I really wanted to get invested in the story but i couldn't. The writing style is not for me .
The storyline sounded really awesome, I might gave it another try but for now I will DNF it on 45%.

Thank you for this copy to review. The Circus Infinite was one of my top anticipated books of 2022, but something just didn't click with me.

I was ultimately rather charmed by The Circus Infinite in the end although we did start quite rocky and I wasn't sure if I was going to continue. This is also quite a paradoxical book— the book is on the one hand a lightish-feeling romp about a young man who can read minds and control gravity running away to join the space circus. And on the other dark, I mean really dark - points where I had to skip torture scenes.

I think in the end I did find it a bit difficult to fully reconcile these shifts in tone and I wish there’d been a touch more consistency across the book in general, when it came to plot, pacing, and characterisation (the back cover copy led me to expect more ‘ganging up to take down the bad guy’ type action but in practice, they decide to take out the bad guy at about the 80% mark and, uh, proceed to do that?

Although I did feel this book is pretty rough and needs a good hash through with pacing I did ultimately find it charming. And Dax was a very compelling Villian with charisma and a darkness to him which balanced with Jes' found family which was ultimately what drew me to finishing this book. Overall an okay book,

3.5 stars. This was super cute, but definitely a little less polished than I tend to like. The writing style wouldn't be out of place on fanfiction.net, but it's not so overwhelming that it blocks out the story (although most of it is in present tense :( ). Jes is a sweet, motivated, and very asexual main character, but Super Special with no flaws other than ~trauma~. His found family by far is the highlight of the book - they are diverse in both background and personality, and I absolutely loved them. Relationships seemed a little rushed, but compelling. The magic and alien systems are, well, alien: but fascinating once I got into them. The tone was...interesting. So much of the content is super dark, but everything is written with light, happy, whimsical vibes. Some parts (the orbital, some circus scenes) seem to be written purely because the author (who I googled and looks super cool) wanted to write about them, not because they advanced the story. Overall, I super enjoyed this despite objective flaws! ARC provided by netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

CWs: pretty much everything you can imagine except real-world racism and homophobia. Violence, body horror, torture, fantasy racism, etc.

The Circus Infinite was an incredible adventure spanning the multiverse, tightly constrained through the POV of Jess, a hybrid empath who develops into so much more.

I enjoyed the themes of found family, growing into ones power. I learned so much about asexuality, and it was done very organically. It wasn’t heavy-handed, and everything flowed very organically.

There’s so much seamless interviewing of themes like starting anew after a traumatic past, and how even when it catches up - doesn’t it always? - the new supports and new skills mean that that is survivable too.

I enjoyed the dual timeline and how it came together so spectacularly. Highly recommended!

Thank you to Netgalley!

*The Circus Infinite* by Khan Wong was one of my most anticipated debut new releases for 2022 and it did not disappoint. The story follows Jes, a mixed-species ace young man with mysterious and apparently unprecedented powers who is seeking community and a place to belong having escaped from a facility where he was subjected to violent medical experimentation. While psychic abilities of various sorts do exist in this universe, Jes’ have manifested in very unusual ways which are both more powerful and less constrained by location than would be expected. Jes finds himself on a ‘pleasure moon’ and ends up joining up with a circus, where he quickly forms friendships but also finds himself embroiled in the manipulations of the local crime boss.

There is a lot that I really liked about this book. I appreciate the diverse queer representation in this book, including characters of diverse orientations and gender identities; I also appreciate the nuance with which, on one hand, Wong has created a future in which many of earth’s prejudices and oppressions seem to have greatly lessened (albeit with the different planets/societies in this book having differing degrees of acceptance), but on the other hand in which individuals continue to navigate acceptance, judgment, experiences of self-doubt, internalized negativity/phobia, and relationship dynamics that feel really relatable. The world-building is really excellent: the federated society of mostly-but-not-all humanoid worlds is well developed given that interplanetary politics really isn’t the focus of the novel, and the circus / moon setting comes alive. I also rather liked the pacing, with conflict really building over the course of the book — while this means there were some places early on that seemed to have insufficient conflict, the intensification of the crime boss antagonist’s behaviours and demands gets very... well, intense.

