Twilight Read-Alikes, Vol. 6: Cirque Du Freak by Darren Shan

Darren Shan and Steve Leonard, a.k.a. Steve Leopard, are best friends who hear about an illegal freak show that has come to town.  The boys and their friends gather their money together to go, but can only buy two tickets.  By some act of fate, both Darren and Steve go to the show.  The freak show is truly freakish, with a snake boy, a wolf man, Mr. Crepsley and his spider Madam Octa, and other beings that are not for the fainthearted.  But things go horribly wrong after the show, and Darren has to make a life and death decision: does he save his friend and leave everything he knows behind, or let his friend die and stay with his family? 

Cirque Du Freak is very fast paced with lots of twists and turns — very much a rollercoaster ride.  I enjoyed it immensely and was not disappointed.  It was this series that turned me on to vampires, and made me give them a second chance.  This series is intended for younger teens, and is geared towards a  male audience; however, as an adult female, I’m proof that it can be enjoyed by just about anyone.  Cirque Du Freak is an action/adventure series with elements of thriller and horror in it as well.  The horror elements are not very scary, but there is just enough to get a little thrill down your spine.  The books are shorter than many other books in the same genre, and may appeal to reluctant readers.  The movie, The Vampire’s Assistant is based on this series, and the series has also been made into graphic novels.

Read all 12 volumes of Cirque Du Freak:

1)    Cirque Due Freak: The Saga of Darren Shan

2)    The Vampire’s Assistant

3)    Tunnels of Blood

4)    Vampire Mountain

5)    Trials of Death

6)    The Vampire Prince

7)    Hunters of the Dusk

8)    Allies of the Night

9)    Killers of the Dawn

10)  The Lake of Souls

11)  Lord of Shadows

12)  Sons of Destiny

-Heather Shaw, UNT practicum student

Twilight Read-Alikes Vol. 5: The Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlaine Harris

Sookie Stackhouse has a “disability”: she is a telepath, which means she can read other people’s thoughts.  She works as a bar maid at Merlot’s in a little Louisiana town called Bon Temps.  Her life is quiet, and small, due to her “disability,” until Bill Compton, a vampire, shows up.  He moves into the Compton residence next door to Sookie and she soon discovers that she can’t read his thoughts. Bill is just the kind of guy that Sookie has been waiting for, but when people start dying, Sookie reluctantly gets involved in investigating the  murders. 

The Southern Vampire Mysteries are a mix of mystery, romance, horror, and thriller, with about equal portions of the first three genres.  This series is for older teens and adults, because of some graphic/explicit scenes.   As a general rule, each novel is supposed to stand alone, but I recommend reading them in order.  The HBO series True Blood is based on these novels.  I have enjoyed the series, and it is still not complete as of Dead in the Family.  Charlaine Harris has also written short stories about various characters or scenarios.  A complete collection of Sookie Stackhouse Short Stories has just been released.  For the most part, the short stories can stand alone because they follow storylines seperate from the novels.  This series is chock full of mythical creatures and has a very large ensemble cast of characters.

Read all the Southern Vampire Mysteries:

1)    Dead Until Dark

2)    Living Dead in Dallas

3)    Club Dead

4)    Dead to the World

5)    Dead as a Doornail

6)    Definitely Dead

7)    All Together Dead

8)    From Dead to Worse

9)    Dead and Gone

10)  Dead in the Family

-Heather Shaw, UNT practicum student

Twilight Read-Alikes Vol. 4: Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter by Laurell K. Hamilton

Anita Blake, a dark-haired petite vampire executioner and necromancer, has a kick-butt type of attitude and knows her stuff about preternatural beings.  Two years prior to this series starting, vampires have “come out of the coffin,” so to speak, and are legal citizens of the United States.  Anita kills vampires that break the law, but has to have a court order to do so.  She works with the police to solve preternatural crimes (when she is not raising zombies), and innocent vampires are being killed.  Nikolaos, The Master of the City, is a vampire who looks 10 years old, but is really at least a thousand. Jean Claude is the second-strongest vampire, and it is with some arm- wrangling that he and Nikolaos enlist Anita’s help to solve the vampire killer case. 

 Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter is a blend of horror, romance and mystery/cop stories, and is for older teens and adults since it contains some graphic/explicit scenes.   The stories are fun, entertaining, moderately fast paced, and it is fun to see the romantic tension between Jean Claude and Anita.

Read all nine volumes of Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter:

 1)    Guilty Pleasures

2)    The Laughing Corpse

3)    Circus of the Damned

4)    The Lunatic Café

5)    Bloody Bones

6)    The Killing Dance

7)    Burnt Offerings

8)    Blue Moon

9)    Obsidian Butterfly

Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter Graphic Novels by Laurel K. Hamilton:

The graphic novels are similar to the novels with the same name, and the story unfolds just as it does in the regular novel.  As someone who is fairly new to graphic novels, the format may be a little confusing, because more is said in the visual nuances than in the words, but it is still entertaining to read.

