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Circus Tarot Trilogy #1
Circus Tarot
4 Stars “This is not your typical walk in the park horror either! It is a creative twist with one of the most original settings I have seen in a long time!” – Kriss Morton
Inspired by Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Stephen King’s IT, and cult movie classic Killer Klowns From Outer Space, Charles W. Jones brings the first installment of the Circus Tarot Trilogy. In the strange land of World Circus, Mary and Darrin discover they aren’t in their safe, dull life any longer, but have taken the identity of one of the cards from the Circus Tarot. After a terrorizing encounter, resulting in death, they learn the bizarre rules of the land, and discover that the denizens of the sinister World Circus want more than to entertain them.
Inspired by Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Stephen King’s IT, and cult movie classic Killer Klowns From Outer Space, Charles W. Jones brings the first installment of the Circus Tarot Trilogy. In the strange land of World Circus, Mary and Darrin discover they aren’t in their safe, dull life any longer, but have taken the identity of one of the cards from the Circus Tarot. After a terrorizing encounter, resulting in death, they learn the bizarre rules of the land, and discover that the denizens of the sinister World Circus want more than to entertain them.
- GenresHorror
ebook
First published February 10, 2012
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About the author
Charles W. Jones
23 books99 followersCharles grew up in a town of 500 people--Shoshoni, WY. It's the Center of the Universe, or so he thought growing up since it is in the exact center of the state. There were quite a few "characters" in our town and it was one of those places that everyone knows your business. The thing that stuck with me the most was, how dark it was at night. Charles was a jumpy kid at night. Anything that moved in the dark, any sound made his heart pound in his chest. Thunder had the same effect. His first book, The Second Plain, was extremely influenced by that town. Most of it is actually set there. Darkness is a deep influence for him and has Shoshoni to thank for it.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
May 3, 2017
This was a clever and interesting horror story. I kind of felt like I fell down the rabbit hole, which I saw this was inspired by-- that certainly described the story line. There were some very gruesome details that I didn’t linger too long in, but they fit the story. That is just something I do when I read horror (or any genre) but I am still a huge fan of it. I loved the idea of going into the cards and how all those characters interacted with each other. Of course, not being a fan of clowns, that made it even more terrifying for me. I am not sure I got to know the main couple well enough before their journey began, but over the book I saw more sides to them. “Circus Tarot” is a ‘terrifying’ read for those who love a good story-driven horror tale.
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March 31, 2025Circus Tarot
Darin comes home to find his wife Mary excited by a woman in her consignment shop giving her a deck of circus themed tarot cards. After dinner, she gives him a reading. The reading coincides with Darin getting fired but he decides not to ruin her enthusiasm and plans to tell her the next day.
Mary comes home from the store and finds the cards she put in a bad the night before spread out on the coffee table. She shocked when she sees the images in the card moving. Darien comes home and frantically starts to search for Mary. He checks the basement. She’s not there. He checks Cheryl’s house (a friend of hers). She’s not there. He checks the backyard. Nothing. Nothing indicating she had to go to the ER in the kitchen. He sees one of the tarot cards and picks it up.
Darin finds himself as a Knight in Clown Woods asking a clown called “The Ace of Buckets” where Mary is. “Ace” tells him they aren’t kept out here, but won’t say anymore. Two clown kids come along and remind him of the treaty (which he tells them he doesn’t care about). While he’s distracted, Darin slips away. The clown sees him and tells him they’ll meet again and next time he won’t be so nice.
A bargeman tells Darin it’s not save for him here. Most of the Buckets have flipped. He asks what he was doing there and he says looking for Mary. The bargeman says she’s where she always is. The Stars of the Show don’t leave the Shadows of World Tent. She’s High Priestess. He then congratulates im on his marriage. And he (he finds out) is the Knight of Foils. He’s then shown to the Castle.
The King and Queen inquire about his where abouts and he tells them he went to find Mary. They wonder why he thought she’d be in Clown Wood. It’s not safe. He says that’s just where he arrived. They seem to be confused about what a police and a phone is. The King suspects the Clowns have somehow given him brain damage. The Queen says he shouldn’t go to the show until they can figure out what’s wrong with him. He protest that he has to find Mary and get her home.