I do struggle a little bit to describe the overall tone of the novel. There are ways that *The Circus Infinite* is a relatively feel-good, found family story: Jes is a protagonist that it is quite easy to cheer for — he’s really, at his core, a good person who cares about others — and the circus cast and crew are, in the vast majority of respects, precisely what he’s looking for; by contrast, the antagonists are pretty straightforwardly *evil*. There are points at which the novel reads more YA than adult based on the themes and tone. However, the book also definitely needs a *lot* of content warnings, as there is quite a bit of very graphic violence and very heavy themes.

Overall, while I did find some elements of *The Circus Infinite* inconsistent, I enjoyed it overall. On this basis, I’m looking forward to reading whatever Khan Wong publishes next.

*Content warnings:* *torture, body horror, death, violence, murder, gore, violence, xenophobia, medical content, medical trauma, animal cruelty, suicide, gun violence, forced institutionalization, forcible confinement, sexual harassment, eugenics, acephobia, brief mention of transphobia*

*Thank you to NetGalley and Angry Robot for providing an ARC in exchange for this review*.

CW: racism/speciesism, xenophobia, acephobia, torture, forced institutionalization (probably more that I'm forgetting)

I really enjoyed this book. It wasn't quite what the blurb would lead one to believe, in that it was significantly darker. The blurb makes it sound like Jes escapes the bad guys, joins the space circus, deals with the bad blackmailing guy, the end? A whole lot more happens, some of which is fairly disturbing, especially when it comes to The Institute (where he escaped from). I don't want to say too much, as I don't want to spoil anything.
Something that I think the author did well is the world building. This is obviously set in space, on made up worlds, so while there obviously needs to be a lot of world building, it felt like it was done quite subtly. Like, things were mentioned, but it was just enough to give you an understanding, without over explaining, and it didn't feel like I was left wondering or confused by anything. I think it was also helped because so many things were the same as they are IRL; drugs, alcohol, the different circus acts were performing actual circus skills. I did find all of the different species a bit hard to envision, as there are 6 (I think?) different species, with varied skin colours and hair colours and other attributes, and I had a hard time keeping them all straight or getting a clear mental picture of them? That's probably just my lacking imagination, though...
So, the MC Jes is empathic and can control gravity. I really liked that he could control this fundamental force and, being the physics geek I am, it brought up some possibilities for me that did end up playing out. Also, Jes is asexual, which I found really interesting paired with his empathic abilities, being able to sense other people's sexual feelings when it is something that he himself doesn't experience. On the whole Jes seemed very comfortable with his asexuality, but there were a couple of places where he experiences some internalized acephobia, and it kind of felt like it didn't need to be there. Like, he's been comfortable with his identity, comfortable sharing about it, but then there's this blip where he's all 'what the fuck is wrong with me???', and it just didn't feel like it needed to be there. Despite those few blips of internalized acephobia, I really liked Jes' relationship in the book, it was so sweet and respectful and just gave me warm fuzzy feelings. I liked that overall in the world that varied gender and sexual identities/orientations are just how things are, there's no homophobia, though it is still an allonormative universe, which seems a bit weird? Like, if everything else has been normalized, why not being ace?
As I said, I did really enjoy this book, though there were a few things that I feel like could have been doing a bit better? It kind of swung from fun, fluffy circus life to dark, blackmail, torture content quite abruptly. I also wish there had been a bit more explanation of The Institute, as well as how Jes was able to escape. It seems like there were a lot of details around how they were keeping him captive there, but then it didn't say how he managed to get around their devices that suppressed his abilities. There's also some stuff at the end about The Institute and I was like 'WHY didn't this happen earlier, if they knew what The Institute was doing???'. So, there were a few things that just didn't seem to quite line up for me.

