Readers will content themselves with Post’s rich, atmospheric prose and displays of dark magic ... the ending, with animal howls of rage, is all the more effective for the suddenly understated prose.
Night Circus fans will inevitably find this a cousin of their favorite, but readers of Katharine Dunn's Geek Love or Neil Gaiman's American Gods are more likely to enjoy it.
This is a tale brimming with imagination and rich in melancholy as it pits the natural against the supernatural and touches on what it means to be human ... Great fare for fans of gothic fiction or simply good storytelling.
Underwhelming ... While the circus atmosphere Post creates is one of danger and intrigue, there’s little actual mystery to be found here. The story moves too quickly, leaving the characters underdeveloped and their motivations unclear. Twists are also telegraphed in advance through jumps in perspective that often make the story hard to follow. Both too rakish and supernatural to be believable, Daniel maintains an uncanny effect on all those around him from his introduction until the novel’s predictable end. Despite the rich setting and strong concept, Post’s story of a macabre travelling spectacular fails to captivate.