The King says she *is* home. He says maybe it’s a plot of the Clowns to take over the circus again. The Queen declares then no one will go to the show until things are sorted out. Guards then carry Darien off. The King tells the Queen it seems like the treaty is over and she says she’s thinking the same thing. Darin is thrown into the dungeon with another clown that’s hanging upside down. But the clown assures him he’s not like the Ace of Buckets.
The clown as him what he’s doing there. Darin says he’s not even sure how he got to be the Knight. Before he was Darin. The Clown says he’s both. Darin thinks I have got to be dreaming and starts to count. The clown tho says it won’t do him any good. He tells him how he got there and about the Six of Foils (Swords) and the Queen and King of Foils (Swords). The clown tells him there’s really no way out except through the door, and he just so happens to be fine with “hanging around”.
The Page of Foils gives the Devil the message that there will be no one at the show. The Devil says oh well the show will go on anyway. Darin gets the clown to take off his jumpsuit so he can take the hook and slide out the window to get a hold of the keys. But when he’s undressed pustules start to form on his back and he starts to ooze red and gold slime from the inside. So Darin zips him back into his clown suit, gets the key, and the clown wishes him luck.
Mary is informed why there was no audience. The Devil is jealous of the Knight and does everything he can to keep the Knight from spoiling her. So, he says she doesn’t have to do another show and invites her out with him. But she says maybe another time. On the way to find Mary, Darin runs into the contortionist Death. She warns him that many dangers lay in his way that he will only have his sword (foil) as a defense. She says that she won’t be the same. She says he’ll change too. Everyone who comes there does. She says changes are coming but he has time to stop them.
Then she tries to come on to him but saying she sees the change of heart in his eyes and she knows he wants to spend the night. She invites him to lay on the ground with her and “watch the moon”, but he says no and continues on his way. On the way there, she runs into Amy (whose looking for Liz). She wants to tell her she found out something about the “Caldwell Carnival”. The carnival was forced to leave two other towns in the state before the end of its scheduled run. In one of the towns, a girl fell off a ride and was injured. And there were rumors of other strange things happening to kids who visited the carnival.
Liz notices some odd things about Claire. She finds her despite the noise at the shooting gallery. She wears a dress that Liz has seen in a picture of her great-grandmother. She says it’s her second favorite. The first got torn. She doesn’t have any friends. They all think she spies for her father. She’s not particularly interested in being their friends either. She vanishes for a second and appears with Liz’s favorite flavored snow cone (cone). She keeps pointing out the ways she and Liz are alike. She guesses a really big number Liz is thinking and the horses are spooked out by her. She makes Liz promise tho to come by the carnival to visit her every day until it leaves. Liz says ok but she has to teach her the trick of how she could tell what number Liz was thinking so she can write about it in her article.
The Page of Foil is taken by one of the clowns and dragged back to his den to flip him. Darin arrives at the Forest of the Ladies and Gentleman and is greeted by the Queen. She tells him he won’t be seeing Mary tonight. The midgets have already locked her away, but he’ll see her tomorrow. She invites him to join them for the night. Ace of Buckets toys with the Page (drawing pictures on his chest with his knife). Then he carves up his flesh leaving only the bone behind. Before he does this, he tells him the story of a clown catching a boy hiding out after his act and what became of him afterwards.
He rinses any signs of what happened away at the river with his bucket of water. A neighbor goes to check on Darin and Mary. Doesn’t see Darin’s body. Sees the cards. He tells the Queen and King of Swords; the knight wasn’t at the World Tent. Then he thinks in confusion uh what the hell did I just say. Mary is locked in for the night. The midgets say it’s because of the clowns tho she doesn’t understand what’s so bad about being flipped. Doesn’t everybody sometimes?
She’s heard the Knight is looking for her and she’s flattered but she gets the feeling he’s more than a groupie. She sees one of the clowns out the window puling “a potato sack”. Mary has this memory of a fight she had with the Queen of Tokens that left her dead? Darin also has a flashback of him dying when the Queen and King remind him of how he rushed in with no plan the last time. The clowns tricked him by going into a burning building to rescue some of the other clowns. The Queen of Poles invites him to stay there also.
The Fortune Teller tells him some cryptic comments about his names being interchangeable and him having all the answers because the rules never changed. The Tokens and Buckets dine. The Queen of Buckets whispers to Darin (as she passes him) he’ll get what he desires. He has something sacred and secret. Ace of Buckets joins him. It’s not long before Mary arrives on the arm of the Devil.
