Name: Show Stealer
ISBN: 9781407186986

Hayley Barker

Hoshiko and Ben are on the run but cannot hide forever... the deadliest show on earth has been resurrected and if Ben thought he'd seen into its dark corners as an outsider, the true extent of the horrors that lurk beneath the Big Top are about to be revealed as he becomes the circus' new star attraction...

Show Stealer

The deadliest show on earth is ready for an encore... Hoshiko and Ben have been on the run since they burned Silvio Sabatini's circus down to the ground at the explosive finale of SHOW STOPPER. But Ben's mother will stop at nothing to track him down and get her revenge: backing him into a corner where he is forced to sacrifice himself to save Hoshiko. The deadliest show on earth has been resurrected and if Ben thought he'd seen into its dark corners as an outsider, the true extent of the horrors that lurk beneath the Big Top are about to be revealed as he becomes the circus' new star attraction...

It was honestly pretty disappointing. It was so annoying to have the circus back again without any struggle at all. It was basically running already by the time Ben got there, since they didn't mind having the artist die during rehearsal as well. 

My biggest struggle with the book, was the endless Infodump about the world that went on throughout the whole book. I swear the book could've been half the length and probably would've ended up being more enjoyable, since at least the Story was fine.

Anna-Lea Bentke 

It was honestly pretty disappointing. It was so annoying to have the circus back again without any struggle at all. It was basically running already by the time Ben got there, since they didn't mind having the artist die during rehearsal as well. 

My biggest struggle with the book, was the endless Infodump about the world that went on throughout the whole book. I swear the book could've been half the length and probably would've ended up being more enjoyable, since at least the Story was fine.

Arabella Mai Wallis

** spoiler alert **
           Show Stealer picks up a year after the ending of Show Stopper and Greta Hoshiko Ben and Jack are still on the run but we see as the police catch up to them and Ben offers up himself to spare the others, leading him back to his mother whilst the others run for refuge in the slums. As the election is nearing, Ben's mother is doing everything possible to secure her votes but now she has a new opponent who is running for equality and to put an end to the mistreatment of the Dregs whilst working alongside slum leader Kadir who gives Hoshiko Greta and Ben protection whilst they reside in the slums with Felix and Rosie (whose brother and son Sean was taken to the newly built Cirque and father and husband was killed by Pures only a year ago). We see the build up of the Brotherhood (an anti-pure group) who plan to storm the Cirque on opening night which Hoshiko ends up sneaking along with. At the same time we see as Vivian tries to get Ben back on her side before realising he is a lost cause to her and gives him to the newly alive Silvio Sabatini (ringleader) who chucks him into danger with the other Dregs still trapped in the more deadly and more dangerous Cirque. Alongside the politics in this book, we see the end of the Cirque and the eventual breakdown of the Dregs and Pure nonsense when Lilian is elected and immediately puts her ideas for equality into act, including shutting down the Cirque (giving all the ex-acts their own places and abilities to live), putting Vivian on trial, and continuing a manhunt for Silvio as his body was not found in the aftermath of chaos caused by the Brotherhood and Hoshiko (when her and Ben were put into the show to watch her be murdered, using Ezekial to save her, ending in the unfortunate death of young Felix who just wanted to save his brother). 

Wow. As much as the first book gripped me this one took me by surprise and had me hooked even more and I knew this would be a 5 stars. A happy five stars absolutely not but a five stars none the less. The characters, the storyline, the pacing was all amazing in this book and I just want to give them all hugs because they've been through so much and I am glad they got at least the start of a happy ending.

Show Stealer

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