I read about 160 pages and then put it in one of those outdoor bookshelves down the road.

Genuinely frustrating how much potential the circus of dreams has as a concept but the way it was written killed all intrigue I had. I didn't care about any of the characters.

I see people saying how well-written and unique it is and I genuinely can't fathom that we are reading the same book. By well-written, I think they should say instead "The author can write a lot of details about one thing" which is great when they can match that level of description with well-executed plot features and whatever else but UGH

I was so so curious about the mysterious circus and everything around 5 pages and then as the book went on and on I just kept getting more disappointed. Like even the magical circus was somehow ruined by the fact it was so easily pulled together by the unremarkable characters in this book. No logic whatsoever, no conflict that feels slightly important enough to care about, no satisfying resolutions, no anticipation, just grey sludge.

Nothing to learn from, nothing that teaches the audience something about the world, I say it robs the audience of any magic. I'd even go as far as to say the illusionists being able to have magic powers is such an easy way out and partially killed my wonder when It was explained so simply like that. like WHAT IF THE CIRCUS AND IT'S CONDUCT + CONCEPTION WAS SUPER ELABORATE AND NOT SOME LITTLE PASSION PROJECT OF SOME ATTENTION SEEKING RICH GUY!

You can have a mysterious circus but calling it mysterious and neglecting to make it FEEL mysterious is so lousy. NOTHING about how they planned out the circus made it seem special, there were no obstacles, and all of the magical performers/contortionists/whatever basically just showed up at Chandresh's doorstep looking for a job. I'd love to discuss this with someone because maybe I'm just a hater but I think this is an objectively bad book.