The Devil asks the Knight what his business is and he says he’s come to take his wife back. He scoffs at his belief that the High Priestess is his wife. Darrin goes for his sword but in a cloud of smoke the Devil and the Priestess disappear. Among some of the others Darin meets are “The Magician”, the “Fire Breather”, “The Sun”, “The Bearded Lady”, and the “Strong Man”. Mary calls out to James from atop a white horse and tells him she missed him.
She invites him to get with her later after her show. The Devil isn’t happy. Mary is his star. She doesn’t belong to the Knight. He looks at Four Buckets and pities him for not gettig what he wants. He thinks no time like the present. The relationship between the Foils and the Buckets is tense as it is. IT shouldn’t take much. He only needs one clow to start. So, he spreads his story.
Although the circus is the most amazing, Darrin’s seen, the Bearded Lady reminds him not to forgot his mission. She tells him to keep him away from Devil and he’ll be better off. As Mary waits for the Magician’s act to finish so she can go on, the Nine of Buckets appears at her trailer. Mary tells him she’s not ready to go to the World Tent, but he suggest they go see her man. She takes too long, so he opens the door. She’s gone!
She appears with the Magician and he gives her the warning about the clowns not having restrictions now. She thanks him and he vanishes. Backstairs she runs into Fool (whose practicing his type-walking routine), a girl, and the Nine of Buckets (whose come to escort her). As he comes closer, Mary freaks out and takes off running. The clowns have gathered in droves and Marry decides the safest place is back in her trailer. While the clowns chase chaos by throwing sizzling pies at the audience. Darin senses the clowns are up to no good and goes after Mary.
Mary makes his way to the river and hopes she’s not in Clown Woods. She hears someone approaching. Mary starts to run. A calls out to her. It’s Darrin. She passes out and he lifts her into the sky. She wakes in the Dark Forest in confusion. Darin is there and they end up making love. Unknown to them clowns are watching them. Then the Nine of Buckets makes himself known. He quickly lets them know there in his territory. Nine of Buckets offers to use him as a hostage. Darrin knicks the clowns shirt and they struggle. When the air hits the Nine he disintegrates.
They’re escorted back to the castle by the Six of Foils and Johnny. The devil greets Mary in concern. She brushes him off and tells him she’d rather stay with Darrin. The Queen and King come down on Darrin and plan to throw him in the dungeon. The Queen says the High Priestess will stay in her room, but Johnny, Mary, and Darrin have snuck away. (Or either the Queen and King want to turn him over to the clowns who an eye for an eye). The Queen of Tokens and the Devil are outside.
When everyone is distracted by the Knights horse coming, Mary is kidnapped by the Ace of Buckets. He takes her to a location in Clown Woods. Only she fights him off with his razor and escapes. Outside, she’s greeted by Darrin. They make their way back to her trailer (luckily there’s no one there). The clowns outside await their revenge. They fall asleep and are awakened by a visit from the Bearded Lady who tells them they’re in serious trouble with the House of Buckets. They decide they need to send replacements. Bearded Lady says it’s time for them to decide their fate. Magician transports them to the tent.
Darin tells their side of the events and offers that if they let him go home, they’ll send replacements. (Mary confesses to killing the Ace). Firebreather says Mary and Johnny can go. Darrin is to stay behind. He’s tied up and tortured by the Cleans. Mary and Johnny find a hidden door in the Tower and defeat it’s challenges. At home, Mary finds Darrin unconscious on the floor. She also sees that she now has to find 6 replacements.
The Devil and Lion Tamer cards are among the ones on the floor. Darrin took them out when he escaped the Devil’s torture attempts. The Devil and the Lion Tamer come back to life. So does the Ace of Buckets. When they do find Darrien the red and white silk bag that held Mary’s cards acts as a get-out-of jail-free card and they all retreat. The stack of replacement cards grows. This causes Mary to say she can’t do anymore. Darrin shows up and tells her about the red-white-silk and how it scared the Circus performers off. He says she might not have to do anymore. He covers the cards in the silk-binding them-.
They take the bodies to the cemetery and think that’s that. The Magician shows up that night and tells them that biding them to the cloth doesn’t cancel their commitment. If they don’t fill it, he’ll bring them back as clows. Darrin then says he knows where they can get the rest of the seven. His co-workers. He finally tells her he’ll be laid off. After recruiting his coworker, Darrin and Mary have a picnic and burn the cards.