If you want a slow, meandering, found family narrative with an ace main character, low stakes and a really fun space circus setting this is the book for you.

Unfortunately I like a tighter plot and real consequences, and characters who aren’t always nice to each other. I probably should have DNFd it but since I had a review copy I pushed through.

Jes is special. He is able to feel what other people are feeling and he can control gravity. Because of these special powers he spent an indeterminate amount of time in a secret facility as an unwilling test subject. But now he has escaped and has fled to a pleasure moon controlled by a supposedly ruthless mob boss. Once on the moon Jes finds the family he’s always wanted with a cirque du soleil style circus.

My biggest issue with this book was the pacing. It was slow. There were so many scenes that didn’t add to the plot or characterizations and I couldn’t figure out why they were there. To me, it didn’t feel like anything was happening for the first half of the book. There are also flashbacks about Jes’ life before the main narrative, but I really didn’t need most of them, they just served to slow things down even more.

Another thing I struggled with was the lack of stakes. Even though Jes is supposedly in danger of being captured by the evil scientists he doesn’t act like someone who is afraid for his life once he arrives at the Pleasure Moon. And even when he does incredibly stupid things that could potentially help the bad guys find him we get two sentences in the story about how worried he is and then he never worries about it again and nothing bad even happens.

I also can’t get behind the dialogue. There was nothing to distinguish one character from another. Jes’ love interest Bo and his best friend Esme were essentially interchangeable in the way they spoke. And everyone was so nice! Even the big bad crime boss was nice, the only way we knew he was a bad guy was Jes’ talking about his feelings behind his speech.

The one thing I did like about this book was the worldbuilding around the sci-fi stuff. Unfortunately some of the best sections of worldbuilding had absolutely nothing to do with the actual story. Also the alien races were just humans with different coloured skin for the most part which was a little disappointing.

The great news is that this is a debut novel and all of the things I didn’t like can be improved as they relate to writing craft and editing. The story idea and the world were great and those are the parts that require real innate talent in my view. I would definitely read another book by this author if I liked the premise.

THANK YOU NETGALLEY FOR THE FREE REVIEW COPY IN EXCHANGE FOR MY HONEST REVIEW.

DNF at 25%

Although the world building was intriguing and the variety in the cast of characters had potential, I just couldn't bring myself to feel invested about anyone. Aside from the fact that Jes is on the run, that fear doesn't linger with him in his day to day interactions at the circus, and there is absolutely no conflict that feels personal. I found it impossible to find any personality in Jes at all - he has no drive, no fire, no intention at all aside from finding a home, which is an admirable thing to seek, but everything just feels too easy and expected.

Rating: 2.5 stars.

Well. This was not my thing at all, unfortunately.

I figured out pretty early that the writing wasn't for me, it was very flat and kind of empty and I could never feel anything for the characters because all their emotions were explained to the reader in great detail rather than letting them figure it out for themselves. The characters themselves were pretty two-dimensional, everyone was a really good person and only wanted the best for everyone. The conversations felt forced and the dialogue clumsy, at times.

For a Sci-Fi novel, this was also shaky in terms of worldbuilding, there was some info-dumping in the beginning and then not much else was added, leaving me with many open questions. The superpowers were fun, I guess, but also not explored like they could have been. The plot was pretty much exactly what the blurb told you, but without the action expected from such a premise. Half the book seemed to be just exposition.

What threw me off as well were the sudden, very graphic instances of violence - I don't mind those generally, but they didn't seem to fit the tone of the book at all and also weren't very well integrated into the plot. They seemed to exist for shock factor only.

What I liked were the found family themes and the bits of worldbuilding we did get, those were f fine and interesting to read about. However that didn't save the book for me, it probably just wasn't my thing at all and I expected something else going into this.

