Macneal's writing goes from strength to strength in this delightfully magical story. Immersed in magic and delight, this was a gorgeous novel to get lost in.

Title - Circus of Wonders
Author - Elizabeth Macneal
Genre - Historical Fantasy

I had read Macneal's previous The Doll Factory some time back and eventhough the book did make waves across a lot of platforms, I was not quite impressed with it. At best, it was an average book with more disappointments maybe due to the hype surrounding it. I was a bit apprehensive while picking up 'Circus of Wonders' mainly due to the same reasons as the last book and honestly, this one, though with its brilliant start turned out to be another disappointing fare for me.

Nell who lived in a small village with her brother and father was often ridiculed and was termed as an outcast by the villagers due to the skin rashes she developed in her childhood. Her father finds her as an investment when he sells her to Jupiter who runs a circus. Nell, though initially distraught finds that she feels thoroughly at home and comfortable among the other 'freaks' at circus and is now able to achieve her dreams when she is hailed as The Queen of Moon and Stars. She finds herself a bit more comfortable with Toby, Jupiter's brother and how their life intertwines makes up the most of the plot along with a bit of history on Toby and Jupiter's dark past.

I won't be making this review pretty long since it may sound quite negative as I go by. Honestly, with the description of the plot and reading good reviews of some of the people I follow, I was hoping for a plot that would be magical for me and would erase any of the judgements I reserved in the last book. The book did start on a good note with Nell's trauma when she realises her father has sold her and the mystery surrounding Jupiter and Toby's relationship did increase my hopes but by the time one reached the third quarter of the book, I felt the author just to extend a bit of the plot and maybe pages started adding more elements into it which dragged the book. With quite a few loose ends at the end, I was pretty much left asking for more and yet felt that the book could have ended pretty early.

Magical. Childhood memories. Colourful. If I was able to visit a magic place - this would be it. I was transported back to being a child, so descriptive felt i was there. Downside? Wasn't one.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read this arc in exchange for an honest review.

For fans of THE GREATEST SHOWMAN and THE NIGHT CIRCUS, readers will be awed by the wonders in Macneal's CIRCUS OF WONDERS, I surely was.

I love anything to do with the circus after devouring THE NIGHT CIRCUS so I definitely had high hopes for this one. While the writing was descriptive and transportive, just how I like it, I felt that there was something lacking. The romance was way too underdeveloped in my opinion and I didn't really enjoy those scenes as much as I would have liked. I wasn't convinced. If more had gone into it, this probably would have been a 5 star read for me.

Other than that, I did love just about everything else. The relationship between the brothers was tumultuous but there was always a bond, a link between them. I was surprised by the ending but I think I liked it. I loved where Nell's story went.

With an eclectic cast of characters, success, downfall, and everything in between, CIRCUS OF WONDERS is definitely a book to get lost in. Now I'm off to watch THE GREATEST SHOWMAN again!

A beautiful & engrossing tale with an intriguing & thoughtful cast of characters.
MacNeal is a wonderful story telling and I look forward to reading more of her work.

This is a novel with a vivid, brilliant cast of characters, creative and complicated - beauty and power, success and crashing failure, and the Victorian obsession with spectacle.
I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone that likes a good feast on Historical Fiction.

A dark but delightful book. I really enjoyed The Doll Factory so was itching to read this new book.
Victorian London is once again the setting, and it’s one the author conjures so clearly that you can almost taste and smell the place!
McNeal is great at creating characters on the edge of society, characters who are misunderstood or don’t quite fit in. These skills really come to the fore in Circus of Wonders as we meet a cast of characters who are thrust into the spotlight when they would normally exist on the fringes.

The tension is cleverly built throughout - as it was in The Doll Factory - and the relationships between the main characters are very believable.

This is a great, pacy, book to immerse yourself in and you’ll feel transported to a world of dazzling circus performers and heart wrenching romance.

I have bought this book so that I can read this in my own time, but I have very excited to read. I have friend who have read it and gave it raving reviews but I don’t currently have the time to read and give it a good review on netgalley

Nel has been sold to the circus by her father, the leopard girl, Jasper has no idea what to do with her until he sees her dance , his very own Queen of the stars and Moon flying across the sky.

A good book with a good back story. I really enjoyed the circus of wonders.

I enjoyed this book but felt it wasn’t as exciting as I expected it.

The elements of the people in the book were fascinating but I found it lacking in excitement.

I was a bit disappointed with the ending expected something different.

It was a nice read but didn’t keep my interest.

This carnival drama explores the destruction that can be caused by the jealousy of two brothers, the egos of two proud men, and the self-effacing self-loathing of two lovers.

Initially I believed Nell to be the main character, as she deals with the negativity of others towards her unusual beauty and attempts to find a role in which she can shine. Gradually, however, the interplay between Jasper and Toby, and the war secrets they are both hiding, soon begin to eclipse poor Nellie Moon’s rise.

