City of Circles

by Jess Richards

A magical love story between two circus performers, for fans of Angela Carter and Erin Morgenstern by Costa-shortlisted author Jess Richards.

CITY OF CIRCLES is an entrancing love story between Danu and Morrie, two circus performers, and Danu's Lewis Carroll-esque odyssey through the magical city of Matryoshka, that ends with a heart-warming yet bittersweet twist.

Danu is a tightrope walker who is mourning her parents, after a disease has ravaged the circus where she grew up. Her mother has entrusted her with a locket that hides a secret.

Over the years, Danu pushes away her grief and develops elaborate and successful high-wire acts with Morrie, a charismatic hunchback who wants to marry her. When the circus returns to Danu's birthplace, Matryoshka, Danu is enchanted by the temples, spice mists, and pleasure seekers within the intoxicating outer circle district.

Here, she finally gains the courage to open her mother's locket, and discovers the name of a stranger who lives behind the locked gate of the Inner Circle. Fated to remain in Matryoshka, Danu attempts to resolve this mystery . . .

Will she and Morrie ever be reunited, or will something far more unexpected be waiting for her in the mysterious heart of the city?

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Romance, Contemporary, Fiction

378 pages, Paperback

First published August 10, 2017

About the author

I was born in Wales in 1972, and grew up too fast in south west Scotland where I lived with my English parents and three brothers, watching the ferry boats going to and from Northern Ireland. I left home at 17, went over the border to England, and lived for a year in Carlisle, before moving to Devon. I gained a first class degree from Dartington College of Arts when I was 21, then after brief stints busking and carrying on in both Leeds and London, I moved to Brighton aged 23 where I grew up a bit slower, and have lived ever since.

I have always written, probably on just about every day of my life, and from 2008-10, I studied Creative Writing at Sussex University. I had a number of short stories published and more shortlisted and longlisted as a result of competitions I entered while on the course, and my first novel, Snake Ropes started as a short story which wouldn’t stop growing.

Snake Ropes was published by Sceptre in 2012, and was shortlisted for the Costa first book award 2012. My second novel, Cooking with Bones, was published in 2013.

Reviews

[Abbie | ab_reads · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars


This one was a tough one and honestly I’m still not sure where I stand with it. My reading experience was soured by my hatred of the main relationship in the book - all was going well, I thought Morrie was a decent guy, but then he made a remark about Danu ‘having the body of a woman by 15’ (I believe she’s about 19 when he makes the comment) and he was ruined and I didn’t want to read any time he was on the page. BUT, the world-building was unique, the idea of walking in the ether was cool, and the ending was really satisfying to me (bearing in mind what I said about the main relationship lol), so I guess I’m not mad I finished it.

[Cat · Rating 2 out of 5]

Expectations are a killer. Even when you were not expecting that much.

I had never heard about Jess Richards, or 'City of Circles', and I don't even know how I came across this. As usual, I read the synopsis, and I liked what I read.

The reading, however...

In a way, this book reminded of 'The Court of the Air' by Stephen Hunt. Like Hunt's book, it is full of really good ideas, which would be great on their own, but don't actually work out when mix together. I felt, at times, that the author was not sure which way to go, or, worse, what this book was meant to be.

The book starts with the main character's parents dying. They belong to a circus and the main character, Danu, becomes a tightrope walker. She partner with an older man, called Morrie, who believes to be in love in her. I and write “ believes” because whatever he feels looks more like obsession.

When the circus stops at a city called Matryoshka, Danu's birthplace, she is immediately enthralled by the city and leaves the circus. Morrie continues with the circus, but pines for Danu. While in Matryoshka, Danu tries to solve a mystery related to her and her past. And Morrie is just creepy.

Honestly, this story was kind of upsetting. It takes ages for Danu to actually do something, after her parents die. There's a lot of her trying to “find herself” that could have been interesting, but wasn't. Then, in Matryoshka, things also take time to happen. Basically, all of the mystery-solving part was left to the last chapters. I felt I was plodding through the whole thing, expecting something to happen.