This book had such an interesting premise though I wasn’t too thrilled by it. The writing just felt ever so stilted and I always felt as though I was a step behind the current happenings. The world building I found interesting though it was written into the story in a way that just didn’t feel natural. I’m not particularly fond of Sci-fi to begin with, i’m much more of a fantasy person so i suppose that was an issue by my own design. In terms of plot, It didn’t really strike with me in anyway. I thought Jes was really endearing, I enjoyed seeing his progression over the whole book and how he found himself. I’m a sucker for found family and this book certainly delivered. Beyond that; This book didn’t leave any noticeable mark on my mind, it really just wasn’t my cup of tea. I think this was a fairly well written novel overall with a fairly interesting plot though and I’d recommend it to someone looking for a diverse space opera.

For lovers of T.J Klune who are looking for a little more futuristic sci-fi in their lgbt+ found-family collection, the Circus Infinite will be a great addition.

Jes, our main character, is an empath who can also create and control gravitational fields. Psionic (telepathic, telekinetic) and “mager” powers (which are never really explained) are not unusual in the world Jes inhabits-a far-future world of alien races and easy interplanetary travel-but Jes's specific powers are, apparently, an anomaly. For this reason he is pursued by evil men. Jes struggles to reconcile his need for independence with his aversion to violence as he attempts to break away from those who would control him.

One other thing that Jes is averse to is sexual desire. He is asexual and is uncomfortable when his empathic sense allows him to sense (or “suss”) the sexual desires of others. Luckily, though, Jes meets a guy who, while not asexual himself, is happy to spend time with Jes in a romantic capacity and is very respectful of Jes' sexual orientation. Almost... too respectful?

The core romantic relationship of this book is a bit underdeveloped. There are no disagreements between the two characters. A mutual understanding about Jes' physical boundaries seems to just exist at the outset. And at the end of the book I could not tell you what either of them likes about the other. I didn't expect any sexual attraction, but a little romance would've been nice. Or conflict, or danger, or some sort of struggle to facilitate their growing closer together.

The book also leans heavily into exposition, and therefore lacks the action that our exciting premise seems to indicate. For example, there were many conversations about Jes being overwhelmed by the feelings of others (his empathic sense) and Jes' inability to discern his own feelings in the milieu. But this never ends up mattering. He's spent a lot of time around “bad men.” There's a cold, calculated doctor at the Institute where Jes was held as a test subject, who treated Jes as a “force of nature” and not as a person. There's also a mob boss who blackmails Jes into using his powers to hurt and destroy, who is fascinated and excited by the destruction. Jes comments on both men's emotional landscapes but, strangely enough, is ultimately unfazed by them.

Another thing worth mentioning is that this book has a bit of a tonal issue. Most of Jes's journey throughout the book is very reminiscent of a nice, sweet, T.J Klune found-family story. But then out of nowhere we get pretty graphic and disturbing scenes relating to Jes's gravity powers-he does some pretty horrific things to people-then we're back to hugging our friends and talking about how xenophobia sucks and we should all just love each other. I went into this book expecting the more gritty stuff, but the sugar-plum-frosting-and-butterflies feel of the rest of the book is just too far the other way. The jumping back and forth was... jarring.

Maybe I expected too much of an emotional journey for an empathic character with superpowers, but I was hoping for more inner turmoil, more struggles between good and evil, more... depth? This just wasn't that book. It is a story of a young man joining a circus (kind of) and finding new friends that stand in for the warm, loving (woke) family he never had. With a sprinkling of gruesome violence. Not bad, per se, but not at all what I was expecting.

I would classify this novel as “New Adult” because of the age of the main characters and because of the overall tone and themes.

A little circus romp. A tiny bit of alien romance. A good brain break.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced copy.