My Thoughts:
This was a very unique concept! I think tho that this book should have had the Circus Tarot Companion in the BEGINNING g and not at the end. I spend the whole book puzzling over them being “flipped”. It uses the term so often. I was thinking of mentally going crazy. I wasn’t even thinking of the way it’s used in tarot. As in flipped being their reverse personalities. It made so much more sense when I read the companion. Almost like a light bulb moment. I can say that this author put a lot of time into these characters. Again, I didn’t get this so much from the story as the Companion. Each character was given a description that fit its equal tarot card to the T. I’m really hoping to be able to see these sides brought out more in books 2 and 3.
Rating: 6
Darin comes home to find his wife Mary excited by a woman in her consignment shop giving her a deck of circus themed tarot cards. After dinner, she gives him a reading. The reading coincides with Darin getting fired but he decides not to ruin her enthusiasm and plans to tell her the next day.
Mary comes home from the store and finds the cards she put in a bad the night before spread out on the coffee table. She shocked when she sees the images in the card moving. Darien comes home and frantically starts to search for Mary. He checks the basement. She’s not there. He checks Cheryl’s house (a friend of hers). She’s not there. He checks the backyard. Nothing. Nothing indicating she had to go to the ER in the kitchen. He sees one of the tarot cards and picks it up.
Darin finds himself as a Knight in Clown Woods asking a clown called “The Ace of Buckets” where Mary is. “Ace” tells him they aren’t kept out here, but won’t say anymore. Two clown kids come along and remind him of the treaty (which he tells them he doesn’t care about). While he’s distracted, Darin slips away. The clown sees him and tells him they’ll meet again and next time he won’t be so nice.
A bargeman tells Darin it’s not save for him here. Most of the Buckets have flipped. He asks what he was doing there and he says looking for Mary. The bargeman says she’s where she always is. The Stars of the Show don’t leave the Shadows of World Tent. She’s High Priestess. He then congratulates im on his marriage. And he (he finds out) is the Knight of Foils. He’s then shown to the Castle.
The King and Queen inquire about his where abouts and he tells them he went to find Mary. They wonder why he thought she’d be in Clown Wood. It’s not safe. He says that’s just where he arrived. They seem to be confused about what a police and a phone is. The King suspects the Clowns have somehow given him brain damage. The Queen says he shouldn’t go to the show until they can figure out what’s wrong with him. He protest that he has to find Mary and get her home.
The King says she *is* home. He says maybe it’s a plot of the Clowns to take over the circus again. The Queen declares then no one will go to the show until things are sorted out. Guards then carry Darien off. The King tells the Queen it seems like the treaty is over and she says she’s thinking the same thing. Darin is thrown into the dungeon with another clown that’s hanging upside down. But the clown assures him he’s not like the Ace of Buckets.
The clown as him what he’s doing there. Darin says he’s not even sure how he got to be the Knight. Before he was Darin. The Clown says he’s both. Darin thinks I have got to be dreaming and starts to count. The clown tho says it won’t do him any good. He tells him how he got there and about the Six of Foils (Swords) and the Queen and King of Foils (Swords). The clown tells him there’s really no way out except through the door, and he just so happens to be fine with “hanging around”.
The Page of Foils gives the Devil the message that there will be no one at the show. The Devil says oh well the show will go on anyway. Darin gets the clown to take off his jumpsuit so he can take the hook and slide out the window to get a hold of the keys. But when he’s undressed pustules start to form on his back and he starts to ooze red and gold slime from the inside. So Darin zips him back into his clown suit, gets the key, and the clown wishes him luck.
Mary is informed why there was no audience. The Devil is jealous of the Knight and does everything he can to keep the Knight from spoiling her. So, he says she doesn’t have to do another show and invites her out with him. But she says maybe another time. On the way to find Mary, Darin runs into the contortionist Death. She warns him that many dangers lay in his way that he will only have his sword (foil) as a defense. She says that she won’t be the same. She says he’ll change too. Everyone who comes there does. She says changes are coming but he has time to stop them.
Then she tries to come on to him but saying she sees the change of heart in his eyes and she knows he wants to spend the night. She invites him to lay on the ground with her and “watch the moon”, but he says no and continues on his way. On the way there, she runs into Amy (whose looking for Liz). She wants to tell her she found out something about the “Caldwell Carnival”. The carnival was forced to leave two other towns in the state before the end of its scheduled run. In one of the towns, a girl fell off a ride and was injured. And there were rumors of other strange things happening to kids who visited the carnival.