Also, Danu-Morrie relationship was just too weird. He's obsessed with her; she likes him, a lot according to her, but it's not love. But she trusts him, they share an act together in the circus, she moves to his caravan. But she cannot love him, and I cannot explain what I found annoying about these two without giving out spoilers.

Then, characters... Nope, I couldn't like a single one of them. There wasn't one I did warm to. Possibly due to the way Richards characterised them? Lack of characterisation? I don't know, but they all seemed pretty unlikeable to me.

Regarding the setting of this story, again, who knows? Is this past time, present time, near future, post-apocaliptic? Or is it not Earth, but a different world, or dimension? Not told. There are mentions of science, and of surgical masks. Viruses are known. But horses are still used as means of transportation. There are letters as a means of communication, but no telephones, no internet. Clothing seemed like a mix of many things. I don't think electricity is ever mentioned.

No countries, or continents are mention, too. Geographically and chronologically speaking, we are not to know about the setting.

There is magic, or some sort of magic, or spiritual thingy. This is explained during the story, but only after some time. Matryoshka is a very special city, as well. However, these nice and interesting bits were left to the last part of the book. And, before we get there, everything is just 'meh'.

And have I mentioned how predictable this book is?

Nope, not really a recommendation.

[K.J. Charles]

This book feels like it isn't there. The wounded heroine suppresses her feelings, which fine except she was a total affectless blank to me as a reader. This is partly because she doesn't really see other people, and thus since it's deep 3rd nor does the reader--I have no sense of her love interest as a person, what he wants or who he is, so am not remotely invested in their relationship, and the minor characters barely exist to me. The landscape is a vague blur with some trees and some snow; I have no idea what sort of technology exists, what the economy of the country is, history, political set up, whether the circus people pay taxes, racial make up, religious beliefs, anything. And since it's in present tense, we don't even have a sense of time passing.

I'm sure this is a deliberate literary device, and I'm guessing that the action and emotion and vivid setting will begin once the heroine gets to the city in a Wizard of Oz everything-goes-Technicolor way, but I fear I lack the urge to find out. Eh, it's inevitable when authors take literary risks, you win some, you lose some. (If it helps, I absolutely *hated* Remains of the Day because of the main character, so if you liked that massively award-winning highly praised novel, you'll probably love this.)

DNF at 90pp.

[Quill&Queer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't know how a book written this well can be so terrible. City Of Circles has that poetic chaotic writing style like Starless Sea, and it sucked me in so fast. I fell in love with Danu quickly, and her raw grief at losing both her parents at once made me quickly care for her. But Morrie's obsession with her and the rushed ending really let this down for me.

At first, I liked Morrie and the comfort Danu found in him after the loss. But then I started to notice that while she saw him as a friend, he very much seemed to be waiting for her to decide she wanted to marry him. This took a dark turn when he started looking at her under the bedsheets, naked, and magically thought stalking her when she leaves for the city. I felt that this was painted as romantic and it was so uncomfortable.

I enjoyed Danu's time in the city, as she started to piece together the secrets of her parent's past. The city itself is vibrant, mysterious and chaotic, and I wish we had gotten much more time there. Towards the end, there was one scene that really weirded me out, but I loved the path Danu found. Unfortunately though, the end was too abrupt, leaving me with unanswered questions, and I left feeling frustrated.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