I was almost certain I’d enjoy this book based on the plot and setting alone. I’m pretty sure I’ve written before about how it’s almost impossible to tell a boring story set on a pirate ship, theme park or assassin’s guild. Circuses definitely make the list and having a diverse cast of gender identities, sexualities and relationship dynamics (polyamory rarely makes an appearance, even in sci-fi) only added to the appeal of The Circus Infinite, and the reality of the book did not disappoint. The descriptions of the circus acts and culture of the performers was a great way to drive the plot and reveal character developments, and I loved the way the act developed along with Jes’s relationship with the crew, and familiarity with his own skills.
The characters are definitely my favourite part of the book—found family is one of my favourite tropes, and The Circus Infinite delivers in spades. A variety of species and cultures are developed in this novel, and not just developed but challenged. One of my pet peeves with sci fi is the way different planets or races are sometimes portrayed as a monolith, with all of the people from a particular planet looking, behaving or believing in similar ways. I loved the way this was challenged in The Circus Infinite, as various societies seemed to be in the process of questioning long-held beliefs as cultures combined and interacted more. I think it added the grounding touch that helped all of the colourful characters and possibilities of the world seem realistic, without making them any less fun.
The plot of this book was interesting and fast moving, as both criminal, personal and social pressures kept things moving at all times without seeming repetitive. I do wish some aspects of the plot didn’t seem to happen due to coincidences or unlikely connections, but as always when world-building and a full cast of characters is being developed, some things have to take a back seat. I don’t think there were any glaring plot holes or eye-rolling coincidences, just a few points that seemed a little less filled in than I would have liked. I don’t know if this novel is a stand-alone or the beginning of a series, but I would gladly read more books in this world, exploring the happenings of Persephone 9.
All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more from this author, and I think anyone who enjoys fun, original sci-fi will feel the same. I have a strange collection of recommendations for people who enjoyed this book/want to know if they might. I was reminded at various points of Ella West’s Thieves and Gail Carriger’s The Fifth Gender. If you read and enjoyed those books, or enjoyed this one and want more suggestions, these are probably your best bet. Likewise, fans of Nora Sakavic’s All for the Game series might like this book for the found family/runaway learning to trust and queer romance elements. In terms of themes and novel looks into a world most people have likely never experienced, I think Kate Mascarenhas’s Thief on a Winged Horse has several parallels, and if you enjoy entertaining characters with equally entertaining settings, Seanan McGuire’s InCryptid series is a great choice. The Circus Infinite releases on March 8th 2022, and I’ll also make sure to post a reminder on my blog closer to time.

Source of book: NetGalley (thank you)
Relevant disclaimers: nope
Please note: This review may not be reproduced or quoted, in whole or in part, without explicit consent from the author.

I was ultimately rather charmed by The Circus Infinite, although it’s also quite a paradoxical book—and it’s hard to entirely tease out which of those paradoxes are features and which are bugs. Which is to say, the book is on the one hand a lightish-feeling romp about a young man who can read minds and control gravity running away to join the space circus. And on the other dark as fuck: I mean we are talking, torture, non-consensual institutionalisation, experimentation on living subjects, racism/xenophobia, acephobia (internalised and otherwise), blackmail … and I’m pretty sure I’ve missed a bunch. I think in the end I did find it a bit difficult to fully reconcile these shifts in tone and I wish there’d been a touch more consistency across the book in general, when it came to plot, pacing, and characterisation (the back cover copy led me to expect more ‘ganging up to take down the bad guy’ type action but in practice they decide to take out the bad guy at about the 80% mark and, uh, proceed to do that?) but there’s also a lot I sincerely appreciated here.

The hero, Jes, is on the run from The Institute: one of those sci-fi ‘we wish to study your special powers by torturing you in the name of progress’ jobbies. He ends up joining the circus on a pleasure moon, and these sections of the book are some of the most heart-warming: lonely and frightened, having experienced mostly coldness, rejection and cruelty in his life so far, Jes finds home, family, friends and purpose in the circus. Even a delicate, consent-centric romance with an acrobatic alien boy. Unfortunately the circus is under threat from the local crime boss, who wants to replace them with a more profitable act. Jes’s ideas for saving the circus attract said crime boss’s attention, who then uses Jes’s fugitive status to blackmail and manipulate him into working for him on the side. It’s at this point that the book transitions from the feel-good to the feel-bad, feel very bad indeed, as Jes witnesses and, indeed, enacts some truly grim shit while working for Dax.