Read the first three volumes of the Anita Blake graphic novels:

1)    Guilty Pleasures Volume 1

2)    Guilty Pleasures Volume 2

3)    First Death

-Heather Shaw, UNT Practicum Student

Twilight Read-Alikes Vol. 3: Vampire Diaries by L.J. Smith

Elena Gilbert is the queen bee of the high school in Fell’s Church, Virginia who meets two brothers, both vampires. Stefan Salvatore is self loathing and only drinks animal blood, and Damon Salvatore is a bad boy who is not afraid to use his powers.  Both Damon and Stefan dislike each other, have competed against each other for centuries, and both have ended up in Fell’s Church.  Who will Elena decide to be with?  Later in the series, more than just a love triangle is going on in Fell’s Church – it is an evil so big and bad it has the Salvatore brothers scrambling with Elena to solve the mystery and save the day. 

This series is a teen vampire romance, predates any of the other books in this listing of the same subgenre, and predates Twilight by roughly ten years.  Those who like Twilight would probably like this series as well.  The first three books tie in together well and can be conceived as one book because the stories are so intricately interwoven.

Check out all three volumes of Vampire Diaries:

1)    The Awakening

2)    The Struggle

3)    The Fury

-Heather Shaw, UNT Practicum Student

Twilight Read-Alikes Vol. 2: Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead

Rose Hathaway, a Dhampir (half vampire), is Lissa’s best friend and guardian-in-training.  Rose kicks butt–in attitude and in action–and really cares for Lissa.  Lissa Dragomir is a Moroi (a living/good vampire), has a sweet gentle spirit, is a princess, and is the last of her line.  Two years before the series begins, both were involved in a tragic car accident that left all but Rose and Lissa dead.  Both girls left their home at the Vampire Academy to run away from the evil that lurks there.  Rose is responsible for protecting Lissa from the evil, stereotypical vampires called the Strigoi.  The girls are captured by Dimitri, a Guardian, and brought back to the school.  As a Guardian, Dimitri is sworn to protect Lissa and also becomes Rose’s mentor and trainer.  Although he is seven years older than Rose, she is falling in love with him.  It is up to Rose to protect Lissa from evil plots that lurk, the social scorn of high school, and whatever else comes her way. 

I have immensely enjoyed this series, and it gets even better after the first book.  The first book is a little confusing because of flash backs, and almost seems like it is written in reverse.  Vampires in this series are not known to humans, and having different types of vampires is refreshing. I liked Vampire Academy better than Twilight and consider it the best teen vampire romance series that I have read so far.  This series is for the same audience as Twilight, but is for those who desire a more proactive heroine.  There are elements of horror/thriller, especially as you progress in the series.  Vampire Academy is an action/adventure series with elements of a thriller but has a good percentage of romantic elements too. The first book in the series reads more like a mystery than the rest of the series, because Rose is trying to find out who wants to hurt Lissa.  It is fast paced, especially in the fighting/action sequences, and doesn’t ever drag–at least once you get past the first book.  Each book will leave you hungry for more. 

Check out all five volumes of Vampire Academy:

1)    Vampire Academy

2)    Frostbite

3)    Shadow Kiss

4)    Blood Promise

5)    Spirit Bound

-Heather Shaw, UNT Practicum Student

Twilight Read-Alikes Vol.1: The House of Night

Only nine more days until the release of the next cinematic installment of the Twilight Saga.  If you are getting anxious, fill your hours by reading more vampire fiction.  If you like Twilight, then perhaps you should try…

The House of Night by P.C. Cast

Zoey Redbird, granddaughter of a Cherokee and step-daughter of a member of the People of Faith, discovers that her body is changing into a vampyre by being Marked as a fledgling. Zoey has to go to the House of Night in Tulsa, Oklahoma, or otherwise she will die because her body will reject the change. Run by a high priestess of Nyx, the goddess of the night, The House of Night is a vampire boarding school where fledglings learn about vampire culture and how to be successful vampyres. Zoey learns that not everything is as it seems at the House of Night, and there is evil brewing. It is up to Zoey and her friends to save the day.

 This series is teen romance vampire fiction, similar to Twilight. Those who have read Twilight may like this series as well, and it was originally suggested to me by a fan of Twilight. I did enjoy the series, and it is not yet finished as of the last title published, called Burned. I believe The House of Night increases in complexity slightly due to addition of characters and plot points. As a series, it is primarily adventure/romance, but has elements of mystery and thriller as well.

Check out all seven volumes of The House of Night:

1) Marked

2) Betrayed

3) Chosen

4) Untamed

5) Hunted

6) Tempted

7) Burned

-Heather Shaw, UNT Practicum Student

Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer

If you could choose any classic children’s character to be re-imagined as a vampire slayer who would you pick?  Probably the one made out of wood with the regenerative, pointy nose.  That’s exactly what Dusty Higgins and Van Jensen did with their darker-than-the-original and definitely-darker-than-Disney graphic novel version of the classic children’s story.  Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer draws material from the original by Carlo Collodi, forgoing the sanitized version that most of us know.  It’s a quick and clever read for vampire and graphic novel fans alike!

Posted by Dana Zakrzewski