All I shall say is "A definite must read", Whimsical, but unsettling. Very beautifully written An intricately crafted book whose prose is as chimerical as its subject.

This is a hard one to rate and review. I don’t do spoilers, so I can’t dissect the directions taken by this book. Solid writing, creepily intriguing premise. But weird. Not necessarily in a bad way....just unexpected. I was not a fan of The Night Circus, so I was not disappointed that this wasn’t a knock-off.

A bit of a fever dream. While the Andy in the mirror was the more interesting portion of this story, we focus so much of the story on new Andy and his mom.

Sometimes, writers write words that are beautiful, but that just go on and on and on and on and on. The meandering storyline was frustrating as a reader because the plot had the potential.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

A charming and spooky tale, reminiscent of Ray Bradbury as well as "The NIght Circus."

Always on the lookout for any books to do with circus or carnival, I had high hopes for this one. Entering Burleigh's House of Mirrors takes Andy to places he has never dreamed of, and changes his life forever. The idea of changelings has been explored well through literature many times, but I cannot help but feel that this book dragged in places, causing me to lose interest. It lost me, a lot. I cannot help but wish it had been better!

I found that this book had a hard time identifying when it was set. Most of the authors language choice had it set firmly in my mind as early to mid 20th century, and the choice to include a traveling salesman selling scarves confirmed that. So the casual mention of teenage angst and iPods, and then the matter of conception assistance took me completely out of the story as it shook my perception of the setting. While this may seem a small matter to some, it was enough to make the rest of the story hard to finish.

An intriguing beginning that, to my mind, becomes a bit too enthralled with its own cleverness to be enjoyable. I really had to scrape my way to the end on this one; an editor with a gimlet eye and a sharpened pen would have done this a solid.

This one is a little difficult to review. It started off reading like an old classic. Think Peter Pan or Alice in Wonderland. "The boy did this and then he went to wherever and the boy was sad. But the boy's mother held his hand and entered the carnival where the air smelled of caramel and candy." We literally do not find out "the boy's name" until about page 75. Then the writing style completely changes to a more contemporary style until the last 75 pages, when we return to the old classic fairy tale style once more.

The middle part of the book has some interesting action, but overall not a whole lot. In the middle of the "action", there is a ton of written word. Most of it is history, and some of it seems slow, and some of it seems a little irrelevant or maybe just out of order. I enjoyed hearing a new perspective on carney mythology and most of all, this legend of 'Burleigh's Amazing Hall of Mirrors,' which is really how the whole Andy/Dany duology originates to begin with. Some parts of the book are fun and fantastical, while others are freakish and almost scary. I like the polar opposites and think that every fantasy needs some of that. It gave the book depth, whereas the wordiness robbed it right back.

Overall, I loved the cover and the concept, but several things fell short. I like a good carnival book but this does not come close to the top for me.

The main issue I had with this book is how towards the middle/end, there were multiple story lines and point of view switches that weren't clearly defined. The writing however, was very creative, vivid, and made the book enjoyable to read. I also really enjoyed the author's writing style. Despite the issue I had with the the multiple story lines/point of view switches, I really did enjoy reading this book, it was different in the best way possible.

CARNIVALESQUE by Neil Jordan, is a fantastical story of a boy who enters the mysterious and supernatural world of a carnival and becomes a person he never knew he was but maybe who he was always supposed to be.
The book flows like a stream of consciousness, where sometimes it's comfortable and easy to follow and other times I felt like I was lost and had to reread sections several times. There is a natural desire while read the story, to find out the secrets of the carnival and Jordan slowly teases the secrets out so that the reader is wanting more. I did feel like, though, through the middle of the book that the storyline stops flowing forwards and just kind of meanders around without a purpose for a while, then suddenly grows to the climax of the book, as if the book remembered that there was a purpose to it. The end of the book is well written and I enjoyed then last few chapters, but I just wanted a little more clarity and purpose to the middle of the book.
Jordan's writing style in CARNIVALESQUE carries a certain fantastical beauty to it, but like an avant garde artist sometimes does, Jordan seemed to have lost his way at times. I was reminded of Neil Gaiman's storytelling and I would say that if you are a fan of Gaiman's, you will probably like CARNIVALESQUE.

While I appreciate the world building and the vivid descriptions, Jordan would do well to remember that sometimes simple is best. Not every single action or screen needs to be written excessively, it can overwhelm readers and make finishing the text tedious.

The plot of this book was so compelling with the carnival and the house of mirrors and the changeling sent home with parents... The possibilities were fascinating, but unfortunately the way things developed didn't draw me in as much as I had hoped. At time it felt like a young adult novel with it's young protagonist and suggestively apocalyptic storyline. Neil Jordan obviously has talent, it just felt like this book was missing something that I can't put my finger on. The development was slow at times and then when there was action and good vs. evil conflict, it felt rushed compared to the rest of the book. I appreciate the imagination behind it, but this was not a good fit for me.

Beautiful, even gorgeous, writing but the story line kind of gets lost amidst all the language, which is rather unfortunate because the story here is pretty fantastic. I love books that take place in a carnival setting, and this carnival is a pretty amazing one where the carnies are timeless, somewhat magical creatures powered by a very special substance referred to as mildew (I feel like a cooler name could have been selected for this but whatever). There's a changeling type story line in here and a battle between two selves. All good stuff, but very bogged down by the language.

