Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Publication
HarperCollins Publishers (2011), 256 pages
Description
As young vampires, Larten Crepsley and his blood brother Wester travel widely, trying to experience fully the violent, hedonistic pleasures of the human world before committing to the vampire life.
User reviews
LibraryThing member AdonisGuilfoyle
Second part of Darren Shan's 'prequel' series about Larten Crepsley from the Cirque du Freak books. Funny, insightful in places - especially regarding human warfare - and surprisingly vicious for a YA story. Set during the nineteenth century, young Larten is still trying to find his place in the
I enjoyed 'meeting' Arra and hope that she and Larten get together soon, but temporary companion-cum-assistant Malora is trying too hard. She's even labelled as 'feisty' at one point, which I hate. Also, the injoke with Bram Stoker was overplayed - Shan's attempt at 'my vampires are the real deal, Stoker didn't know what he was talking about' - but I suppose a younger audience would enjoy this dig at the nineteenth century classic.
Enjoyable and well written, can't wait for part three!
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world, lost between the rules of the vampires and his 'human' instincts. He grows tired of the 'Cubs', trains to be a general, gets entangled with the sorceress Lady Evanna and two of her assistants, and finally ends up on a sea voyage to Greenland. The characters are familiar to readers of the Darren Shan books, from Paris Skyle and Vancha March to Arra Sails, and Larten's adventures are signposted with the same trials of maturity and independence, although Larten is moodier and tougher than Darren.I enjoyed 'meeting' Arra and hope that she and Larten get together soon, but temporary companion-cum-assistant Malora is trying too hard. She's even labelled as 'feisty' at one point, which I hate. Also, the injoke with Bram Stoker was overplayed - Shan's attempt at 'my vampires are the real deal, Stoker didn't know what he was talking about' - but I suppose a younger audience would enjoy this dig at the nineteenth century classic.
Enjoyable and well written, can't wait for part three!
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LibraryThing member ctmsmata
Vampires. This word could mean many things to any given person - death, blood, darkness, coffins, and even romance included. Whether you're a Dracula junkie, a Twilight fanatic, or just a plain old bloodthirsty, cannibalistic freak, you're sure to sink your teeth into this book. The seconds in the
As we learn in the first book, "Birth of a Killer", Larten Crepsley is just an innocent boy living a tortured life many centuries ago. This tortured life includes fighting daily with his many siblings over what little food his parents provide them and working long hours at a clothing factory filled with hundred of young children supervised by their abusive foreman, Traz. The only speck of happiness in his pitiful life is his cousin, Vur Horston. When that one last taste of joy is taken away from his forever, Larten turns deadly and must run away and face near starvation - or be brutally murdered by the mob of angry townspeople that will surely form at his front door when they find out what he's done.
It's been many decades since that fateful day and Larten has come to know the bitter taste of human blood, and felt the breath of an extended life enter his lungs. Larten Crepsley is a vampire.
"And like a sliver of deadly mercury, he attacked."
In "Ocean of Blood", Darren Shan - as in all of his books - vividly described the setting, plot, and characters. I can imagine myself strolling through the tunnels of Vampire Mountain and smelling the moist, salty sea air of a European harbor. The darkened emotions of Larten as he rolled along the foreboding pages of his life sprang out of the book and kept me on the edge of my seat dying to read more. I took no notice of the hours rolling by as I sat there huddled over my Kindle, unable to put it down. All of the characters were very alive (or undead in many cases), and it felt like they were really there. When I read any of Darren Shan's books, I feel as if my world melts away and a new, vampire-filled reality has taken its place.
I would recommend this book to anyone who is simply looking for a great book to read, as long as the reader can stomach the goriness that Darren Shan is known for. Readers who have already read Cirque Du Freak will especially enjoy this sort of prequel to the series as it describes the life of Darren’s vampire mentor, Larten Crepsley, before he blooded Darren and made him his assistant.
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series of "The Saga of Larten Crepsley", Darren Shan (author of the New York Times bestselling series, referred to as either "Cirque Du Freak" or "The Saga of Darren Shan") continues the series with incredible, fast-paced action and grotesque details that will leave you crawling out of the grave for more. As we learn in the first book, "Birth of a Killer", Larten Crepsley is just an innocent boy living a tortured life many centuries ago. This tortured life includes fighting daily with his many siblings over what little food his parents provide them and working long hours at a clothing factory filled with hundred of young children supervised by their abusive foreman, Traz. The only speck of happiness in his pitiful life is his cousin, Vur Horston. When that one last taste of joy is taken away from his forever, Larten turns deadly and must run away and face near starvation - or be brutally murdered by the mob of angry townspeople that will surely form at his front door when they find out what he's done.