Liz notices some odd things about Claire. She finds her despite the noise at the shooting gallery. She wears a dress that Liz has seen in a picture of her great-grandmother. She says it’s her second favorite. The first got torn. She doesn’t have any friends. They all think she spies for her father. She’s not particularly interested in being their friends either. She vanishes for a second and appears with Liz’s favorite flavored snow cone (cone). She keeps pointing out the ways she and Liz are alike. She guesses a really big number Liz is thinking and the horses are spooked out by her. She makes Liz promise tho to come by the carnival to visit her every day until it leaves. Liz says ok but she has to teach her the trick of how she could tell what number Liz was thinking so she can write about it in her article.
The Page of Foil is taken by one of the clowns and dragged back to his den to flip him. Darin arrives at the Forest of the Ladies and Gentleman and is greeted by the Queen. She tells him he won’t be seeing Mary tonight. The midgets have already locked her away, but he’ll see her tomorrow. She invites him to join them for the night. Ace of Buckets toys with the Page (drawing pictures on his chest with his knife). Then he carves up his flesh leaving only the bone behind. Before he does this, he tells him the story of a clown catching a boy hiding out after his act and what became of him afterwards.
He rinses any signs of what happened away at the river with his bucket of water. A neighbor goes to check on Darin and Mary. Doesn’t see Darin’s body. Sees the cards. He tells the Queen and King of Swords; the knight wasn’t at the World Tent. Then he thinks in confusion uh what the hell did I just say. Mary is locked in for the night. The midgets say it’s because of the clowns tho she doesn’t understand what’s so bad about being flipped. Doesn’t everybody sometimes?
She’s heard the Knight is looking for her and she’s flattered but she gets the feeling he’s more than a groupie. She sees one of the clowns out the window puling “a potato sack”. Mary has this memory of a fight she had with the Queen of Tokens that left her dead? Darin also has a flashback of him dying when the Queen and King remind him of how he rushed in with no plan the last time. The clowns tricked him by going into a burning building to rescue some of the other clowns. The Queen of Poles invites him to stay there also.
The Fortune Teller tells him some cryptic comments about his names being interchangeable and him having all the answers because the rules never changed. The Tokens and Buckets dine. The Queen of Buckets whispers to Darin (as she passes him) he’ll get what he desires. He has something sacred and secret. Ace of Buckets joins him. It’s not long before Mary arrives on the arm of the Devil.
The Devil asks the Knight what his business is and he says he’s come to take his wife back. He scoffs at his belief that the High Priestess is his wife. Darrin goes for his sword but in a cloud of smoke the Devil and the Priestess disappear. Among some of the others Darin meets are “The Magician”, the “Fire Breather”, “The Sun”, “The Bearded Lady”, and the “Strong Man”. Mary calls out to James from atop a white horse and tells him she missed him.
She invites him to get with her later after her show. The Devil isn’t happy. Mary is his star. She doesn’t belong to the Knight. He looks at Four Buckets and pities him for not gettig what he wants. He thinks no time like the present. The relationship between the Foils and the Buckets is tense as it is. IT shouldn’t take much. He only needs one clow to start. So, he spreads his story.
Although the circus is the most amazing, Darrin’s seen, the Bearded Lady reminds him not to forgot his mission. She tells him to keep him away from Devil and he’ll be better off. As Mary waits for the Magician’s act to finish so she can go on, the Nine of Buckets appears at her trailer. Mary tells him she’s not ready to go to the World Tent, but he suggest they go see her man. She takes too long, so he opens the door. She’s gone!
She appears with the Magician and he gives her the warning about the clowns not having restrictions now. She thanks him and he vanishes. Backstairs she runs into Fool (whose practicing his type-walking routine), a girl, and the Nine of Buckets (whose come to escort her). As he comes closer, Mary freaks out and takes off running. The clowns have gathered in droves and Marry decides the safest place is back in her trailer. While the clowns chase chaos by throwing sizzling pies at the audience. Darin senses the clowns are up to no good and goes after Mary.
