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charlotteebrm's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
arabellasbookshelves's review
4.0
4.5/5
In this book we follow main characters Ben (Pure, rich) and Hoshiko (Dreg, poor) as they unravel two sides to the horrifics of society in the near future (only 25+ years from now) and on opening night of the Cirque (where Hoshiko is the star attraction), Hoshiko is almost killed by ringmaster Silvio after Ben’s mother (running for government leader) complains of the lack of excitement so far in the show. As the book unravels we see the horrors of the behind the scenes of the Crique (including rehearsals, recruitment and punishments) and we also see Ben start to understand the disgrace and unfairness of society and it’s treatment of the Dregs. As Ben continues to visit the Cirque, he soon runs away from home to save Hoshiko from her inevitable death (decided by his mother) and a huge police hunt ensures where they only narrowly escape (with the help of ‘policeman’ Jack and 6 year old Greta), burning the Cirque to the ground as they leave and blowing up Silvio with it.
This book had me hooked from the very beginning. The alternating perspectives, the characters, the plot building, the pacing, the storyline? Incredible. I won’t say I loved every second because it was highly depressing but this book was so intriguingly heartbreaking and horrific to read and the fact that it is not even all that far fetched in terms of the foundations of the society makes it all the more heart wrenching to read. I quickly fell in love with Hoshiko and want to protect her, and all the other Dregs, forced to perform with all my heart because they all deserve so much better. Also little Greta saving the day was a plot point I loved reading about because it was so unexpected of her from the personality we were shown for her to have throughout the book. Greta and Hoshiko were adorable. The only thing I wasn’t as much of a fan of was the relationship between Ben and Hoshiko as I feel like it all felt quite sudden and could have worked as just as good a plot point if they had formed a strong friendship instead. Other than that this book was incredible and so well paced I could not put it down.
In this book we follow main characters Ben (Pure, rich) and Hoshiko (Dreg, poor) as they unravel two sides to the horrifics of society in the near future (only 25+ years from now) and on opening night of the Cirque (where Hoshiko is the star attraction), Hoshiko is almost killed by ringmaster Silvio after Ben’s mother (running for government leader) complains of the lack of excitement so far in the show. As the book unravels we see the horrors of the behind the scenes of the Crique (including rehearsals, recruitment and punishments) and we also see Ben start to understand the disgrace and unfairness of society and it’s treatment of the Dregs. As Ben continues to visit the Cirque, he soon runs away from home to save Hoshiko from her inevitable death (decided by his mother) and a huge police hunt ensures where they only narrowly escape (with the help of ‘policeman’ Jack and 6 year old Greta), burning the Cirque to the ground as they leave and blowing up Silvio with it.
This book had me hooked from the very beginning. The alternating perspectives, the characters, the plot building, the pacing, the storyline? Incredible. I won’t say I loved every second because it was highly depressing but this book was so intriguingly heartbreaking and horrific to read and the fact that it is not even all that far fetched in terms of the foundations of the society makes it all the more heart wrenching to read. I quickly fell in love with Hoshiko and want to protect her, and all the other Dregs, forced to perform with all my heart because they all deserve so much better. Also little Greta saving the day was a plot point I loved reading about because it was so unexpected of her from the personality we were shown for her to have throughout the book. Greta and Hoshiko were adorable. The only thing I wasn’t as much of a fan of was the relationship between Ben and Hoshiko as I feel like it all felt quite sudden and could have worked as just as good a plot point if they had formed a strong friendship instead. Other than that this book was incredible and so well paced I could not put it down.
tandewrites's review
2.0
This book was an impulse purchase – I saw it on the bottom shelf in WHSmiths and basically just went, “Ooh, it’s shiny. I need it.” The book dragon inside me took control during the walk from the shelf to the tills at the other side of the shop. The synopsis sounded good, so I brought it, but when I got home I read a few reviews and was starting to regret that decision.
The book took me eight days to read. As I normally devour books I enjoy in a day or two, that says a lot about how I feel. I found the story very slow. It took me a few days to get into, but the plot dragged through all the uninteresting parts, and rushed through anything that could’ve been exciting and I wanted to spend more time reading.