And while I didn’t want Jes to be further traumatised (given his history) and he definitely does feel guilty about, err, maiming and torturing people for Dax it was in these sections that I personally got my clearest sense of some of the book’s narrative disjoints. Basically it’s like … you know when you eat a massive dinner but you still try to sneak in pudding by claiming it goes into your pudding stomach? Jes’s experiences with the crime lord feel like they’re going into his emotional pudding stomach: they’re very real and shocking while they’re happening, but then he bounces back to the circus and it’s all warm fuzzies again. More complicatedly still, the way Dax forces him to use his powers (blowing shit up and maiming people) are essentially what allows him to fight off The Institute when it inevitably comes for him.

I mean, that’s kind of the thing about untold power, right? It’s either unethical to use it to hurt people or, um, it’s not? And I’m not saying the folk from The Institute don’t deserve to be blown up and crushed into tiny balls of compacted meat, or that Jes doesn’t have the right to defend himself from a bunch of people who treat him like an object rather than a person and are hellbent on stripping away all his freedoms, but some of those guys were probably shuttle pilots or low-level researchers. And given the book has a massive reckoning with Jes refusing to murder for Dax, having him then go on a murder spree of his own volition is … is … complicated to say the least? Not that I think you have to forgive people who have hurt you and actively denied your humanity but there’s whole spectrum of behaviour between “hug it out” and “tiny ball of compacted meat.” Especially given they quite explicitly choose to get the crime boss jailed for his crimes. I might be coming at this from a “have read too many superhero comics” mentality but, the way I see it, you’re either Batman or The Punisher. And once you’re on the murder train, that feels like a one-way trip?

There is also sort of a slightly odd dynamic to the book in general in that Jes is literally the most powerful person ever, manifesting over the course of the story multiple types of abilities that no other person has manifested while also having fab ideas for making a circus profitable and just being broadly liked/wanted by everyone around him, including his corrupted-father-figure crime boss who is blackmailing him. And there’s part of me that is resistant to this because we’re so conditioned to sneer at overpowered, over-loved central characters (when they’re not straight white men) as Mary Sues. But Jes (despite the whole tiny balls of compacted meat thing) is really damn likable and relatable in his vulnerabilities, especially those related to his intersecting marginalisations of race (he’s half-human, half alien-race I temporarily can’t remember the name) and sexuality. All of which is to say, when Mary Sues are straight white men we tend to call them “protagonists” and why shouldn’t there be stories about mixed race asexual boys who discover they have the power to reshape the fabric of the universe?

Something I find on-goingly (yes that’s a word) fascinating about SFnal settings are the multitudinous ways authors choose to explore acceptance and prejudice. I would characterise, from my position of zero authority to do so, The Circus Infinite as space operatic, in that it’s a universe full of aliens and drug smuggling and magical interstellar travel. And, from the text, it seems clear enough that it’s set in a future that has mostly evolved beyond discrimination based on gender identity, sexuality and, in the case of humans, race. This means that the setting is comfortably populated by characters covering a wide range of sexual and gender identities (including sort of future-seeing space insects who introduce themselves with their pronouns). But notably Jes still feels misunderstood and (no pun intended) alienated by his asexuality. There’s part of me that’s kind of sad he can’t live in a future where we’re over that, but at the same time Jes coming to terms with who is and the fact he can still share love and (non-sexual) physical comfort makes for a very lovely arc. Although I should say, for the sake of people who may identify with Jes, he’s a sex-repulsed asexual who has quite a lot of work to do in terms of self-acceptance and is occasionally thrust into situations (like a sex club) that are extremely challenging for him and the intensity of his unpleasant experiences within them would likely be challenging for certain readers. Let me clarify, nothing physical happens, but as he's an empath, he becomes overwhelmed by his awareness of other people's sexual desire: something far from an ideal for an asexual person. As a kind of thematic window into asexuality, however, Jes’s empathetic abilities provide an excellent narrative device to engage the reader in just how invasive life can feel for an asexual person in a thoughtlessly sexual world.

