This book makes for fine fantasy reading, but the publisher packaged it as "mainstream" fiction, which I think caused a bit of an uproar on Goodreads. This a vivid book, with plenty of lush circus descriptions and whoever wrote the ditty on the book flap should be commended because it sucked me right in. Let's start with the good stuff:
(1) The book reads really fast, in a good way. I genuinely wanted to know what was coming next, where the circus was going, what would happen to the various characters, and so forth.(2) It has a cinematic feel. I was casting various characters in my brain and I wouldn't be surprised if some enterprising director and production company come along and make it into a "major motion picture" with tons of CGI and today's hottest young actors.
(3) There are some really interesting, quirky ideas here. Stuff like "midnight dinners" and a circus that doesn't advertise its whereabouts. Mysterious people in gray without names. Sometimes life can feel downright ordinary, so books like this let the reader have a little fun.
Now the bad:
(1) At times it felt like the author had been to too many sci-fi conventions and roleplaying games. Between the second-person interludes, the steampunkish Victorian fashion statements, and every character rocking an awesome name, it seemed a bit too surreal.
(2) The magic was out of control, considering the book was advertising itself more as quirky historical fiction than fantasy. Honestly, Harry Potter has more restrained magic than this book. Also there was a little too much red meat for the Twi-hards being thrown around between the main characters.
(3) There is so much description of color in this book it's like a paint store exploded. To a point it works (see my "cinematic" remark above) but the whole black-white-red thing started to feel more like a stylized faux-Victorian cult than a tool to advance the narrative.
The verdict: read this as fantasy, skewed a little to the YA crowd, and you'll probably be just fine with the book.
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