Thank you Net Galley for providing a free copy of this book in trade for an honest review.

This review is also posted on my blog :
https://onewordtoomuch.wordpress.com/2018/02/25/spectacle/

Review

A murder story combines with magic, supernatural thing is something new to me. Rarely have I read a book with these combinations, but somehow it comes out quite unique in its own way. The story of Anna who doesn’t believe in ghost and now she had to live with her sister’s ghost is somehow ironic.
When I first read this book, I was disappointed. The graphic is weird, the coloring has a rare combination. I left it for a week before I read it again. Turns out, the story is good and humor also appears in a few parts. Once you read it, you will indulge into the mystery instead of the unique color and illustration.

I like it that Anna’s quest to find her sister’s murderer is getting more interesting and intriguing as the story goes. She has 1 friend who helps her. The circus life is also quite appealing with their bizarre characters. It really pictured a mystical circus.

Illustration style is actually not my biggest favorite. I’m ok with the lines not being uneven, but I feel that the faces are very simple. Some of the texts are hard to read, being too squiggly. But I like the coloring. The combination of watercolor and ink is perfect. It’s like combining a hard and soft element at the same time.

The story ended with a strange event…the strangest during the whole book. It really makes it feels the whole book feels mystical and there might be some dark force at play here. I’m kind of hoping that there will be the next book.

Recommend for those who loves crime and mystery book with a twist of magical, illogical, supernatural element, all thrown together.

It's hard to review this since I think I may have received an incomplete ARC. Gedris's art style is really unique and grows on you as you get used to it (years later, I'm still sad about the disappearance of I Was Kidnapped by Lesbian Pirates from Outer Space!!!), and I love the colors in this book. There's definitely a lot going on in the story (a circus full of interpersonal conflict, a murder mystery, ghosts, a Charles Babbage-style difference machine that can predict the future) but none of it gets resolved before the copy I got ends very abruptly, so I can't say whether any of it gets wrapped up. I might recommend waiting until Volume 2 comes out to start this if the real end to Volume 1 is this big of a cliffhanger.

I love reading graphic novels, it's a guilty pleasure of mine when I need a break from the lengthy fantasy novels I usually read. Spectacle by Megan Rose Gedris was a beautifully illustrated and intriguing read. It is to be published on 22nd May 2018 by Oni Press. I received an eARC copy from NetGalley for an honest review, and I have to say I really enjoyed reading this! 

Synopsis:

Pragmatic engineer Anna works as a psychic in the Samson Brothers Circus, but she doesn't believe in anything supernatural—until her twin sister Kat is murdered and comes back as a very demanding ghost. Sharing a room with her sister was hard, but now they're sharing a body while trying to identify the killer. With few leads, a troupe full of secretive folk, and strange paranormal occurrences popping up around the circus, solving the case seems near impossible. But the murderer in their midst may be the least of their problems...

This was a really quick and enjoyable read. Combining murder mysteries, the supernatural and a circus setting sets up this intriguing story of a woman determined to find her sisters killer. The storyline is creative, filled with a few twists I was pleasantly surprised to read. The story is quite dark at times but it adds contrast to the beauty of the characters relationships with each other; specifically Anna and her sister's ghost.

The main character Anna is a fortune-teller who uses her machine, Conjecture Engine, to predict futures. But after the death of her sister, she now see's ghosts, and not just her sisters. In the midst of trying to solve Kat's murder the head of the circus is arrested and something is amiss when the Big Top catches fire, but doesn't burn. Secrets are coming to light and a darkness looms not only over the circus, but the town as well. 

The body positivity and diversity of characters in this was really great to read. Our lead Anna  is a strong black woman, who's crime solving companion, the 'fat lady' turned snake singer Flora make an interesting and enchanting team of sluths. Their dynamic is both funny and strange, and I anticipate there will be a lot more come to light about Anna's new friend Flora in the coming volumes. 

The artwork in this is gorgeous. I love the pop of colours and stylization of the characters. The flow of the comic panels is great and the large artwork panels are stunningly drawn. The overall story telling is really strong and this volume really sets up the subsequent novels to come quiet well. The ending felt a little abrupt and not necessarily the strongest point to end the volume, but despite this is does finish in a way that leaves you wanting to read the next volume to find out what happens next. I know I'll be looking forward to it. 

I thought this was a gorgeous read and will read it again. 

5/5 stars

This is a magical, deception, and beautifully illustrated graphic novel, with good characters and great art work I would highly recommend, and its a quick read so give it a go.

Twin Peaks gains a big top. Like some other people I have found the ending to this a little off, but on the whole this is an enjoyable series opener. And to say it looks like it could get too weird in the future is to deny its weirdness from the off – a girl working as a carny fortune-teller in a stranded circus, with a machine that helps her predict things, finds she can contact ghosts and really know the unknown when her sister gets murdered. That's not the half of it. But what might be weirdest of all is that this seems billed as a YA graphic – yes, it's a PG read but only the artwork (that is nice, but defies realism and real craft a lot of the time) is the only thing that would make me expect anything but an adult audience here. Despite the visuals not always being to my taste, I quite enjoyed the soapy shenanigans and strong characters. Recommended.

