Changes

Scary though it is to breathe even a word of criticism of the main man lest I am murderised to death by one of his legions of fans (including both my sons), I gotsta say... ''Ocean of Blood'' is a book for the Shan acolyte. It's not particularly tense. In fact, it's all a bit ''Larten did this for a decade or two and moped. Then Larten did that for a decade or two and moped. Then Larten...''  However, it does get going with a superb Frankenstein-style frozen voyage at the end, and Shan doesn't forget to kill off a cool character, which is practically a tradition. But it's primarily a story of Crepsley's wandering years. So for fans, it's interesting and completist, and it will fill out the complicated, conflicted character they first met in the ''Cirque du Freak'' series. For the uninitiated, it will be less interesting. But really, what does that matter? Point the unititiated in the direction of ''Cirque du Freak'' and by the time they've finished that, they'll be thirsting for ''Ocean of Blood''.