When Danu Monk is fifteen she watches her parents die. They are victims of a virus which has resulted in five deaths, and affected many more, in the circus community which is her home. Even though she is taken in by her parents’ closest friends in the circus, and is surrounded by people who care about her, she feels utterly bereft and isolated. Just before she died, her mother entrusted her with a precious silver locket which holds a secret from the past and, although she is initially unable to open it, Danu wears it as a choker around her neck. She also wears her father’s leather bootlaces, tied tightly around her ankles, ensuring that she remains constantly, and painfully, aware of all that she has lost.
Prior to her parents’ deaths she had been a member of the circus’s troupe of clowns but soon afterwards she approaches Morrie, a charismatic, hunchback tight-rope walker, and asks him if he is prepared to teach her this skill. He is more than happy to do so and their imaginative and daring feats on the wire soon become one of the circus’s most popular acts. Morrie is in love with Danu but, as he is ten years older and she is still grieving, he puts no pressure on her to return his love. She becomes very fond of him but, because her grief has made her question whether she can either recognise, or trust, love ever again, she keeps an emotional distance from him. When the circus visits Matryoshka, the magical city of circles which was her birthplace, she discovers the name of a stranger who may hold a clue to the secret her parents kept from her. This quest for the truth is one she must follow alone and so, when the circus leaves the town, she remains behind, with the comfort of Morrie’s promise to always be there for her should she need his help (he urges her to watch for him on the ether) or eventually discover that she feels able to return his love.
This captivating story is told through the alternating voices of Danu and Morrie as they not only seek a way forward in their relationship, but also to discover a deeper meaning to their lives. Each voice is compelling and heart-breaking and I very quickly found myself wanting the trust and balance they developed in their high-wire act to be replicated in their personal relationship. However, Danu’s compelling need to discover the significance of the information contained within her mother’s locket meant that she needed to find herself before she could trust in any belief in a shared future.
The author’s exploration of grief and of a young woman’s search for herself was one of the most emotionally affecting pieces of writing I have ever read. She captured so vividly and sensitively how it is possible to feel numb and alone, even when surrounded by people who love and care for you. At one point in the story she describes fifteen words for loneliness, each depicting a different aspect of this feeling, and I found myself wondering why no other author has, in my experience, ever explored it with such clarity and pathos. Her reflections that when people die they take with them the answers to all the unasked questions which remain with the living is not a new idea but she injected it with a particular poignancy. Her choice of Matryoshka as the name of the city of circles was central to the developing story as it soon became clear that there were stories within stories, secrets within secrets, and that getting to the heart and essence of what was important required the characters to patiently explore each and every layer as it presented itself.
I quickly found myself immersed in the enchanting world of magic, runes, tarot cards and hexes, as well as the powerfully evoked atmosphere of the circus – I could almost smell the sawdust! I loved the poetic, mystical and ethereal nature of the author’s prose and frequently found myself reflecting on the ideas and observations she introduced into the story. I think this would be a good choice for reading groups because it is such an original, wonderfully fantastic story, containing so many layers of meaning which would offer fertile ground for lively discussion.
Anyone who enjoys magical realism will be in for a treat with this thought-provoking story. I haven’t read Jess Richards' previous two novels, Snake Ropes (short-listed for the 2012 Costa First Novel Award) and Cooking with Bones, but now feel keen to remedy this omission!

[Illona · Rating 4 out of 5]

gorgeous story. crap ending.

[Rasmus Weibull · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn’t mind the story, but the language really put me off.

[Austral Scout · Rating 4 out of 5]

Romance and literal tight-ropes you say? I'm in. As the tale waxed on, it became clear I was reading tragedy. I continued, although I ached for the thoroughly-drawn characters. From midway I found similarities to Neil Gaiman and Trudi Canavan, but Richards' voice is distinctly different from any other I've read.

There is more hope and beauty in the narrative's closure than a textbook tragic piece, but it's essential to emphasise: this tale is less about the fluffy stuff and more about soul-searching, emotional anguish, and management of grief. An entire interlude is dedicated to a flashback interaction with a woman who invents and defines 15 new words for loneliness.

Segues such as these are frequent and oft-times lengthy. Although I'm prone to resist too much tangential exposition, in the case of City of Circles, it matched the character's exploratory arc -- with each anecdote, memory, quoted plaque, song or poetry excerpt, scraps of perception were knitting together. As a reader, we too are searching for meaning, alongside Duna, although occasionally these embellishments felt too long and too effectual upon pacing.