It's been many decades since that fateful day and Larten has come to know the bitter taste of human blood, and felt the breath of an extended life enter his lungs. Larten Crepsley is a vampire.
"And like a sliver of deadly mercury, he attacked."
In "Ocean of Blood", Darren Shan - as in all of his books - vividly described the setting, plot, and characters. I can imagine myself strolling through the tunnels of Vampire Mountain and smelling the moist, salty sea air of a European harbor. The darkened emotions of Larten as he rolled along the foreboding pages of his life sprang out of the book and kept me on the edge of my seat dying to read more. I took no notice of the hours rolling by as I sat there huddled over my Kindle, unable to put it down. All of the characters were very alive (or undead in many cases), and it felt like they were really there. When I read any of Darren Shan's books, I feel as if my world melts away and a new, vampire-filled reality has taken its place.
I would recommend this book to anyone who is simply looking for a great book to read, as long as the reader can stomach the goriness that Darren Shan is known for. Readers who have already read Cirque Du Freak will especially enjoy this sort of prequel to the series as it describes the life of Darren’s vampire mentor, Larten Crepsley, before he blooded Darren and made him his assistant.
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LibraryThing member BookSpot
Ocean of Blood is the second book in a four book prequel series-- to author Darren Shan's wildly popular Cirque Du Freak series. Picking up not too long after the ending of Birth of a Killer the first book in the series, this book tells of Larten and Wester's life on their own.
Readers are taken on
Ocean of Blood is more (than Birth of a Killer) about the vampire world and its politics. More of the hierarchy and how things are achieved is explored. Through the two men's (or boy's, depending on how you look at them) adventures, we get to meet new vampires and see more of how the vampires operate outside of the small society portrayed in Birth of a Killer.
A lot more of Larten's personality is also unveiled in this second novel. He's grown a lot, both from where he was at the start of the first novel and over the course of this second. Readers are taken with him as he explores what it is he might want out of this life as a vampire (but, of course, there are two more novels in which to possibly find that out).
Readers of the Cirque Du Freak series will probably know where everything is leading but should enjoy seeing how the character(s) make their way there. Readers who haven't read the Cirque Du Freak series will likely very much want to after reading Ocean of Blood.
Very much like Birth of a Killer, Ocean of Blood ends on a cliffhanger--with a 'to be continued'--something that seems much more like the end of a chapter than the end of a novel. It will leave readers nearly salivating for book three . . .
Readers are taken on
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the journey with the two vampires as they explore what it means to be on their own. They also get to see where the two end up -- at least for now.Ocean of Blood is more (than Birth of a Killer) about the vampire world and its politics. More of the hierarchy and how things are achieved is explored. Through the two men's (or boy's, depending on how you look at them) adventures, we get to meet new vampires and see more of how the vampires operate outside of the small society portrayed in Birth of a Killer.
A lot more of Larten's personality is also unveiled in this second novel. He's grown a lot, both from where he was at the start of the first novel and over the course of this second. Readers are taken with him as he explores what it is he might want out of this life as a vampire (but, of course, there are two more novels in which to possibly find that out).
Readers of the Cirque Du Freak series will probably know where everything is leading but should enjoy seeing how the character(s) make their way there. Readers who haven't read the Cirque Du Freak series will likely very much want to after reading Ocean of Blood.
Very much like Birth of a Killer, Ocean of Blood ends on a cliffhanger--with a 'to be continued'--something that seems much more like the end of a chapter than the end of a novel. It will leave readers nearly salivating for book three . . .
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LibraryThing member Amatheya81
Ocean of Blood is the second book in the Saga of Larten Crepsley which is in turn the prequel of the Saga of Daren Shan.
This book follows the vampire equivalent of Lartens late teens where he and to a lesser extent his fellow assistant Western break from their master Seba and live a life of wild
As with the first book “Birth of a Killer” this book tells the story of many events that are hinted at in the Saga of Daren Shan and provides insight into many of the characters within those books so if you haven’t read them yet I recommend that you do so to get the most out of the crossover.
This book is far more grown up than the first book and some of the concepts are surprisingly adult for a kids book but it’s very much a page turner and will leave you hungry for the next book!
This book follows the vampire equivalent of Lartens late teens where he and to a lesser extent his fellow assistant Western break from their master Seba and live a life of wild
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drinking an womanising. The story is fun an exciting with some brilliant humour and plausible (for a vampire story) plot. It’s also interesting to see Larten grow from the boy you see in the first book into something far more similar to the Larten that we know and love from the Saga of Darren Shan.As with the first book “Birth of a Killer” this book tells the story of many events that are hinted at in the Saga of Daren Shan and provides insight into many of the characters within those books so if you haven’t read them yet I recommend that you do so to get the most out of the crossover.
