Hayley Barker

A dazzling, high-octane read filled with death-defying acrobatics, circus crowds with an appetite for disaster, and two forbidden teenage lovers trying to escape the shackles of their very different lives. Set in a near-future England where the poorest people in the land must watch their children be taken by a travelling circus - to perform at the mercy of hungry lions, sabotaged high wires and a demonic ringmaster. The ruling class visit the circus as an escape from their structured, high-achieving lives - pure entertainment with a bloodthirsty edge. Ben, the teenage son of a draconian government minister, visits the circus for the first time and falls instantly in love with Hoshiko, a young performer. They come from harshly different worlds - but must join together to escape the circus and put an end to its brutal sport.

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Alana May

The end of the book was great, the climax. But the first 3/4 of it were very eh. World building within the circus was beautiful done but the rest of it wasn't brilliant. Read of you wish but it is disappointing and difficult to read.

Tegan Anderson

This book was an impulse purchase – I saw it on the bottom shelf in WHSmiths and basically just went, “Ooh, it’s shiny. I need it.” The book dragon inside me took control during the walk from the shelf to the tills at the other side of the shop. The synopsis sounded good, so I brought it, but when I got home I read a few reviews and was starting to regret that decision.

The book took me eight days to read. As I normally devour books I enjoy in a day or two, that says a lot about how I feel. I found the story very slow. It took me a few days to get into, but the plot dragged through all the uninteresting parts, and rushed through anything that could’ve been exciting and I wanted to spend more time reading.

No world building
We never find out why the world it this way, especially since there is very little world building. We get told that Pures were mindlessly evil, and Dregs are nice and misunderstood, but there’s no explanation about why society became this way, or why the only Good Pure is conveniently the naïve white boy who is also the love interest.

“Three days ago, I hadn’t even met him, but now I’d already die a hundred deaths for him.”
As soon as I got to this line (around three quarters into the book), I realised that it summed up most of the issues that I had with it. You met him three days ago, and hated him for two of those days. But then she’s literally about to be killed and she’s more worried about looking sexy for him during her performance?

I can understand that violence would fit into a story like this as it is set in what is basically a slave circus run by a ‘demonic’ ringmaster, but I don’t understand why the plot ended up in a way where it could only progress if something violent happened. The guy who is supposed to be the villain of the book reminds me more of a cartoon character who murders people just to show off their power, rather than someone who is a fully fleshed out character with interesting and believable motives to justify their actions.

The one thing I did enjoy was the setting. I love circuses and the potential they have as a setting and was intrigued by the twist this book put on the location. But, after reading Caraval only two books before, this circus did feel a bit like a caricature trailing behind something that I consider to be a masterpiece. But I did like it. There’s still things that I would change personally, but I did like it.

In conclusion, the cover is beautiful and probably my favourite part of the book. The ideas had potential, but I just wasn’t invested in how they were executed.

Arabella Mai Wallis

** spoiler alert **
           4.5/5

In this book we follow main characters Ben (Pure, rich) and Hoshiko (Dreg, poor) as they unravel two sides to the horrifics of society in the near future (only 25+ years from now) and on opening night of the Cirque (where Hoshiko is the star attraction), Hoshiko is almost killed by ringmaster Silvio after Ben’s mother (running for government leader) complains of the lack of excitement so far in the show. As the book unravels we see the horrors of the behind the scenes of the Crique (including rehearsals, recruitment and punishments) and we also see Ben start to understand the disgrace and unfairness of society and it’s treatment of the Dregs. As Ben continues to visit the Cirque, he soon runs away from home to save Hoshiko from her inevitable death (decided by his mother) and a huge police hunt ensures where they only narrowly escape (with the help of ‘policeman’ Jack and 6 year old Greta), burning the Cirque to the ground as they leave and blowing up Silvio with it. 

This book had me hooked from the very beginning. The alternating perspectives, the characters, the plot building, the pacing, the storyline? Incredible. I won’t say I loved every second because it was highly depressing but this book was so intriguingly heartbreaking and horrific to read and the fact that it is not even all that far fetched in terms of the foundations of the society makes it all the more heart wrenching to read. I quickly fell in love with Hoshiko and want to protect her, and all the other Dregs, forced to perform with all my heart because they all deserve so much better. Also little Greta saving the day was a plot point I loved reading about because it was so unexpected of her from the personality we were shown for her to have throughout the book. Greta and Hoshiko were adorable. The only thing I wasn’t as much of a fan of was the relationship between Ben and Hoshiko as I feel like it all felt quite sudden and could have worked as just as good a plot point if they had formed a strong friendship instead. Other than that this book was incredible and so well paced I could not put it down.

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