Tunnels of Blood - Darren Shan

...doomed to perish in the tunnels of blood..."


This book is the third in the Saga of Darren Shan. I have only read the first and the third, but one day I would like to of read them all:
Cirque Du Freak - tremendous book
The Vampire's Assistant
Tunnels of Blood - the one I am reviewing
Vampire Mountain
Trials of Death
The Vampire Prince
Hunters of the Dusk
Allies of ...
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Tunnels of Blood is a horror story, there's no doubt about that. But within the story there are some romantic parts, such as when Darren and Debbie go on their first date, and there was a lot of suspense and action. The book leads you to believe that someone or something is the killer, and that certain people may have died, when in fact the book has some mysterious twists.


Darren Shan's real name is Darren ... more

Darren Shan, the Vampire's Assistant, has to leave the Cirque Du Freak with the snake-boy Evra and Mr Crepsley. Darren befriends a girl named Debbie, but little do they both know about what fate has in store. At night the vampire (Mr Crepsley) goes about secret business, while Darren and Evra become more and more suspicious about his whereabouts.
"But then bodies are discovered...
Corpses of drained blood... The hunt for the killer is on and Darren's loyalties are tested to the limit as he fears the worst. One mistake and they are all doomed to perish in the tunnels of blood..."

This book is the third in the Saga of Darren Shan. I have only read the first and the third, but one day I would like to of read them all:
Cirque Du Freak - tremendous book
The Vampire's Assistant
Tunnels of Blood - the one I am reviewing
Vampire Mountain
Trials of Death
The Vampire Prince
Hunters of the Dusk
Allies of the Night
Killers of the Dawn
The Lake of Souls
Lord of the Shadows
Sons of Destiny

As you can see, most of the titles are quite chilling and the front covers look quite daunting as well! I got into reading these books when it was my cousin's birthday and she was given some of them as presents. At that time she was only about 11 but she is really into reading and so they weren't too complicated for her. She lent me the first book and I found that it was really interesting - I just couldn't put it down! About a year passed and then my sister told me that she had another one of the Darren Shan books but it was the third and not the second. I thought that I might as well read it because I might never get the chance to read it again, so I did and I was pleasantly surprised.

The front cover has a picture of a purple hand scratching the 'tunnels of blood' and the background is black, setting the scene for the book. There is a reason for the hand being purple, but I'm not going to give it away, I'm just going to say that it is all explained in the story.
The book opens with a short prologue to get you into it. "The smell of blood is sickening. Hundreds of carcasses hang from silver hooks, stiff, shiny with frosty blood. I know they're just animals - cows, pigs, sheep - but I keep thinking they're human." That was the opening paragraph and it certainly got me interested. The prologue was from the middle of the book, vaguely telling you what was going to happen in the middle but not giving enough away so that I knew the whole storyline. It ended on a cliffhanger that definitely got me wondering what was going to happen next. I thought that this style of writing was very unique and clever to do, because I wouldn't of finished reading without knowing the reason for what happened in the prologue. - If that made any sense, lol.

Tunnels of Blood is a horror story, there's no doubt about that. But within the story there are some romantic parts, such as when Darren and Debbie go on their first date, and there was a lot of suspense and action. The book leads you to believe that someone or something is the killer, and that certain people may have died, when in fact the book has some mysterious twists.

Darren Shan's real name is Darren O'Shaughnessy, which is a bit of a mouthful, so I can see why he shortened it down. He has been writing books ever since the age of 14, and now he has sold more than 10 million books! The Saga of Darren Shan are children's books but he has also wrote adult books such as Ayuamarca.
I liked this book because they storyline was excellent, it was very tense and thrilling to read, there was a lot of suspense at times and quite a few cliff-hangers. I loved the writing style, especially the prologue at the beginning because it got me hooked! You also found yourself wanting the characters to live and actually feeling sorry for them at times which is quite important in a book, and the different types of characters were brilliant. Shan explains clearly what is going on, he even provides a bit of background information about the vampires and their enemies the vampeneze, even going as far as talking about their laws and punishments.

I think the book could have been improved slightly with a little more description of the characters and setting, although the description of the tunnels was marvellous. Other than that, I have found no more faults with the book and I enjoyed it thoroughly.

I would highly recommend this book to boys 11+, although I'm a 14-year-old girl so others may enjoy it too. The language isn't very complicated, and the writing style is easy to understand. The book is quite brutal and very gory at times, but that just made the book what it is. Tunnels of Blood was a highly fascinating book and I was always compelled to read more. I think it would be best if you'd read the first two books in the Saga of Darren Shan, but even if you'd just read the first it is still easy to know what's going on and why.

You can buy this book in most good book shops or at:
Tesco - £4.49
Amazon.co.uk - £3.99 + delivery price
Waterstones - £4.49

¤ The first 3 books in the Saga of Darren Shan are going to be made into a film, because Darren Shan sold them to Universal Studios in 2005.

Thanks for reading - hope it's helped =)
©fashionista27 

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