No world building
We never find out why the world it this way, especially since there is very little world building. We get told that Pures were mindlessly evil, and Dregs are nice and misunderstood, but there’s no explanation about why society became this way, or why the only Good Pure is conveniently the naïve white boy who is also the love interest.
“Three days ago, I hadn’t even met him, but now I’d already die a hundred deaths for him.”
As soon as I got to this line (around three quarters into the book), I realised that it summed up most of the issues that I had with it. You met him three days ago, and hated him for two of those days. But then she’s literally about to be killed and she’s more worried about looking sexy for him during her performance?
I can understand that violence would fit into a story like this as it is set in what is basically a slave circus run by a ‘demonic’ ringmaster, but I don’t understand why the plot ended up in a way where it could only progress if something violent happened. The guy who is supposed to be the villain of the book reminds me more of a cartoon character who murders people just to show off their power, rather than someone who is a fully fleshed out character with interesting and believable motives to justify their actions.
The one thing I did enjoy was the setting. I love circuses and the potential they have as a setting and was intrigued by the twist this book put on the location. But, after reading Caraval only two books before, this circus did feel a bit like a caricature trailing behind something that I consider to be a masterpiece. But I did like it. There’s still things that I would change personally, but I did like it.
In conclusion, the cover is beautiful and probably my favourite part of the book. The ideas had potential, but I just wasn’t invested in how they were executed.
The book took me eight days to read. As I normally devour books I enjoy in a day or two, that says a lot about how I feel. I found the story very slow. It took me a few days to get into, but the plot dragged through all the uninteresting parts, and rushed through anything that could’ve been exciting and I wanted to spend more time reading.
No world building
We never find out why the world it this way, especially since there is very little world building. We get told that Pures were mindlessly evil, and Dregs are nice and misunderstood, but there’s no explanation about why society became this way, or why the only Good Pure is conveniently the naïve white boy who is also the love interest.
“Three days ago, I hadn’t even met him, but now I’d already die a hundred deaths for him.”
As soon as I got to this line (around three quarters into the book), I realised that it summed up most of the issues that I had with it. You met him three days ago, and hated him for two of those days. But then she’s literally about to be killed and she’s more worried about looking sexy for him during her performance?
I can understand that violence would fit into a story like this as it is set in what is basically a slave circus run by a ‘demonic’ ringmaster, but I don’t understand why the plot ended up in a way where it could only progress if something violent happened. The guy who is supposed to be the villain of the book reminds me more of a cartoon character who murders people just to show off their power, rather than someone who is a fully fleshed out character with interesting and believable motives to justify their actions.
The one thing I did enjoy was the setting. I love circuses and the potential they have as a setting and was intrigued by the twist this book put on the location. But, after reading Caraval only two books before, this circus did feel a bit like a caricature trailing behind something that I consider to be a masterpiece. But I did like it. There’s still things that I would change personally, but I did like it.
In conclusion, the cover is beautiful and probably my favourite part of the book. The ideas had potential, but I just wasn’t invested in how they were executed.
averagelulu's review against another edition
1.0
I really wanted to like this book but o-my-god, how sad it is to think about those hours I’ve spent reading that could have been used much better.
- The instant love made me wanna throw up. I’ve read wattpad fanfictions with more depth than ‘idk we looked and each other and ZING i guess’.
- Also, this entire book is only three days? THREE DAYS? I swear that at least 80% was just unnecessary. Two pages on how you’re handcuffing someone? Really?
- I have nothing against some death and shock value, even gore is fine with me, but this book made me so uncomfortable the entire time and it had nothing to do with the (at least what I believe to be) vision of the writer to show how horrible it all was. It felt overdone, a little forced, unbelievable at certain points. Like it had no real value, besides shock. There was no balance. The Hunger Games did it too, but better.