Although one reveal was clear very early, the minutia of everything else spiraling and cocooning around this anchor point was pure mystery. Coupled with the weighted whimsy, the surprises page to page made the story and world a mystical navigational pleasure. More than once I felt exhilarated by Richards' possiblity realm.

Duna's world has a timelessness to it that only heightened the mystical notes. In one moment I was certain my characters occupied a pastoral world without technology, then electricity, paper towels or an elevator would gently intrude upon that visage to challenge my comfort in picking up any established time period and employing it for the story. As I would rework my imagining with these modern inclusions, the prominence of horses for transport and absence of information technology resisted a new preconception taking the old one's place. This beautiful setting complimented a world of lonely gypsies; a world separate and apart from our own.

The text is thick with motifs and symbolism to reinforce the search, the loneliness and the mystical otherness. Duna's poetry, interactions with sage-like strangers, introspection, dreams, visions, incantations, prayers and conversations with animals saturate the text and demand attention. Scenes with horses, spiders and magpies were always welcome, for me. Furthermore, all those that breathed life into the inanimate -- I relished them all.

I found the treatment of sex jarring and sad. Although this has largely been Duna's experience of sex (warning: there is a violent advance early in the story, ultimately thwarted but rattling all the same), I was disappointed that almost all of the characters lacked any reverence for it. Given sections have some omniscience and others are another character's perspective altogether, I would have welcomed more alternative treatment (there is one very brief alternative view given). Describing having sex as f***ing, from the lips of more than one character, is disappointing. What an ugly view. I thought perhaps this word meant less for Richards', but other crass details and breasts being consistently called "tits" seemed at odds with such a poetic work. Perhaps some might argue that is the point -- this juxtaposition of all that is beautiful alongside something the characters finds jarring and unwelcome, but I say again, supporting characters are portrayed as sharing this view. This was a missed opportunity, for me, as I felt strongly that the intimacy one character in particular longed for was not at all f***king, and in fact represented an excellent representation of temperance and desire for love-making. (A few more specifics can be found here: https://strikingkeys.blogspot.com/201...)

It's unfortunate for me that the unpleasant scenes and pain of this story will probably stay with me longer than the beauty. But oh there is beauty. It's probably more like a 3.75/5, but rating system being what it is, I'll lock it in as a 4.

Review copy received from Hachette.

[On the Same Page]

DNF at page 22.

The writing and the protagonist weren't really working for me. After looking up some reviews I've decided to stop here since I don't think the direction this story takes is one I'd enjoy much.

[Miriam Smith (A Mother’s Musings)]

Won in Goodreads Giveaways - not read, passed on.

[Lio · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars?

[Gemma Best · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book really surprised me. Well written, thought provoking and atmospheric. I would have given it 5 stars if I hadn't guessed the ending halfway through

[Emily Moss · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good start to a predictable story the ending is unfulfilling and it was disappointing. The beginning third however saves the book.

[Antoaneta · Rating 3 out of 5]

2,5

[Samantha (A Dream of Books) · Rating 3 out of 5]

'City of Circles' is an unusual and unique read. I hadn't heard a lot about it before reading the novel but I was attracted to it by the premise of the story. It features a character called Danu, who at the beginning of the book loses both of her parents. She struggles to deal with her grief within a community of fellow circus performers. Soon after their deaths, she begins a high-wire act with Morrie, a hunchback performer who loves and wants to marry her. Danu however, is restless and unsettled; unsure about where she sees her life headed. When the circus arrives in Matryoshka, the city of 3 circles and Danu's birthplace, she is drawn to her new surroundings and attempts to find the answer to a secret from her past.

There were some things about this book that I loved and others that I wasn't quite so keen on. I really enjoyed the circus theme which is something that I'm seeing more and more of lately in books. It's interesting to see characters that are always on the move and with such unique occupations. There's always something truly magical and mysterious about the circus too. Although the story is mainly told from Danu's point of view, I thoroughly enjoyed the parts that showed things from Morrie's perspective. He is a character that I wasn't sure I was going to like at the beginning but he really grew on me throughout the book, particularly as I began to understand more about the depth of his feelings for Danu.

