An absolutely fantastical and fabulous premise! The Circus of Stolen Dreams is built on a fresh and creative concept. In some ways it is The Night Circus for middle graders but with a scarier and darker twist and no love story; however, as much as it brought that other novel to mind, The Circus of Stolen Dreams is unique. The author brought in themes of family, guilt, and friends and a much-needed message that it is better to face your problems (no matter how hard) than to run from them.
The pacing in the first part of the book was excellent and provided the appropriate hook for the reader. Mid-way through the book, the author began devoting a lot of word space to the protagonist’s feelings, thoughts, and realizations. At some point, this did start to feel a little repetitive and slowed the book’s pacing. Young readers would probably still have understood Andrea’s feelings and lessons learned even with a slightly lighter touch.
This is a good choice for readers who love mysteries, fantasy, and being just a tiny bit scared at times. The Circus of Stolen Dreams is a nicely done debut novel from Lorelei Savaryn, who will hopefully grace us with more fanciful fiction in the future.
Review of a Digital Advance Reading Copy
This book was sent to Compass Book Ratings for review by Philomel
Content Analysis:
Profanity/Language: None
Violence/Gore: Report of disappearance of a child; character imagines a scene/nightmare where people dance forever and leave bloody footprints (no description); nightmare where a woman wants to sacrifice a character and gives chase; nightmare in which a character is pulled under water and turned to stone; character gets trapped in a nightmare where she is freezing and falling; character sees who she thinks is her parents, frozen alive, but it turns out to not be real; report someone died from a disease; character wonders if someone murdered someone; extended scene in which nightmares chase two children (scary and frightening imagery) and minor injuries sustained; character throws sharp objects at another; report of being knocked unconscious; verbal threats.
Sex/Nudity: None
Mature Subject Matter:
Divorce, kidnapping/abduction, nightmares.
Alcohol / Drug Use:
Character thinks something smells like her grandfather’s breath after a post-dinner drink.