This book is far more grown up than the first book and some of the concepts are surprisingly adult for a kids book but it’s very much a page turner and will leave you hungry for the next book!
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LibraryThing member Staciesnape
I'm not sure how to start this review. I finished the book last night and was fighting the urge to pick the next one up and read straight away, but had planned to watch a film with the other half so didn't. I still haven't as I wanted to write this review first, only problem is I don't know where
Warning: May contain spoilers
The book starts of with Larten and Wester leaving Seba to go explore the world before returning to their studies. On their travels they come across other vampires with the same interests, drinking and gambling, and soon take up home with them (where that may be). Even though Larten is surrounded by beautiful women, money and good company he is never happy, and it takes a encounter with a vampaneze for him to come to his senses and set off on a different path with Wester returning to Seba.
The story skips forward a few years to find a still unsure Larten on his way to see Lady Evanna, the Lady of the Wilds and Desmond Tiny's daughter, for the second time with her new assistant Malora. After a bit too much to drink and a bit of an misunderstanding Larten fleas from Evanna with a young Malora following ( I love how he got his scar. I've waited a long time to find out and now I have, well done Mr Shan. Well done haha)
(The first time we see Last Evanna in the book is when Wester, Latern, Seba & Vancha stumble apon her and we meet her assistant Arra Sails, a lady we first came across in The Saga of Darren Shan, but as a vampire. I found this bit of the story very interesting, short but interesting)
In the last section of the book Larten is ill with vampire flu. He's been ill for a few months and when he seems to be getting better Paris finds him with news from vampire mountain and to try and persuade him to continue his studies to become a vampire general, something he wanted from the moment he knew about them. Something that tickled me more than it should do about their encounter was the mention of a little author that had been fallowing Paris around for 3 years who was later reviled to be Bram Stoker haha. That and the little mention of Interview with a Vampire..
After rejecting Paris's offer, Lartens illness worsens and he becomes very paranoid , believing there are vampire hunters at land trying to get him, so to the displeasure of Malora they board and ship set to sail to Greenland. After a while a crew member gets suspicious and upon realising what he is the crew members turn and a fight starts.
This books was amazing. I loved every bit of it. I was surprised to see Arra and I'm really looking forward to reading what happens with her. Not only was the book funny but it tugged at your heart strings too.
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to start. I've been a fan of Darren Shan for about 8 to 10 years now, I've read just about everything he's written, with the exception of a few books, and he still never ceases to amaze me.Warning: May contain spoilers
The book starts of with Larten and Wester leaving Seba to go explore the world before returning to their studies. On their travels they come across other vampires with the same interests, drinking and gambling, and soon take up home with them (where that may be). Even though Larten is surrounded by beautiful women, money and good company he is never happy, and it takes a encounter with a vampaneze for him to come to his senses and set off on a different path with Wester returning to Seba.
The story skips forward a few years to find a still unsure Larten on his way to see Lady Evanna, the Lady of the Wilds and Desmond Tiny's daughter, for the second time with her new assistant Malora. After a bit too much to drink and a bit of an misunderstanding Larten fleas from Evanna with a young Malora following ( I love how he got his scar. I've waited a long time to find out and now I have, well done Mr Shan. Well done haha)
(The first time we see Last Evanna in the book is when Wester, Latern, Seba & Vancha stumble apon her and we meet her assistant Arra Sails, a lady we first came across in The Saga of Darren Shan, but as a vampire. I found this bit of the story very interesting, short but interesting)
In the last section of the book Larten is ill with vampire flu. He's been ill for a few months and when he seems to be getting better Paris finds him with news from vampire mountain and to try and persuade him to continue his studies to become a vampire general, something he wanted from the moment he knew about them. Something that tickled me more than it should do about their encounter was the mention of a little author that had been fallowing Paris around for 3 years who was later reviled to be Bram Stoker haha. That and the little mention of Interview with a Vampire..
After rejecting Paris's offer, Lartens illness worsens and he becomes very paranoid , believing there are vampire hunters at land trying to get him, so to the displeasure of Malora they board and ship set to sail to Greenland. After a while a crew member gets suspicious and upon realising what he is the crew members turn and a fight starts.
This books was amazing. I loved every bit of it. I was surprised to see Arra and I'm really looking forward to reading what happens with her. Not only was the book funny but it tugged at your heart strings too.
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Awards
Independent Booksellers' Book Prize (Shortlist — Children's — 2011)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2011-04-28
ISBN
0007315899 / 9780007315895