I felt frustrated by Danu at times but she was also a wonderfully interesting protagonist and I loved the second half of the book when she is exploring Matryoshka and all its wonders. The city was amazing and brilliantly imagined by Richards. It definitely made me wish that it wasn't purely fictional.

The big disappointment for me was the ending. It wasn't at all what I was expecting and after such a big build up throughout the story, it felt like a bit of a let down. This was a real shame because I did enjoy 'City of Circles' and up until the very end I would have gladly recommended it to others. It felt somewhat rushed and wasn't the conclusion that I was hoping for.

[Alicia Huxtable · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, this is a really engrossing tale of love, loss, grief, unrequited love and dispair. Danu, child of circus parents, knows nothing but circus life. So when he parents pass from a tragic illness, she loses herself. This brings with it a chance to find the real Danu though.
While I loved all the characters, Morrie was by far my favourite and my heart hurt for him.

[Debbie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well, 100 pages in and our main character is irritating the hell out of me. Yes she's lost her parents and it's very sad but stop leading that poor guy on. Seriously, you are doing my head in.

The book is really well written but it's so earnest. She spends so much time just being all emotional and dark.

Don't try to love me, for I could never give myself completely to you... etc etc

Enough already

Halfway through and I'm finding it insufferable but I have to read it now because I've spent too much time on it already. It doesn't seem to know what it is. It's written like young adult fiction but bits of it read like badly written erotica.

And stop using the word gob instead of mouth. That drove me crazy.

There doesn't appear to be much of a story line. The central character is dull as dishwater as well as being as irritating as an emo teenager.

It also feels confused as to where it's set. In the past, the present. Fantasy or real world. It just doesn't seem to know what it is.

And to top it off the ending is not worth getting to the end for.

I really didn't like this book at all.

[Sophie Elaina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, I really enjoyed this book. I feel like it has one of those plots that is so well weaved together with the characters and their development that it was really mind blowing to read. I mean some things were predictable but there was so much more happening at the same time that wasn't and I can't believe how well it was done. Jess Richards' writing was almost lyrical and kind of reminded me of when I read Laini Taylor's books.

'Tightrope walking is dangerous isn't it?'
He repies in his softest voice,
'Until you learn how to balance, everything is.'

I think I have a thing for books that have circus' or carnival's in them. It's just one of my favourite things to read about at the moment. So even though I'd seen a few less favourable reviews I still wanted to pick this up and give it a try. It was the same with Caraval as even though there were so many mixed reviews I still ended up really loving it, and this was the case once again with City of Circles.

'She stares into the river, longing for the emergence of something profound. A water spirit, who trickles and surges through rivers and streams, before gathering herfelf as a powerful ocean. The sound of gushing water subsides. Light shifts. The river stills. Danu drifts into the clouds, reflected beneath her in the water.'

The book follows Danu and Morrie two circus performers and their journey together through the magical city of Matryoshka. When Danu visits Matroyshka it reminded me of when Alice fell down the rabbit hole; honestly that is the only way I can think of as to describe it.

I don't want to give too much away in terms of the characters as I think that would spoil the affect of reading it. Just read it! The story is full of whimsy, and love and adventure and if that is what your looking for in a book then this is perfect for you. I would highly recommend.

Thank you to Goodreads, Sceptre and Jess Richards for sending me an arc to review. All opinions are my own.