I don’t really have an obvious place to mention this, so I’ll just stick it here without any attempt to segue to it with subtlety or élan: the only character I felt was hard done by was Moxo, the gender non-conforming queer juggler from a race of macho four-armed aliens. He helps Jes dress for a business meeting and is half-charmed, half-wary of him, while sharing some melancholy thoughts about lack of acceptance from his own people. This seemed like the beginning of an intriguing relationship—Moxo’s cynicism a fine foil to Jes’s determined hopefulness—except kind of out of nowhere Moxo’s attitude shifts towards aggression and resentment, ostensibly because Jes is having an impact on the future of the circus when Moxo feels he’s been ignored and side-lined. I mean, fair enough. Jes did just waltz in out of nowhere? The problem is, this doesn’t really go anywhere, nor is it ever illuminated: Moxo just hates Jes mindlessly to the point that Jes accidentally erases part of Moxo’s brain (one of the future-seeing space aliens puts it back again). And while I don’t mind this in principle (not all interpersonal relationships are positive or possible, not everything has to have a reckoning, and not all queer people are inherently connected by their experiences of queerness) I just didn’t know purpose it was serving either in terms of the narrative or the characters. Plus I was kind of … tentatively ready to identify or over-identify with Moxo? And so having him be the Bad Queer among the happy circus family felt kinda harsh.

For all its occasionally rough edges, though, The Circus Infinite really does have a lot to recommend it, especially when it comes to its emotional set pieces. The confrontation, for example, between Jes and Dax the crime lord after the latter’s fall from grace is incredibly satisfying while avoiding cliches of condemnation and redemption. Dax, in general, has a kind of unpleasant charisma to accompany his utter ruthlessness that makes him an annoyingly compelling villain. The moments of Jes just hanging out with his circus family or falling gently in love are utterly charming. And the ending, too, (which I will not give away) in terms of its reckoning with Jes’s future also felt really satisfying: a true celebration of found family and finding yourself.

Space, a circus and found family. What a great recipe for a novel. I really enjoyed this story of Jes, a half human teenager who is the subject of horrific research into his unusual powers. at the Institute on his home planet. The story opens as he makes his escape to the pleasure moon Persephone. He makes his way to the circus and there he finds friendship and acceptance. However, his powers come to the attention of the local crime lord and he finds himself being forced into actions that are unacceptable.
I loved so much about this story. Jes is vividly written and you really feel for him as he comes to terms with his emotions as well as his mental powers. It isn’t just about Jes though, other characters such as Bo and Esmee all have their own character arcs and I loved the relationships that Jes forms with the other circus performers. I also really liked the representation of the different races, each with their own characteristics. The discrimination against hybrid people felt very real.
The world building is lovely and there are some gorgeous moments as the characters explore the different aspects of the moon. The circus acts were imaginative and used the abilities of each alien race well. I also loved the flashbacks as we learn more and more about Jes’s backstory and what happened to him prior to the beginning of this story. The whole concept of this particular universe was really well worked out and was a great background to the main story.
My only issue is that I felt the ending of the story was quite rushed in comparison to the earlier parts. One minute they were planning and then it was all over. I also felt that the final resolution was all a bit too neat and tidy. However, they are minor points and overall, I thought that this was a great read.
Thank you to Net Galley and Angry Robot for providing this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

The circus infinite takes the classic story of a misfit who runs away to join the circus, and reworks it into a vibrant, sultry, and subversive piece of scifi.