Mary makes his way to the river and hopes she’s not in Clown Woods. She hears someone approaching. Mary starts to run. A calls out to her. It’s Darrin. She passes out and he lifts her into the sky. She wakes in the Dark Forest in confusion. Darin is there and they end up making love. Unknown to them clowns are watching them. Then the Nine of Buckets makes himself known. He quickly lets them know there in his territory. Nine of Buckets offers to use him as a hostage. Darrin knicks the clowns shirt and they struggle. When the air hits the Nine he disintegrates.
They’re escorted back to the castle by the Six of Foils and Johnny. The devil greets Mary in concern. She brushes him off and tells him she’d rather stay with Darrin. The Queen and King come down on Darrin and plan to throw him in the dungeon. The Queen says the High Priestess will stay in her room, but Johnny, Mary, and Darrin have snuck away. (Or either the Queen and King want to turn him over to the clowns who an eye for an eye). The Queen of Tokens and the Devil are outside.
When everyone is distracted by the Knights horse coming, Mary is kidnapped by the Ace of Buckets. He takes her to a location in Clown Woods. Only she fights him off with his razor and escapes. Outside, she’s greeted by Darrin. They make their way back to her trailer (luckily there’s no one there). The clowns outside await their revenge. They fall asleep and are awakened by a visit from the Bearded Lady who tells them they’re in serious trouble with the House of Buckets. They decide they need to send replacements. Bearded Lady says it’s time for them to decide their fate. Magician transports them to the tent.
Darin tells their side of the events and offers that if they let him go home, they’ll send replacements. (Mary confesses to killing the Ace). Firebreather says Mary and Johnny can go. Darrin is to stay behind. He’s tied up and tortured by the Cleans. Mary and Johnny find a hidden door in the Tower and defeat it’s challenges. At home, Mary finds Darrin unconscious on the floor. She also sees that she now has to find 6 replacements.
The Devil and Lion Tamer cards are among the ones on the floor. Darrin took them out when he escaped the Devil’s torture attempts. The Devil and the Lion Tamer come back to life. So does the Ace of Buckets. When they do find Darrien the red and white silk bag that held Mary’s cards acts as a get-out-of jail-free card and they all retreat. The stack of replacement cards grows. This causes Mary to say she can’t do anymore. Darrin shows up and tells her about the red-white-silk and how it scared the Circus performers off. He says she might not have to do anymore. He covers the cards in the silk-binding them-.
They take the bodies to the cemetery and think that’s that. The Magician shows up that night and tells them that biding them to the cloth doesn’t cancel their commitment. If they don’t fill it, he’ll bring them back as clows. Darrin then says he knows where they can get the rest of the seven. His co-workers. He finally tells her he’ll be laid off. After recruiting his coworker, Darrin and Mary have a picnic and burn the cards.
My Thoughts:
This was a very unique concept! I think tho that this book should have had the Circus Tarot Companion in the BEGINNING g and not at the end. I spend the whole book puzzling over them being “flipped”. It uses the term so often. I was thinking of mentally going crazy. I wasn’t even thinking of the way it’s used in tarot. As in flipped being their reverse personalities. It made so much more sense when I read the companion. Almost like a light bulb moment. I can say that this author put a lot of time into these characters. Again, I didn’t get this so much from the story as the Companion. Each character was given a description that fit its equal tarot card to the T. I’m really hoping to be able to see these sides brought out more in books 2 and 3.
Rating: 6
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 12, 2012
I had no clue what I was in for when I started reading this novel. (I want it noted that I have a serious phobia about clowns, this novel helped make it even more so.)
Set inside a pack of tarot, all the elements of a true fairy tale are here (the original fairy tales were not light and sweet.. there were witches eating children after all). We have the bad guys, the good guys, the crazy guys, the flesh eating guys, the magic casters, the hero, the damsel in distress and the list goes on!
This is not your typical walk in the park horror either! It is a creative twist with one of the most original settings I have seen in a long time! PERFECT to get for anyone who wants a new take on the horrors of clowns! OH but it is more than just clowns, it has everything for everyone! I was on edge with each turn of the page!
I have "FLIPPED" for this book! Drawn from the on the aspect of tarot cards and their meanings, each has been interwoven into the story of what happens when the suit is 'flipped'. Anyone who reads tarot knows that the card drawn flipped means something different. However, even if you did not know this, the book will tell you what happens when the Nine of Buckets is flipped... let's just say you may become dinner OR dessert! Obviously well researched, the author has a great grasp in how the tarot works. Putting it into a story as he did made it not only terrifying but truly delightful!