I was quite looking forward to this but I cannot get it to open with any of my devices or apps

Engaging premise and setting, but a deeply unsatisfying ending.

Twin sisters Anna and Kat are performers in the Samson Brothers Circus: Anna tells fortunes, while Kat is a knife-thrower. Whereas Kat’s talents are all too real, Anna is a fraud. Well, kind of: while Anna tells the rubes what they want to hear, she can predict the future and decipher the past with the help of her self-made conjecture engine. It’s kind of slow and not very flashy, so – like Anna – it mostly stays in the background.

When the circus’s train is stalled out in the middle of the desert, Kat turns up dead, stabbed in the back with her own knives. Not wanting to alarm the other performs, circus owner Jebediah Tetanus (how’s that for an evocative name?) tasks Anna with solving the murder in secret. But things go from bad to worse when a series of tragedies beset the circus, including Tetanus’s own arrest at the hands of the corrupt deputy sheriff. Not to mention Kat’s lingering spirit, which flits in and out of Anna’s body to hide from pursuing demons.

So I really wanted to love SPECTACLE – and some of the elements here are great – but there’s a lot going on. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, except that very little is resolved by the end of chapter five. Usually I expect that a TPB has a self-contained story arc, but Book One of Spectacle feels more like the first two-thirds of a story. The ending – in which one of the roustabouts suddenly sprouts a rhino horn – is deeply unsatisfying, to say the least.

The art wasn’t initially my favorite – so many blockheads! – but it grew on me pretty quickly. I enjoyed the setting, which is some time in the mid (?) 1800s (?). This makes for some great old timey humor, such as when the circus doc diagnoses Anna with hysteria and prescribes coffee. With a side of heroin.

The story features a cast of pretty fascinating women characters, from Flora the would-be fat lady/current snake charmer to Lucy Chen, a clown who did it all for love. I really hope that my suspicions about the source of the weirdness between Anna and the bearded lady pan out; a cute F/F romance makes every story better, okay. I wish that we’d seen more of Eve and Lynn, the conjoined twins; there’s a lot of ableist yet era-appropriate language thrown their way, and I want desperately for the story challenges this as the plot unfolds. The collision between science and the supernatural also holds some promise going forward.

P.S. WHAT GIVES WITH THE PICKLES!?!

I LOVED IT! I absolutely love the art style, and the bigger art pieces in between were so beautiful. I wasn't sure about the story at first, but it ended up sucking me in. It ended on such a cliffhanger, and I am dying to know how the story continues (pun not intended, sorry). The cliffhanger might be because of the different volumes, and I'm not sure if this is the actual end of the book, since I only received 115 pages and Goodreads says it has 136, but it was a bit abrupt.

The people of the circus that Anna is with are such a diverse bunch and I can't wait to get to know everyone and find out who the killer is.

I received an eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars

This was an entirely new reading experience for me. I've never really gotten into graphic novels or comics but this was definitely enjoyable. I liked the relationship between the sisters a lot. The mystery was intriguing. The art work was beautiful. I don't feel like I got a fully story within this first volume but that's just an adjustment I meed to make for the type of reading medium this is. Overall, this was enjoyable and makes me want to give other comics/graphic novels a chance.

Really loved the illustration style and the unique plot. Left wanting more and can't believe I'll have to wait a year now!

From the very first of its brightly coloured pages, this book hooked my interest. It was sent in a circus, something that is always interesting, and followed a murder. Every character felt like a suspect and I was waiting to find out what happened. Safe to say, I need the next issue soon, especially after that cliffhanger ending.

A wonderful tale that I can't wait to continue!

There is a lot going on in this graphic novel. Good artwork and coloring. Cool story too.

"Please Lord let it just be a deranged lunatic."

As murder, chicanery, and chaos overcome the circus that line quoted above is the ringmaster's prayer. Because he fears the problem might also be demons and curses and other things that go bump in the night.

This is in an oddly engaging and deeply idiosyncratic graphic novel. Anna's sister Kat has been murdered, and her soul/ghost has taken up residence inside Anna's body. Now the two of them have to investigate to find out who in the circus is responsible for Kat's death and for the other strange things that have begun happening on the circus grounds. (Note that this Volume 1 collects the first four issues of the series. Some questions are answered by the end and some aren't, because the series will continue.)

The novel begins a bit slowly. The drawing is loose and exaggerated, with garish and clashing splashes of color and a style that swings from cartoony to surreal to a sort of Maxfield Parrish on acid. Between that graphic style and the odd/freak characters, and the intentionally awkward and erratic dialogue the whole project feels like it's going to be tough going for little reward. But wait. Once Kat is murdered the two sisters become a smart, witty and engaging double act. The odd characters start to develop and the circus, which was sort of slapdash and unnatural, begins to come into focus as a background for a decent mystery story.

