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.