A review by confusible
Circus of Wonders by Elizabeth Macneal

adventurous dark sad fast-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

3.5

This book was good, just not what I expected. It is about a circus and there were some fun elements there and I didn’t expect it to be a happy book necessarily but the themes were fairly dark. There was a large focus on jealousy and possessiveness. Being a outsider was obviously a big theme as well but jealousy and possessiveness really took it over. The author has a great writing style and her world building was strong. I like me a lot of character building too but I think some of them could have been more fleshed out. I enjoyed Nell’s character and seeing her journey from an outcast that hid to someone that so enjoyed performing and being celebrated for her difference. I was somewhat happy with her ending. I thought the story would focus mostly on Nell and she was a massive factor but I found Toby and Jaspar’s storyline really overshadowed hers. Their brotherly linkage was a bit much for me to be honest. I liked Toby as a character and found the exploration of his flaws interesting and he seemed redeemed in the end. But reading about Jaspar was painful. He just kept getting worse and worse and his obsession ate him alive. Even the way things fell out, I found his character too much of a caricature. The whole Toby and Jaspar thing back and forth from childhood to Crimea to present just made me think that these men needed to talk more, even a few conversations about feelings could have helped. I wish we’d heard more from the other circus members like Stella, Brunette, and Peggy. We got some but not much. I was surprised the author talked so much in her note about giving a voice to the human circus acts when the novel focused so much on the circus owner and the brother he mistreated. If she wrote a sequel about Nell and Stella, I’d be excited for that because she built those characters and the world really well.