Soon enough the reader is invested in what happened, what's happening, and what's going to happen. Suspects and motives emerge and the energy in the writing and drawing becomes focused toward telling an actual story. By that point the reader is hooked, and the writing and drawing style that seemed so odd and uninviting begins to capture the reader.

Is it all a bit artsy and self-conscious? Well, maybe a little. But the showyness ultimately is dropped in favor of storytelling, sort of the way a barker draws you in to watch a circus show, so it makes sense. By the end I was left admiring the craft and thought that went in to this project, and appreciated the originality, style and energy that it reflected.

So, this ended up being a nice find for me, even though I recognize it might not appeal to all tastes. (Please note that I received a free advance will-self-destruct-in-x-days Adobe Digital copy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)

Spectacle is Gedris' first YA comic, but it retains a lot of the things I've always loved about her adult work. As a performer, she brings the vibrant colors, movement, and costuming of her other job to her comics. Set in a traveling (train) circus in the Old West, Spectacle is populated with talented performers, mysterious characters, and an array of disabled people who are not other-ized in the circus as they are in the general populace.
The plot kicks off with the murder of Anna's twin sister, Kat. Anna wakes up, finds her sister's body in a pool of blood, and starts to see her ghost. The story progresses from there as we meet more people in and out of the circus and Anna tries to figure out whodunit. Much of the internal conflict is based on Anna's rocky relationship with her sister and on the ways in which talking to ghosts challenges her previously held beliefs in science over the unexplainable.
The story touches on the ways people engage with religion and with each other, with the concepts of blood family and found family, and the ways we judge those around us. It's a really fun time, tempered with tragedy and mystery.

A murder mystery in a circus setting, mixed with some supernatural elements. This is 100% my sorta thing. I love circus stories and this one is no exception.

Anna's twin sister Kat is murdered and she makes it her mission to find the killer. On her quest we get introduced to loads of different characters within the circus and some strange ones with their own agenda outside of it. Mixed with all the human drama, is a very cool supernatural element. The story in this graphic novel is just great. There are no weird or unnecessary gaps in the story line and all relevant things are explained. The characters are well developed and, since this is volume 1, there are still loads of questions for the next volume to get into.
On top of all that is some very solid artwork that I really enjoyed. Can't wait for Vol. 2!

This hasn't happened to me in a really long time, but I just... don't know how I feel about this.
I loved the art in this graphic nove. It was beautiful! But the plot kind of confused me.
The villain didn't really seem like the villain, and nothing was really done about it.
I love the idea of a cursed circus, but this is not what I had had in mind.

I've been getting into comic books & graphic novels a lot recently and I have to be honest, it was only really the cover that drew me into this one. Spectacle was a supernatural murder mystery set sometime in the 1800s in rural america. It was set in a circus and had a very wild west atmosphere.

There was an exciting, vibrant, and charismatic cast of characters and I enjoyed the relationships in this graphic novel, especially that one between the twins, Anna & Kat. The supernatural element was intriguing too, as was the murder mystery, and I did enjoy the story. I feel like this vol. ended quite suddenly, which threw me off a little bit.

The art itself wasn't my usual taste, but it was colourful and it flowed nicely with the story.

Overall, an average read for me but I would probably to those looking for an easy graphic novel to read.

An interesting concept about circus folk, death, spookiness and intrigue. I loved the main character and the use of spirits to connect the story together. I wished the ending was a bit neater but I understand it was only the first volume and it has so much more to give.

This is a murder mystery, with the super natural thrown in. This is supposed to be taking place in the late 1800s, rural America, with a circus that is stranded, and a murder happens to the twin sister of Ana. With the help of the spirit of her dead sister, Kat, she tries to solve the murder, and a whole bunch of other things get in her way to do so, as murder mysteries do, but this went a little overboard.

And even when it looks as though the mystery is almost solved, the volume ends on a weird note. In between Ana starts seeing other ghosts, and solves the murder of a local sheriff.

It was an ok story. The art flowed well, but the story kept taking side turns to concentrate on other aspects of the traveling circus. Perhaps when all the volumes are published, this will all make sense, but right now, it doesn't.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

Spectacle Vol. 1 is full of original characters and an unique story line, featuring more of a murder mystery plot. The art is different than what is normally in comic books but enjoyable just the same. A traveling circus, a murder, and a ghost haunting begin this story of twin sisters Anna and Kat. When Kat is murdered her ghost haunts her twin while the two of them try to uncover the murderer among them. The story ends abruptly with a cliffhanger. My only complaint would be some of the font in the book makes it hard to read but overall it is an enjoyable, original story. My voluntary, unbiased review is based upon a review copy from Netgalley.