A review by rainbowalcremie1995
The Ladies of the Secret Circus by Constance Sayers

dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Some parts of this book were really good, but as a complete work, I’d say it falls under “it’s fine.”  

The best parts of the book were definitely Cecile’s.  I consider her the true protagonist of the novel, and her story was the one I was invested in the most.  I wouldn’t say her story is particularly original, but I still loved reading about her rivalry with Esmé, how her falling in love with Emile helped break her out of her shell (even though what he puts her through is pretty awful), and I also liked getting to see the Lost Generation from her point of view.  

In fact, I think that the main problem I had with this book is that the parts of it that take place in the present day – which is most of the book – dragged a bit.  I definitely enjoyed some things about Lara, such as her and her father bonding over music, but other than that, I felt like she was a camera who was there to relay the stories of her much more interesting relatives.  Her parts of the story don’t work well as a mystery, either, because there were too many plot twists and character reveals that were dumped as exposition with very little buildup.  Not to mention, the
encounter with Esmé happens when Lara is being possessed by Cecile, and Cecile is the one who speaks to Esmé and defeats her, not Lara.
  I really wanted to care more about the twins’ relationship, but it just felt like the story didn’t spend enough time with them when it could have cut about a hundred pages from Lara’s story to make room. 

I also have some more nitpicks with the writing style.  The language at times felt a little too simplistic and repetitive for what it was trying to get across.  There were paragraphs I had to read over because of awkward action transitions happening within sentences of each other.   

It’s not a terrible book by any means.  With some better pacing, and maybe some adjustments between how much time is spent on Cecile’s story vs. Lara’s, it could have been a little better.  
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