[Maya Panika · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have tried (dear God, I’ve tried) to engage with this book but it was such a slow, frustrating, boring read. Part of this was my fault, it wasn’t the book I was expecting it to be - I had imagined something darker, more mystical, magical, more along the lines of The Night Circus. This was more of a YA romance, and set in a perplexingly uncertain landscape; I felt the author wasn’t certain whether she wanted to place her story in the real world or an imaginary world and hedged her bets and set it somewhere in between and it didn’t work for me. I could have lived with the poor world-building if the characters had been wonderful, but they were the very worst of it. Everyone in this story seems so cold, and the protagonist Danu is the worst offender, so entirely unlikeable. Most other characters aren’t as egregious as Danu, but there’s no warmth or depth in any of them. None of them felt like real people at all - at least, not people I could care about and if I can’t care about them, why would I be interested in their story?
I kept going in hopes that it the tale would finally lift off when they reached Matryoshka, the eponymous City of Circles, but the characters just plodded on in the same, flat, dreary, two dimensional way they did from the start. It’s all so desperately slow - far too much detail when it’s not needed, far too little when it is. It feels unfinished somehow; like a lot of notes - excellent ideas, that could have been made into something special - were simply corralled into a passable narrative with no energy or passion behind it. All in all, it was a real disappointment from a book that promised much and which I’d expected (from the quality of the author’s first two books), to be something special.

[milliereadsalot · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay, so the concept was super interesting... but that's the only reason this gets more than 1 star. I mean, I can definitely see the potential for liking it? But it would need to be rewritten, completely. I just didn't feel the story ever got anywhere, I was 10 pages from the end and still waiting for SOMETHING to actually happen. Also, Morrie is just ugh, I hate him, super creepy and possessive and I hated the fact that Danu DID NOT FEEL COMFORTABLE AROUND HIM but then he was made out to be the only person she could trust? Like no! If she's not comfortable around him, and doesn't love him, she shouldn't be suddenly made to love him! I don't know, it just really wasn't for me, which was such a shame because if it was written differently, I could totally see this being a good book, but as it is, I didn't like any of the characters and it was all just a bit flat for me.

[USOM · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think perhaps I'm in the minority here, but something about this book didn't click with me. I thought the book was super whimsical and incredibly detailed - and normally I like these elements - but combined with the plot it just felt labored. The plot, to me, dragged a bit and for a while not much happens so there's not much to move the story along. Combined with the fact that I had a hard time connecting to Danu or liking her, which is not a reason I would rate the book down. For me the main issues were plot pacing and writing.

Disclaimer: I received this ARC from a friend.

[Belle Gater · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked up this book because 1. its gorgeous and 2. it has a circus in it and I love the night circus. I don't know if its because I went into this book expecting it to be on level with the night circus but I really did not enjoy it at all.
Its slow and has no feel of adventure despite everything that happens in it being an adventure. the more I think about it, it is the way it is written that I don't like. usually I love when authors focus on the scenery of a place but in this book found myself wanting to skip over that.

[Hanna (lapetiteboleyn) · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't know that I can necessarily explain exactly why I disliked this book so much, but something about it really got my hackles up. It was boring. The romance felt less romantic and more like a creepy man obsessed with a girl ten years his junior who thinks of his obsession as romantic. The plot meanders and ultimately goes nowhere. Did I mention that it was boring?
It's a shame, because it's quite an accomplishment to make a novel about a circus and a magic city so deathly dull that I spent the whole time wishing it were three hundred pages shorter.

[Charlotte · Rating 2 out of 5]

Honestly not a fan. I stumbled across this in my local library and the synopsis sounded interesting but ultimately I feel I guess unfulfilled by this book? It seemed to ramble on and not get anywhere for so long and then suddenly the last 50 or so pages rushed by. I liked that the ending was different (and didn't go where I expected it to) but the rest of it was kinda blah.

[Chalice An · Rating 2 out of 5]

Premise was interesting, and unlike the Night Circus, I wasn't drowning in a sea of purple.
The ending though was too forced and abrupt in my opinion, and I didn't get any time to process things as I was reading.

[Frances Hopes · Rating 1 out of 5]

If this sounds like your kind of book, I recommend you read The Night Circus instead.

This was confused, badly written, 1D characters and a story that didn’t seem to know where it was going. Struggled to care about any of it- and on paper this is the sort of book I should love.

