more of the time between when Larten meets Seba, and when he hits thirty - I think I will reserve judgement on that area until I have read the next three books in the series (the fourth due out in May 2012).

What I loved about this book was the way that Darren Shan explores the vampire world he created in more detail. These aren't your girly, romantic Twilight vampires, but neither are they at times the debonair, aristocrats of the Dracula movies. These vampires get drunk; they gamble; their personal hygiene occasionally sucks big time. At the event I went to yesterday Darren Shan explained when he created his vampire clans he had in mind the likes of the Masai, Samurai, Native Americans and the Celts - tribes of people where the male was dominant, and where you had all levels of people - from mighty warriors and hunters to beggars and thieves. This is exactly the kind of society that we see with his vampires - some wish to lord it over all and sundry, testing their physical abilities to the extreme during the Festival of Death, whilst disaffected younger vampires rebel by playing cards and drinking in a side tunnel.

If you have not yet discovered The Saga of Darren Shan then you could read this book before you read those others. However, I would recommend that you do read the original Saga first as I have. In my opinion it will be a far more rewarding experience to get to know the adult Larten first, and then discover the events and experiences that made him the vampire the fans love so much. Birth of a Killer will then have you nodding sagely to yourself as you spot a familiar name, or discover the answer to a long-wondered question (such as the whole orange haired vampire thing). ( )

Birth of a killer is the first book in the Saga of Larten Crepsley by Darren Shan which in turn is a prequel to the Saga of Darren Shan.

This series can be read by them selves but I would suggest that you will get more out of them if you have read the Saga of Darren Shan first, as many of the vampire customs, characters and locations will be familiar. Also there are lots of situations and small details that are alluded to in the Saga of Darren Shan that suddenly make far more sense as you read this book. I myself chose to read this book because Larten Crepsley was my favourite character from the Saga of Darren Shan and I was eager to read about his life.

This book mostly focuses on Lartens young life. The reason why he chose to leave his home and family to follow the vampire Seba Nile and become his assistant, what his life as an assistant was like, how he became friends with Hibernus Tall (which will only be relevant to you if you have read the Saga of Darren Shan) and what his first couple of years as a vampire were like.
While this book wasn’t the best of Darrens offerings it was laugh out loud funny in parts and a interesting read. It gave me a greater understanding of the characters that I had grown to love in the Saga of Darren Shan and it even offers up an explanation of why Larten often uses the name Vur Horston and why his hair is an unnatural orange colour.
My only criticism of this book would be that I would have liked it to be a little more detailed with a few less jumps. Huge chunks of Lartens life are simply skipped and some pivotal conversations and events are only mentioned, but would have been interesting to read in detail. That being said this is only one quarter of the story and with previous books I’ve noticed that adult readers get far more out of Darren’s Sagas when reading them as a whole. I will be eagerly reading the next instalment, Ocean of Blood straight away! ( )

Birth of a Killer is the first in Shan’s new four book series The Saga of Larten Crepsley. The new series is a prequel to the Cirque du Freak series.

Tracing the early years of Larten Crepsley this first book introduces us to him as a young boy working in a silk factory with his cousin. After a terrible incident, you g Larten kills the abusive factory foreman. Forced to flee, a young, poor boy in the early 1800s has just killed his boss, Larten seeks refuge in a cemetery crypt.

Only to find it occupied.

It’s here that he meets vampire Seba Nile, already 500-years-old. Seba explains to Larten, who already believes in witches and other supernatural beings, that vampires are, in fact, real. He also explains how vampires, such as him, differ from the vampires of legend.

Readers of the Cirque du Freak series possibly already know more of what transpires after this, but for those that have not, I’m going to stop the summary there ….

While I would imagine a reader would get more out of the Larten Crepsley books if they’d already read the Cirque du Freak series (knowing some of the characters, etc), it’s more than possible to read and enjoy Birth of a Killer with no previous knowledge of the characters, world or author (I did).

Birth of a Killer covers about twenty years and has a lot of explanation of the vampire world, rules and introduces a lot of characters. There is very, very little blood or gore (or even mention of it). There is violence—usually in fisticuffs or other fighting, but it’s all very middle grade suitable.

Most of the book is really about getting to know the character and where he came from—the title of the book is not at all misleading.

It’s too early to say if this series will lead readers to Ciruqe du Freak books but I know (from being told emphatically) that lovers of the Cirque du Freak series love this series as well and are awaiting the future books.

I will have Book Two, Ocean of Blood reviewed either this week of early next week. ( )