The misfit is a grey-ace empath named Jes, on the run with a difficult (almost dystopian) past, and carrying many secrets (like his special abilities). The circus itself is set in a scifi universe with space travel and casino planets. Among the outcasts and misfits of those in the circus, Jes finds acceptance and family, but of course he can't run from his past forever :)

The Circus infinite follows the story of Jes, who escapes from an organization wherein he is kept due to his powers as a gravity mage. He runs away to another planet, in which he joins a circus and befriends some of the performers and employees there. on the identical time his talents lead him to get tangled up with a crime boss and is haunted through his beyond.

i was definitely definitely pleasantly amazed by how lots I loved this, it had echos of a number of my favoruite sci-fi authors (becky chambers, ryka aoki, kb wagers). I loved the comforting moments and comfortable writing fashion balanced with a few motion packed sequences and emotionally wrenching scenes.

I loved the friendships and relationships explored within the book. Jes is someone who has been pretty lonely for lots of his existence and seeing him have those who geninuely care about him and recognize his obstacles become so moving and candy. I additionally absolutely loved the portrayal of asexuality, as a person who's one the ace spectrum myself it's miles continually amazing to look this illustration but I often find myself getting frustated with asexual illustration (because of numerous different things) but I concept this ebook dealt with it simply nicely and turned into very empowering and it might be my favored book with ace rep as of now. on the equal point I loved the connection between Jes and Bo displaying how you may have a romantic courting with someone without sexual intimacy. I notion Bo become so candy and supportive but I also cherished that we have been proven some of Jes' internal struggles with worring that he become not providing enough which I notion highlighted the whole lot isn't always continually rainbows and sunshine and on occasion existence can be a little messy.

similar to the above point but some thing I actually enjoyed approximately this turned into the healthy communication - each time a man or woman has a hassle with a person or something they simply speak it out and that is this kind of remarkable aspect to see. I additionally appreciated how some of the aspect characters have their own little arcs, assisting them feel like real people (mainly Esmee).

also I idea I wasn't the biggest fan of circus books but I truely enjoyed the ones elements in this!! moreover I favored all the one-of-a-kind alien species and the one-of-a-kind cultural factors of this. inside the global blended-species humans are appearance down on, Jes himself is 1/2 human 1/2 every other species which provides an another layer to his idenity struggles and societal pressures.

universal i'd definitely reccomend this book, i've now not heard of the author before (unsure if that is a debut - if it is the writing could be very confident and assured!) however will actually be looking out for something they put out in the destiny. it's far the ideal heartwarming and engaging story that feels nearly nostalgic to study with a few splendid endearing characters and friendships, exciting magic and touching private growth.

This inconsistent read just did nothing for me, no matter how much I wanted to enjoy it.

I’m sorry, but I can’t get past all the “sussing”. I’ve been ~reading~ this since 19th December and have read many books since.

This did make me want to go back to play a space RPG I had enjoyed previously so that’s nice I guess.

The concept of this book sounds absolutely fantastic, but I DNF'd shortly after starting. The description of the asexual character, as someone who is ace, kind of rubbed me the wrong way - "sexually averse." It just seemed like a weird set-up and introduction for that facet of the character, but it could have made sense considering the geographic destination in which the MC was headed.

However, the thing that really got me was the fact that I was maybe 15 pages in when the word/phrase "empath" and "empathetic sense" were used approximately six times thus far in the novel. As someone who strives to create diversity of vocabulary in their writing, it was extraordinarily irksome. Not to mention it just seemed... strange - there are more ways (and better ways) to /show/ that a character is an empath than outright stating it six times in the first chapter. This, to me, indicated a lack of writing caliber that I seek in my books and unfortunately led to me not finishing the book. The concept, like I said, sounds incredible - I just wish it was executed better. I would have tried harder, but I've seen other reviews of the book critical of the writing style and it was immediately clear to me that those reviews were extremely valid in their critiques.

This ended up being a DNF for me. Interesting concept, but couldn't keep my attention. Hopefully it finds its audience.