09/15/2017
The Blackstone Family Circus and Traveling Wonder Show is constantly on the move from town to town with its wagon train. The mistress of the show is Annie Pearl, who is also the mother of seven-year-old Adeline. Quiet in step and observant far beyond her years, Delly, who is also mute, is an enigma to many in the troupe. Hoping to earn enough to survive the winter, the circus heads to the Clearing, a small community in the Oregon wilderness. Previous entertainers have described being paid a tidy sum. Yet others tell of performers disappearing into the dark woods and other mysteries related to the area. But secrets have a way of coming out, and Annie must find a way to help her daughter and her crew survive. VERDICT In depicting a mysterious and unsettled land, McGuire ("Toby Daye" series) brings her witty, dynamic prose style to this third novel based on the Weird West role-playing game Deadlands, following Jonathan Maberry's Deadlands: Ghost Walkers and Jeffrey Mariotte's Deadlands: Thunder Moon Rising.—KC
Confession time: no matter how many well-crafted tie-in novels I’ve read, I always open them with a hint of trepidation. Blame the unfair notion that an author must serving two masters when creating a compelling work in a pre-existing fictional world. Though the prolific Seanan McGuire (of the October Daye and Wayward Children series, among […]