Keep the lights on when you read it. I fell asleep reading this and had dreams I do wish I could forget!
Set inside a pack of tarot, all the elements of a true fairy tale are here (the original fairy tales were not light and sweet.. there were witches eating children after all). We have the bad guys, the good guys, the crazy guys, the flesh eating guys, the magic casters, the hero, the damsel in distress and the list goes on!
This is not your typical walk in the park horror either! It is a creative twist with one of the most original settings I have seen in a long time! PERFECT to get for anyone who wants a new take on the horrors of clowns! OH but it is more than just clowns, it has everything for everyone! I was on edge with each turn of the page!
I have "FLIPPED" for this book! Drawn from the on the aspect of tarot cards and their meanings, each has been interwoven into the story of what happens when the suit is 'flipped'. Anyone who reads tarot knows that the card drawn flipped means something different. However, even if you did not know this, the book will tell you what happens when the Nine of Buckets is flipped... let's just say you may become dinner OR dessert! Obviously well researched, the author has a great grasp in how the tarot works. Putting it into a story as he did made it not only terrifying but truly delightful!
Keep the lights on when you read it. I fell asleep reading this and had dreams I do wish I could forget!
May 10, 2017
This begins as a familiar concept – Mr and Mrs Ordinary Folk get pulled into an alternate reality – but that by no way suggests that this is a familiar or uninteresting tale. On the contrary.
When Mary buys an old packet of tarot cards and does a reading for her husband Darrin neither of them have any idea what the consequences will be as they find themselves inside the colourful world the cards portray. Each card in the tarot deck is one circus character or other, Queens and Kings, Knights and Pages, all of the tarot deck are represented – and there is even the clever inclusion of “flipped” cards.
The first challenge the couple have is finding each other, then it’s finding their way out – but even escape wont end their story as there are frightening and binding rules with this deck and World Circus.
This is a really gripping story – it was certainly a “just one more chapter” type of book for me. There are some horror type scenes but these are well written and not over the top, although depending on your tastes they may well make you wince once or twice.
The story develops well and held my interest from the first to last page… I was pleased to see there are more books in this series and I will certainly be reading them… I need to know what happens next!
A great read and thoroughly recommended.
When Mary buys an old packet of tarot cards and does a reading for her husband Darrin neither of them have any idea what the consequences will be as they find themselves inside the colourful world the cards portray. Each card in the tarot deck is one circus character or other, Queens and Kings, Knights and Pages, all of the tarot deck are represented – and there is even the clever inclusion of “flipped” cards.
The first challenge the couple have is finding each other, then it’s finding their way out – but even escape wont end their story as there are frightening and binding rules with this deck and World Circus.
This is a really gripping story – it was certainly a “just one more chapter” type of book for me. There are some horror type scenes but these are well written and not over the top, although depending on your tastes they may well make you wince once or twice.
The story develops well and held my interest from the first to last page… I was pleased to see there are more books in this series and I will certainly be reading them… I need to know what happens next!
A great read and thoroughly recommended.
May 29, 2017
OMG! The CIRCUS is nothing like I have read before. A plot derived from a deck of cards is unusually creative. At first, I started to put the book down because I did not understand the flow. Once you get beyond chapter three, the real gist of the story emerges. Continuing to read was well worth the journey. The author crafted characters in ways that only a visionary writer can do. Not knowing anything about tarot cards, I was drawn to learn more. The author skillfully transforms people from their human existence into a world of evil circus characters and back to humans just with a touch of a card and a few more exciting ways. The readers will float through drama, love scenes, murder, and out of this world fantasy. Who knew a deck of cards could be so mesmerizing? I can’t wait to add this author’s next two books to my reading list.
May 29, 2017
I applaud the author’s knowledge of Tarot Cards in this story. I wish I knew enough of this card to understand and follow the story. There were just too many characters intertwining in and out of the story that I lost count.
This story was about the images of these cards that have a life of their own, and the tricks they use in drawing people into their world. By simply touching these card, one is transported into the world of these cards. A world full of all sorts of dangers, a land of no-return.
When Mary, first, and then Darrin her husband were inadvertently drawn into this world, they found out that the only way out was for them to send replacements for themselves, and others, to this card world. Very frightening!
