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radtastical's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore
Moderate: Xenophobia and Torture
Minor: Death of parent, Sexual content, and Transphobia
laurareads87's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
The Circus Infinite by Khan Wong was one of my most anticipated debut new releases for 2022 and it did not disappoint. The story follows Jes, a mixed-species ace young man with mysterious and apparently unprecedented powers who is seeking community and a place to belong having escaped from a facility where he was subjected to violent medical experimentation. While psychic abilities of various sorts do exist in this universe, Jes’ have manifested in very unusual ways which are both more powerful and less constrained by location than would be expected. Jes finds himself on a ‘pleasure moon’ and ends up joining up with a circus, where he quickly forms friendships but also finds himself embroiled in the manipulations of the local crime boss.
There is a lot that I really liked about this book. I appreciate the diverse queer representation in this book, including characters of diverse orientations and gender identities; I also appreciate the nuance with which, on one hand, Wong has created a future in which many of earth’s prejudices and oppressions seem to have greatly lessened (albeit with the different planets/societies in this book having differing degrees of acceptance), but on the other hand in which individuals continue to navigate acceptance, judgment, experiences of self-doubt, internalized negativity/phobia, and relationship dynamics that feel really relatable. The world-building is really excellent: the federated society of mostly-but-not-all humanoid worlds is well developed given that interplanetary politics really isn’t the focus of the novel, and the circus / moon setting comes alive. I also rather liked the pacing, with conflict really building over the course of the book — while this means there were some places early on that seemed to have insufficient conflict, the intensification of the crime boss antagonist’s behaviours and demands gets very... well, intense.
I do struggle a little bit to describe the overall tone of the novel. There are ways that The Circus Infinite is a relatively feel-good, found family story: Jes is a protagonist that it is quite easy to cheer for — he’s really, at his core, a good person who cares about others — and the circus cast and crew are, in the vast majority of respects, precisely what he’s looking for; by contrast, the antagonists are pretty straightforwardly evil. There are points at which the novel reads more YA than adult based on the themes and tone. However, the book also definitely needs a lot of content warnings, as there is quite a bit of very graphic violence and very heavy themes.
Overall, while I did find some elements of The Circus Infinite inconsistent, I enjoyed it overall. On this basis, I’m looking forward to reading whatever Khan Wong publishes next.
Thank you to NetGalley and Angry Robot for providing an ARC in exchange for this review.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Confinement, Torture, Body horror, Murder, Violence, Xenophobia, Medical content, Gore, Suicide, Medical trauma, and Forced institutionalization
Moderate: Gun violence and Acephobia/Arophobia
Minor: Sexual harassment, Transphobia, and Animal cruelty
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