- Let’s stay on the evil topic: all the racists and meanies are just that: meanies. They have no persona, no character. Maybe it’s a shock, but racists are people too. Also, a lot of the dialogue made me cringe as hell. You could replace 90% of the villains lines with ‘im evil, mwuahah’ and it wouldn’t even make a difference.
- World building? Who’s that? Never heard of her.
- The racism felt off. Way off. I am beyond curious of how the world came to be this way, but ofcourse you won’t learn anything about it.
- Maybe my mind blanked out but I’m fairly certain that some things made no sense on the timeline. One moment Silvio is standing in the Arena, the next he is in some sort of mirror labyrinth. Ben can move at the speed of light. An entire arena can be build and painted in one day. Uhu.
Idk, there’s probably more, but I’m tired, I forgot how English works and I just wanna sleep and forget about this book.
- The instant love made me wanna throw up. I’ve read wattpad fanfictions with more depth than ‘idk we looked and each other and ZING i guess’.
- Also, this entire book is only three days? THREE DAYS? I swear that at least 80% was just unnecessary. Two pages on how you’re handcuffing someone? Really?
- I have nothing against some death and shock value, even gore is fine with me, but this book made me so uncomfortable the entire time and it had nothing to do with the (at least what I believe to be) vision of the writer to show how horrible it all was. It felt overdone, a little forced, unbelievable at certain points. Like it had no real value, besides shock. There was no balance. The Hunger Games did it too, but better.
- Let’s stay on the evil topic: all the racists and meanies are just that: meanies. They have no persona, no character. Maybe it’s a shock, but racists are people too. Also, a lot of the dialogue made me cringe as hell. You could replace 90% of the villains lines with ‘im evil, mwuahah’ and it wouldn’t even make a difference.
- World building? Who’s that? Never heard of her.
- The racism felt off. Way off. I am beyond curious of how the world came to be this way, but ofcourse you won’t learn anything about it.
- Maybe my mind blanked out but I’m fairly certain that some things made no sense on the timeline. One moment Silvio is standing in the Arena, the next he is in some sort of mirror labyrinth. Ben can move at the speed of light. An entire arena can be build and painted in one day. Uhu.
Idk, there’s probably more, but I’m tired, I forgot how English works and I just wanna sleep and forget about this book.
thebook_cook's review
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
nukkoldv's review against another edition
dark
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
viktrei26's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
xxheliumxx's review
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
hannahandherlibrary's review
1.0
1. The whole plot of this society divided into the Pures (white people) and Dregs (immigrants, ethnic minorities, poor etc), and the very graphic descriptions of violence and torture committed by the Pures was very uncomfortable to read. I understand the author had good intentions and was probably trying to draw attention to discrimination and inequality in our society, but after pages and pages of these descriptions I found myself wondering, what am I supposed to gain from this? What does the author want me to take way from this book? It started to feel incredibly excessive and almost like trauma porn, the author just wanted to shock us. There's also no explanation of why all this happened in the first place. The year 2045 is mentioned in the book and I found myself wondering how we could go from where we are now, to this where people literally come to torture others in just over 20 years? As well none of the characters, but especially the Dregs, had any real independent personalities. The Pures are all entirely about hating Dregs, and the Dregs were all about how oppressed they are. It actually took until I was over halfway through the book to realise the Dregs were made up of all different ethnic/class groups because the only thing mentioned about them was either how oppressed they are or how they're being tortured this time.
2. Of course its our Pure main character who ends up saving the day 🙄 he was also somehow able to change his mind about the Dregs over just 3 days, despite his 16 years of being raised by the actual government minister responsible for oppressing Dregs? I just don't believe that someone born into that family and holding those views could change in 3 days.
3. The plot was getting more and more ridiculous as the story goes on, some things didn't add up and I felt like there were some plot holes. Random new characters were conveniently added within the last 50 pages to solve some problems.
4. The insta-love was on a whole other level, the whole story is set over just 3 days and somehow they managed to fall in love?
I only finished it because I wanted to see how the author would wrap up the story but even that left me super disappointed. Another lesson learned: don't be fooled by a pretty cover...