Although I did not quite understand this story, because of the many technicalities used by the author, there is a need for a more thorough editing of this book.
This story was about the images of these cards that have a life of their own, and the tricks they use in drawing people into their world. By simply touching these card, one is transported into the world of these cards. A world full of all sorts of dangers, a land of no-return.
When Mary, first, and then Darrin her husband were inadvertently drawn into this world, they found out that the only way out was for them to send replacements for themselves, and others, to this card world. Very frightening!
Although I did not quite understand this story, because of the many technicalities used by the author, there is a need for a more thorough editing of this book.
September 14, 2019
I must admit that my knowledge of Tarot Cards is minimal, having no experience with them personally. Had this not been the case, I would undoubtedly have found the first few chapters of this book more enjoyable. However, a glossary is provided at the end of the book, which I realized too late, so those unfamiliar with the world of Tarot Cards may want to read that first. The book also requires a bit of editing.
The storyline is intense, with a few violent scenes that are not for the sqeamish. The story plays well with many reader's fear of clowns and those who enjoy Stephen King's, It, and Alice in Wonderland, will appreciate the similar concepts.
Circus Tarot is an exciting read that holds more twists and turns than a mountain road, it will keep you guessing.
The storyline is intense, with a few violent scenes that are not for the sqeamish. The story plays well with many reader's fear of clowns and those who enjoy Stephen King's, It, and Alice in Wonderland, will appreciate the similar concepts.
Circus Tarot is an exciting read that holds more twists and turns than a mountain road, it will keep you guessing.
August 3, 2017
This was a very clever and creepy book! I don't know much about Tarot cards but it didn't affect my enjoyment of the book. It's kind of a scarier Alice in Wonderland type story for grownups. Mary and Darrin find themselves pulled into the world of the tarot cards and it's a violent and dangerous place to live. An original story with a wide cast of characters, this will appeal to all lovers of horror. And yes the clowns are very scary!
January 9, 2018
This book has taught me that you can not read with your eyes squeezed tightly shut. A simple deck of tarot cards turns deadly. Mary and then her husband find themselves trapped in an alternate dimension where tarot cards come alive. A tap on a card and the horror begins. Just don't flip them or you will flip out.
How do Mary and Darrin escape this hell of circus creatures? Alternatively, do they survive? You will have to read and find out. Make sure you keep the lights on.
How do Mary and Darrin escape this hell of circus creatures? Alternatively, do they survive? You will have to read and find out. Make sure you keep the lights on.
June 12, 2017
#RRBC Better than "Alice In Woderland"!!,
I like the way the author goes right to the heart of the story. It happened so fast that, at first, I didn't know what hit me. But then it started coming to gether and I couldn't put the book down. Next to the Ouija Board this is an out-of-this world adventure. Hold on to your seat as this is one bumpy ride from beginning to end. Don't read this book if your heart is squeamish, as you might have nightmares. Good job handling those characters.
I like the way the author goes right to the heart of the story. It happened so fast that, at first, I didn't know what hit me. But then it started coming to gether and I couldn't put the book down. Next to the Ouija Board this is an out-of-this world adventure. Hold on to your seat as this is one bumpy ride from beginning to end. Don't read this book if your heart is squeamish, as you might have nightmares. Good job handling those characters.
May 29, 2017
A fascinating tale of a world of the tarot cards. Very imaginative and creative. I did have trouble keeping all the characters straight at the beginning. I must give this 4 stars because of many grammatical and spelling errors requiring some editorial expertise.
February 6, 2013
I grew up reading Poe and Lovecraft when most teens my age were deep into Judy Blume, so I enjoy a good dose of horror now and then. Circus Tarot is akin to looking through a fun house mirror and seeing through the macabre image to the scream behind it. Tight woven plot, fun and accurate tarot associations keeping it authentic and real, all with a very Alice In Wonderland feel. Except Alice is Mary and she dragged along her husband for the ride into the looking glass. There are some rather disturbing scenes in the book of grotesque torture, upping the twisted scare factor, and of course, tons of scary clowns. If you like slightly off-kilter horror, of things out of control, then this is the book for you.
September 26, 2012
well cos the reviews said dont read it before bed of course i did. Am being schooled in being able to watch scarey movies so this was just another lesson. Loved the antique use of the word 'purchase'.
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May 27, 2016Author's guest post at my blog:
http://bookfare.blogspot.com/2016/05/...
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