This is the series that made a generation of kids actually want to read. Darren Shan created something genuinely creepy and imaginative—a vampire circus with real stakes (pun intended) and moral complexity.

The good: It's a legitimate page-turner that gets reluctant readers hooked. The world-building is creative, the friendship between Darren and his best friend feels real, and the series doesn't talk down to kids. It treats young readers like they can handle complexity and darkness.

The real talk: This is horror. Real horror. Blood drinking, violent deaths, body horror, the works. If your kid gets nightmares from Goosebumps, this is not the move. But if they're that kid who loves being scared and is ready for something with teeth (again, pun intended), this might be perfect.

The series came out in the early 2000s and holds up reasonably well—the writing is accessible without being dumbed down, and the pacing keeps kids turning pages. It's not going to win literary awards, but it does what it sets out to do: scare kids and keep them reading.