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SineadRivka
Posted July 22, 2011
I haven't read a story like this before, and I can't wait to see her come out with a new story! An absolutely spellbinding thrill to read, that will keep you hanging on by fingernails for that final note to ring true. If you like steampunk, post-apocalyptic eorlds, or you just like a circus with a dark twist, this story is for you!
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted July 17, 2012
Most original and compelling world I've read in quite some time. Almost impossible to categorize, but it is a universe I would like to return to.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.cindymt
Posted July 11, 2012
If you have any affinity for fantasy at all, you must read this one.
Not just another post apocalyptic missive, the language at times is beautifully lyrical.
The world is set up well and the characters will break your heart.
Well worth your time. Received free copy for review.
I feel that it is very important to point out that this novel is a true work of art. Of course, as with all works of art there will be those who are fascinated by it and others who are dissatisfied with what they find before them. As for me, I’m caught up somewhere in the middle.
I could appreciate the novel for the craftsmanship that went into it but at the same time the very original construction didn’t really appeal to me. The narrative jumps around both in point of view and chronologically. I assume that these jumps are marked by chapter breaks in the physical copy of the book but in my PDF-to-mobi copy only a handful of these breaks were marked. Sometimes a paragraph would start in the third person, present tense and suddenly switch to first person, past tense and be following a different plot point. This got to be very confusing at times; I’d be lying if I didn’t say that it affected my enjoyment of the story.
The opening scene is about “you” visiting the circus and admiring the marvels that are to be found there. It was so uncannily similar to the opening of The Night Circus that I wasn’t sure what to make of it at first. It turns out that both books are copyrighted to 2011 – in fact, Mechanique was published some 6 months before The Night Circus – so it’s just two different authors who came up with very similar ideas (albeit following completely different plot veins) at around the same time.
It took me a while to really get used to the narrator jumps. Sometimes it would be in the second person, sometimes third person omniscient and others in the first person. It took me a fair while to get used to the flow of this. It didn’t help that the plot took a long time in getting anywhere at all: it wasn’t until the 10-15% mark that the threads of a plot started to weave together beyond the confusion of seemingly random, unconnected scenes that had come before then, and it wasn’t until the 50% mark that the plot itself took precedence over anecdotes from various characters’ pasts.
That was what I didn’t really like about the book – how things seemed to yo-yo a lot between relevant scenes and what were really just scenes to flesh out the history behind the story. When things focused on the plot, though, I found it to be 100% original and absorbing. I loved the steampunk idea it all of a woman somehow endowed with the ability to sustain a person’s life indefinitely through metal contraptions. I liked the idea of a travelling circus moving through the wasteland of a country brought to its knees by constant wars, unable to pull itself back together. This was a fascinating setting, especially as we have no real idea of when it could possibly be as the chronology even within the story is very vague, or even where, though I pictured it being in North America.
I didn’t really buy the hatred behind Stenos and Bird, which was the main motivation for tension within the circus itself. I enjoyed the descriptions of their encounters but to me it always seemed that they were balanced very precariously on that fine line between love and hate, especially Stenos. They were certainly obsessed with each other either way.
All in all, I can appreciate that this author is a master weaver of the craft who has great vision but this particular structure didn’t work very well for me personally, which detracted from my enjoyment of the book.
A disturbing place where humans take on metal bones, lungs, and wings. Full of both beauty and terror. Performers that never age, but that in and of itself is a horrible truth to face.
Moving through a world gone wild, with war, and evil and those in the circus mechanique form a warped, twisted family, with the Boss in charge, never showing her soft side.
Through it all...the wings...oh the wings. Beautiful, terrible wings that sing and shine and take over with their own brand of madness.
Like a horrible wreck, you cannot look away. You have to read to the last line, the last battle, the last gasp. Who can ever forget the circus. This is not the circus of your childhood. This is a circus of your nightmares....everything looks bright and sparkly, at first. As you look closer, you notice the frayed edges, the strained looks, the awkward moments that whisper "run now, before it's too late". But it's already too late. You are hooked and must read to the very end. It's well worth the read.
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Posted December 12, 2012
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Posted February 12, 2012
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Posted December 10, 2011
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Posted October 9, 2011
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Posted November 8, 2012
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Posted December 10, 2012
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Posted December 18, 2012
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Posted September 7, 2011
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Posted July 24, 2011
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Posted August 19, 2011
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Posted November 6, 2011
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Posted November 6, 2011
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Posted May 3, 2011
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Posted December 13, 2011
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Overview
Outside any city still standing, the Mechanical Circus Tresaulti sets up its tents. Crowds pack the benches to gawk at the brass-and-copper troupe and their impossible feats: Ayar the Strong Man, the acrobatic Grimaldi Brothers, fearless Elena and her aerialists who perform on living trapezes. War is everywhere, but while the Circus is performing, the world is magic.
That magic is no ...