There were similarities here to A Girl Made of Air, also set in a circus full of jealousy, love and despair, but while this story is both well-written and entertaining, I never quite felt the magic catch alight in the way I had hoped, and the unsatisfying ending felt like a bit of a damp squib. Even so, this is a beautifully mesmerising read.

Elizabeth Macneal is a superbly talented writer, with a knack for emotional family- and romantic drama that carries a touch of underlying magic, and fans of magical realism will enjoy this latest spectacle.

Review by Steph Warren of Bookshine and Readbows blog

This is a beautifully written and compelling story about a circus, the men who own it and those who work there. It starts in a small village where Nell is ostracised by the other villagers because of their superstitions around the birthmarks in her skin. When Jasper’s circus comes to town, he becomes obsessed with her and her father sells her for a few pounds. Quickly she becomes a huge success and the circus grows in size and popularity but slowly we learn about the shadows that haunt Jasper and his brother Toby.

I loved everything about this book. The main characters were so well shaped and so complex - every time you read a new chapter there was a new layer to them and slowly their histories were unravelled. The settings - the battlefields of Crimea to the banks of the Thames - were so well researched and became a key part of the story. I could picture the circus tent and feel the atmosphere as the crowds waited for the show to start.

A really accomplished and enjoyable novel.

Absolutely loved this, can’t praise this enough. MacNeil gives us a beautifully vivid world full of wonder and exceptional writing. This book is about finding yourself, Nel our MC who develops into a strong independent woman and finds her place in the world. You feel like part of the audience while you read, it really is a quite magical and beautifully told story. You have to read this it’s simply stunning

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

4.5 stars

Is it enough of a review to say I had tears in my eyes on the last page of this book?

Probably not.

There is,without doubt ALWAYS something magical about a tale set in a circus. Especially in the years gone by. The sense of family amongst so many so many shunned by their own family for just being different.
Theres a lot of that here,but theres also a lot of menace,and almost inevitability that Jasper is playing with high stakes and something will go tremendously right,or tremendously awful..

I truly got caught up in the wonder of it all,and look forward to others doing so upon publication.

This book was a terrific read, although not always an easy one, revealing the dark underside of Victorian entertainment. In a world where freak shows were a very popular form of entertainment, where people were regarded as something other and mistreated, comes our main character, Nell. In her we see initially a story of growing self determination, esteem and empowerment. As time goes by however, her perception of her so called freedom in the Circus of Wonders changes. The story revolves around the developing relationship between Nell and Toby, the shyer of the two circus brothers. I liked the way the author mentions many real life characters from shows of the time. Many thanks to Netgalley for an arc of this book.

Give me a book set in a circus or theatre and I’m always sold!! Gorgeous novel, a wonderful read!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for letting me access an advance copy of this book in exchange for my feedback.

I really enjoyed this book. After reading the doll factory I was very excited to read macneals next book and this didn't disappoint. Really lovely story, beautifully written.

I bought this one purely because of those indie sprayed edges but found this to be a compelling example of historical fiction with memorable and captivating characters.

Weirdly, although I am not a fan of the circus, I can’t resist books about them. I am in love with the idea of the travel, the camaraderie, the glitter in a way that I will never love the reality of the bright lights, loud music and the clowns. What I am a fan of is the musical Barnum, and the film The Greatest Showman, so Jasper’s comparison of his own show and curiosities with Barnum’s added a familiarity that really brought the circus to life for me.

I started reading this book when I really wasn’t very well and I fell asleep about a quarter of the way in – in just that short period, the characters had got so far under my skin that I had a very vivid dream of the story continuing while I slept. It was so real that it was quite disconcerting to pick the book back up and discover that what I thought had happened was actually just my imagination working overtime.

Circus of Wonders is a beautiful book and I loved reading about the friendships that Nell forms as she finds her new place in the world.

The wonder of the circus juxtaposed against flashbacks to the Crimean war and the secret that Jasper and Toby share give this book a haunting beauty, generating similar feelings in me as Robert Dinsdale’s The Toymakers. Anyone who knows me will know that this is extremely high praise as The Toymakers is one of my absolute favourite books.

For me ‘Circus of Wonders’ has the perfect balance of fantastical beauty and heartbreaking isolation that has always been synonymous with circus and carnival histories. The setting of Victorian England is described vividly and Nell, the main protagonist, is shunned by her village and drawn towards the bright lights of circus life but even more so towards community and acceptance.
I wanted this book to blow me away because I had heard so many great things but truly I felt a little disconnected from Nell because she could have developed into such a strong young woman but instead I didn’t get as much vibrancy from the MC as I did within the rest of the plotline. The writing is fantastic and the storyline is well developed and paced; overall a beautiful and dark but also hopeful story.