I was really looking forward to this book but unfortunately for me it fell short. I'm not sure if it was just me but with LGBTQ+ I was expecting more than just gay males. I also didn't find the stories very scary.

I really, really wanted to like this collection. It ticked a lot of my boxes for me: horror, queer characters, and fantastic elements. But unfortunately, I was quite disappointed with this. It didn't fit any of my expectations and I was left feeling...unfulfilled. Granted, the queer characters were nearly exclusively gay men and I do not fit into that box. I do not understand those relationships and aspects of queer culture, so maybe that's where it fell short for me. I might not be the intended audience, and that is completely 100% okay.

Separate from that, I also just did not really get the horror. I try to be really open-minded and even though very few things actually scare me, I know that everyone's definition of fear is different. I agree with another reviewer that I think it was marketed as the wrong genre. I think this was more dark fantasy than anything else, and to me, that has a much different connotation than horror.

The two stories I did enjoy were "Loving Death" and the title story, "Cirque des Freaks." "Loving Death" felt fully-realized and had an interesting plot. And I found the premise of "Cirque des Freaks" interesting, but what cemented it as great for me was the ending. I laughed out loud for a solid minute and, while I doubt that was the story's intention, it made it memorable.

Cirque Des Freaks and Other Tales of Horror by Julian Lopez
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books, Inc.
Genre: Horror, LGBTQIA
Publish Date: 14 April 2020

Star Rating 3 Stars

I was very disappointed in this book. From the description and title of the book, I thought I was going to be transported into a world of horror that touched on our reality. Tied together by settings such as the circus, a Venetian masked ball, etc. these settings did exist but they were not horrifying.

I believe this book would do better if it was marketed as doomed love stories in magical settings. Lopez has written engaging stories that people will enjoy. I just feel misled and I wanted a terrifying read as the synopsis suggested it would be. If you are interested in doomed love stories in a magical setting do read this.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an E-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

*Thank you to Netgalley and Bold Strokes Books for giving me this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review*

I really wanted to enjoy this collection of short horror stories. I loved that each story contained queer representation, and the premise of certain stories really drew me in. Unfortunately, I was kind of disappointed by this collection. I didn’t really find any of them scary even though I was reading them in the dark every night. Also, I found some of the dialog to be unnatural which really took away from the story telling. My biggest issue, however, was the use of a slur for little people in the title story Cirque Des Freaks. It’s used multiple times casually and it made me super uncomfortable. The story also makes it seem like little people are ‘freaks’ equal with a two headed man and a lizard person, and I don’t understand why you’d write about that. This story also has mistakes in the French grammar used which took away from what I was reading.

Overall, I didn’t really enjoy this collection of horror stories, however I did enjoy the one called Loving Death. I just wish the rest of the collection was like that one tale.