Genre: Magical realism/fantasy
Series: Standalone
Page Count: 387
Publication Year: 2011
Publisher: Doubleday
Special Notes: I read it on Kindle.
Summary:
“My magical apprentice shall be greater than yours.”
“You didn’t win last time, fool. But I do enjoy a contest so I’ll build a mystical circus for them to duel in.”
“What if they fall in love?”
“Love? Don’t be ridiculous! This is a story about magic and circuses and caramel apples. There will be no romance.”
Ah, if only that were true. Granted, the romance isn’t the focal point but when it’s this badly written you can’t help being distracted. A boy and girl are each raised by a curmudgeonly wizard and when they first meet, BAM! they instantly fall in love. Why do they like each other? Did I miss some big character development? They were bland separately and blander together. There was room in the story for their friendship to go on for a long time. I think the author should’ve taken the opportunity to slowly build the romance. Alas, that didn’t happen.
The whole dueling aspect failed to materialize. I expected something out of Harry Potter where they actively tried to kill each other. That didn't happen and I felt gypped.
Several other storylines wound along the main one: We got an unhappy kid who wants to run off with the circus. Two sisters are helping to run the circus and one of them starts smelling a rat. An old guy who builds clocks is hired by the circus to make one. Some girl loves the main guy but is rejected. Other random people come in and do stuff that I’m supposed to enjoy but didn’t. There was this one guy I liked but I can't remember why.
All that might sound like I’m bashing the book, but I haven’t yet touched on the main feature: the circus. The circus was great. The writing captured all the sights, sounds and smells beautifully. I can only say I’m disappointed I can't go to it in real life.
Two more quick notes: the author can craft a good sentence. Just not in a way to make me care about the people or romance. And the magic lacked boundaries. It seemed if you had enough willpower you could do almost anything. It’s not that I wanted long sequences of training via metaphors about power and rivers of magic. I wanted fireballs and lightning. Not doilies and flowers.
I get why people love this book. I just didn't. I'm not sitting in the fires of hatred, but it's getting toasty.
If you like circuses, autumn, skillfully worded sentences, weak romance and pretty magic, you might want to give this a chance.
Check out my rating here.
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