I just love Jane Yolen so much. Her stories are beautiful and strange in the most wonderful ways. I have never read a Jane Yolen story I didn’t like, and the ones in this book are as good as ever. They pull you in with their mix of magic and heartbreak and people you feel like you’ve somehow met before. Please, Jane Yolen, never stop writing.

The cover had me intrigued and I I requested it. Thank you NetGalley and the Publisher for an e ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is such a lovely collection of short stories. Definitely worth reading. It was an engrossing and a wonderful collection of short stories.
It was perfectly magical and eerie. A fantastic compilation. Full of magical world.

My favorite was 1.The Night Wolves and 2.The Snatcher. If magical creatures are your thing, do not miss this wonderful book. Perfect Halloween or a cozy winter read, huddled in a blanket with a nice cup of hot chocolate.

I went into The MIdnight Circus by Jane Yolen, having never read any other works by Yolen. This collection of short stories felt like walking into a dream, or in many cases, a nightmare. As is typical with short stories collections, there were stories that I loved and others that were less to my taste, in this case, there were several stories that were simply too disturbing for my taste. However, all of the stories were beautifully written and well crafted.
Given the title and being a fan of circus-themed books, I had expected more of a dark carnival feel, such as "Something Wicked This Way Comes" however, this collection of stories had no connection to the circus. It was a more dark fairy tale than a dark carnival.

Trigger warnings: rape, self-harm, domestic abuse, pedophilia

Thank you to NetGalley and Tachyon Publications for the eARC of The Midnight Circus by Jane Yolen. #TheMidnightCircus #NetGalley

Ok, to be honest, anyone who is known to be Christensen of America, I’m going to want to read them. And the thing is I’ve read Jane Yolen before, I’m pretty sure, in various anthologies, the woman is spectacularly prolific, the book’s bio mentions something like 350 publishes works and sure, the author is 80, but still…that’s really impressive. But this is the first solo collection of Yolen’s that I’ve read and I must say it gave me a much more profound understanding and appreciation of her work than a random story here and there did. In fact it may have turned me into a fan. Mind you, I’m not going to go as far as Christensen comparisons, but some things are just not up for comparisons, fairy tales of Christensen, Wilde, Grimms…there is a dark beauty and an emotional connection there that just can’t be quantified. But I certainly get the basis for the comparisons, Yolen is indeed a fabulous fabulist, she gets the very essence of what makes a good fairy tale, she gets the very music of it. Albeit, much as Theodora Goss states in her foreword, Yolen’s fairy tales tend to not feature morals quite so heavily. Traditionally, the genre is a form of lessons taught creatively through allegory, etc., but Yolen’s tales are more subtle than that. Make of that what you will. At any rate, this isn’t just a collection of fairy tales, this book offers so much more. To my delight (because just fairy tales might have gotten to be too much and too much on the fantasy side for me) this collection (publisher’s third of Yolen’s work) featured her darker literary ventures too, some positively on the horror side, albeit, again, very subtle, no guts and gore here, just profoundly dark psychological literary disturbances. She’s a master stylist, she creates darkness as a multicolored thing and her stories are all the more striking for it. In fact, there’s this weird thing that my usually very good memory does where it forgets short stories almost as soon as I read them, very few stick around and they usually have to be exceptional to do so. Well, this collection features stories that stuck around, so that’s a high praise in and of itself. I very much enjoyed the way Yolen draws on her family’s past as Jews in hostile Eastern European territory and incorporates that past, historical and mythical, into her writing. Some of my favorite stories of hers featured those elements. She’s also a writer who’s equally adept at writing both short and long form, I actually preferred her longer stories. Yolen’s also a poet and each story gets an accompanying poem in the end, some of those were good too, though I’m not much of a poetry reader. All in all, this was a sheer delight. Lovely and very entertaining tales showcasing an abundant talent and a terrifically active imagination. Mind you, the title alone would have been enough to draw me in, I love all things to do with circus, but this collection (actually featuring no circus related stories) was well worth a read as it was and magical in its own inimitable way. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.

This collection is filled with stories that a have an eerie sort of vibe. Think fables with a Night Gallery or Twilight Zone type tone. Just like with those shows there is a pretty big variety in the themes and genres that fall under the dark creepy mood. The range is impressive considering it is all from one author and has certainly lured to me to read more from Jane Yolen.

I enjoyed every story but Little Red and The Fisherman's Wife were my absolute favorite. I also thought the end with story notes and poetry added a personal touch to the collection. The poetry shouldn't be missed so make sure you read on after the stories. The story lengths also have a nice range, some really brief and others a touch longer, though all of them pack a full experience.

Great collection.

A wonderful collection of short stories! Each one is it’s own self contained story that is just perfection. I really had a fun time reading them! Something about each of them felt magical and just a little haunting. Definitely go check out this collection!

Loved the originality of the stories here! The writing was beautiful and wonderful! And don’t let me forget to mention how gorgeous the cover is!!!

Cue the Twilight Zone music!!

This was such an easy but compelling read that I could not put it down until I read the very last page. Jane Yolen does a fantastic job in compiling these short stories that hold so much in so few pages. There were eerie vibes to it as well nostalgic and often times nihilistic as well. They are not really fairy tales but more so tales you would hear in pubs or told by a fireplace or by your grandmother on a cold winters night. Mystical environments with magical people but mundane lessons. They star wolves and ghosts, witches and vampires, seals and selkies. They are magical in a sense and Yolen’s writing is enough to hold me in whatever story she was telling, no matter how short. My favourites have to be: The Snatchers, Requiem Antarctica, Night Wolves, Inscription and Become A Warrior.

Overall, the title ‘The Midnight Circus’ is apt because a reader feels as if they entered another realm at a otherworldly time like midnight where magic teeters at the line of fake and real, faith and doubt.