“And the thing that was not Andy walked outside to be swept up into his mother’s arms, and he was in the mirror now.”

This is a bizarre story. When Andy walks into Burleigh’s Amazing Hall of Mirrors, his reflection steps out, going home to live his life with his parents and poor Andy is trapped inside of the the mirrors, a silent reflection of his former self. A girl (Mona) finds him in the mirrors and pulls him out, into a strange carnival world. He is hers to keep, she found him, no one else! Her hands… though she looks young, ‘There was something either very old, that should have died a long time ago, or something very new, that had not yet been born, about those hands.” She doesn’t have a true age, she is a talented trapeze artist yet not the sort his world is familiar with. Everything is different here, even time itself. He will come to understand the eerie truth about her and all the inhabitants of this mysterious world. They are myths, stories… Is this where all the changelings go, or is it where the come from entering our own world? Andy’s mother feels something is different about her son on their way home, his father imagines the boy is just growing up. It made me feel terribly sad, because teenagers can feel like changelings, as they shake off the skin of their youth, no longer needing you quite in the same way. Naturally here, it’s more fantastical and Andy isn’t Andy, not really. Deep in her being, his mother knows it- but will she ever be reunited with the true Andy? And just how does his father play into everything? Is this a story about growing up, is the ‘changeling’ aspect simply a splitting of sorts- to represent the moment Andy departs his boyhood and steps onto the path of adulthood? Everything exists as is, and questions aren’t really meant to be answered. It’s a story you can take away meaning or simply enjoy the fantasy of it.

The real Andy is living in a strange world transforming into a carny himself, becoming strong and capable until he almost feels that other life never existed, as if it were a dream. He is privy to the secrets, the strange mysteries of the people and their seemingly endless lives. There is a mysterious mold they scrape, vital to their survival… And what of Burleigh, the creator of ‘mirrors’- the man Andy’s mother had a strange encounter with? Just why isn’t he a part of the carnival anymore? When Andy has the chance to go back, does he? Can we ever go back to being a beloved little child?

There is a fairy-tale quality, even though most carnival or ‘freak show’ stories are usually magical realism, this one has an ancient feel to it, not magical and not fairy-tale but sort of both, I didn’t feel like I was in modern times, which was nice. But I didn’t expect to feel heavy and sad, I know- how many genuine, original fairy-tales have happy endings? How many characters go on to capture their butterflies of happiness? Not many. Andy wants to know what ‘the Land of Spices’ they talk about it is, now that he is ‘part of the story’. ‘You can be part of the story.’ Mona was saying, and never know the whole of it.’ Just what is his part? How did he stumble into this place? Is he meant to remain in the carnival where instead of memories, which living people like him carry inside of them, they have stories. Stories are the places they come from. Is this a lifeless place?

It was a strange read, and there were times I had to push myself through, but I am curious and wanted to know how it would end. It’s a uniquely written novel, not like anything I’ve read before. I love, love LOVE “The Company of Wolves”- I own the DVD! I’ve made my kids watch it, and this novel has a similar feel. You don’t really know what ‘you know’. It’s a strange film, if you haven’t seen it- I urge you too, if you have weird taste like me. The famous Angela Lansbury was in it, and it was written by Angela Carter-I mention it because this author, Neil Jordan directed it. With that said, I can feel a similar oddness in Carnival. Much like the film I mentioned, with this novel I walked away picking it apart and losing threads of meaning, because you can’t quite pin it down. Maybe that’s the point.

Publication Date: June 6, 2017

Bloomsbury USA

This book had me at the title, not even the entire title, just the Carnival part. I'm completely and utterly intrigued by any and all things to do with circuses, carnivals, etc. Cover's nice too. The fact that I appreciate Neil Jordan as a director helped. So really, easy choice. And yet something of a disappointment. It did indeed feature a carnival with a legendary (quite literally in this case) backstory and a terrific premise of a body switch via some tricky (tricked out really) reflective surfaces. Yes, a changeling story too, which I'm also partial to. And yet...something just didn't sing. Having never before experienced Jordan as a fiction writer, I can't be sure if this is his specific style, but there is an overall moody sleepy muted quality to it. Not sure if I'm describing it right, but it's more than just descriptions overwhelming actions. It somehow doesn't shine quite as bright as the story ought to. It's subdued, reserved, slowed down. In retrospect, much like some of Jordan's films, but in this instance I really wanted something other than stylishly understated and wanting it did leave me. It didn't veer into the YA territory as books with teenage protagonists tend to do, but did toe the line. Still entertaining and well written, just not magical. And one does wish for magic now and again, especially at a carnival show. Thanks Netgalley.

I had to DNF this at 53%. I received it as an ARC from NetGalley and I was so excited to read it but I just could not read anymore. The writing is beautiful but it got to the point where it was so bogged down with descriptions I just couldn't read anymore. It has a very ethereal feel too it, very other-worldly, but by the halfway point I still had no idea what the plot was, it just got lost in the writing style.

Carnivals are creepy and have scared me ever since I read ray Bradbury’s masterpiece Something Wicked This Way Comes. Jordan captures that eerie feeling in this story of a little boy who disappears into a mirror at Burleigh’s Amazing Hall of Mirrors. A boy goes home with Andy’s parents, and though he may look like Andy, he most assuredly is not. Andy himself is pulled into the hall of mirrors and into a bizarre and nightmarish carnival world. For fans of Neil Gaiman.