[Rachel Crofts · Rating 3 out of 5]

City of Circles is an exploration of grief and adolescence and love, set in a kind of alternate fantasy-verse. With definitely a hint of the Angela Carter about it. From the blurb and the cover I felt sure I would love this book, and whilst reading it, I certainly did. However the ending was slightly unsatisfactory. **Spoilers from here on**

Our heroine, Danu, has suffered the loss of her parents from an illness which has swept through the circus. She is angry and closed off, holding her grief close. As the years pass, she develops a high-wire act, and a relationship with Morrie, but their relationship is never consummated. Morrie is open about his feelings, but Danu is clearly confused and struggling still with her grief, seemingly unable to respond to Morrie except when drunk or high. In the background there is some kind of mystery to her past (a mysterious locket of her mothers which she never opens) all leading her back to the city of her birth. Richards' depiction of grief in the early stages of the book is touching and authentic, and I was very much caught up in it, rooting for Danu. However when Danu leaves the circus to explore the mystery of her past and her parents link to an artist who lives in the reclusive inner circle, I began to struggle with the book. The pace slowed, probably to build tension, but the accumulation of clues meant that I felt frustrated, having guessed that Danu had a twin sister hidden away in the City, and impatient because I was keen for the denouement. There was also a building of tension around a malicious spirit in the ether (a kind of system of astral projection used by Morrie, a couple of others in the Circus and the dwellers of the inner circle) which was never explained. At one point I felt sure the sister was the malicious presence, but then they met and were suddenly best friends! All of this matters because it was because of this presence that Morrie was dispatched on a mad dash to the city, only to turn around a give up when he thinks Danu has killed herself. In the end, it feels as though Richards' has simply run out of steam, and scrawled 'and they all lived happily ever after' across the page. And even that I would dispute.

Danu agrees that in order to meet her sister, she will agree to enter the 'inner circle' from whence she will never be able to leave. But, she will learn to travel on the ether, and knows she can meet Morrie there. We end with our heroine in a room of her own, blank, and white, where she will live happily ever after with her sister and her sisters' adopted mother, merrily playing on the ether. However despite Richards' best efforts, that life feels sterile and limited to me as a reader, so I felt frustrated and deprived of the payoff. The 'spiritual' interactions Danu and Morrie allegedly experience in the ether can hardly take the place of proper companionship and love, and I left the book feeling sorry for Danu.

At the end of the book, in an essay, Richards discusses her own experience of loss, the grief that followed, and finding an eventual love that spanned continents, which inspired the idea of the ether, as a way of communicating between hearts in love. She explains how soothing she found a white room during part of her convalescence and says that she 'wanted Danu to find that peace' - but there is something tragic about her being isolated away from the world. Danu has not learned to live in the world with her grief, but instead has cloistered herself away (earlier in the book, after parents have been buried, she asks the priests about convents, expressing a wish to hide away from the world). And that is to me, fundamentally sad.

City of circles is beautifully written, with lovely evocative prose and a great deal of imagination. However the ending suffers from a number of unconcluded or unnecessary elements, and an ending to the story which is more of a whimper than a bang.

[Becky Armstrong · Rating 2 out of 5]

City of Circles is an entrancing love story between Danu and Morrie, two circus performers, and Danu's Lewis Carroll-esque odyssey through the magical city of Matryoshka, that ends with a heart-warming yet bittersweet twist. Danu is a tightrope walker who is mourning her parents, left with a locket that hides a secret. When the circus returns to Danu's birthplace, Matryoshka, Danu is enchanted. Here, she gains the courage to open her mother's locket, and discovers the name of a stranger who lives behind the locked gate of the Inner Circle. Fated to remain in Matryoshka, Danu attempts to resolve this mystery . . .



This book was more about emotions. There's grief, love, loss and in glimpses happiness. It's similar to a coming of age story, but not set in our world. We're being told Danu's story from her own point of view which at times is extremely compelling. At other times however, it's very bland. There's various shifts between these two states and I personally think there was too much time spent on minute details. We spend days with Danu where nothing of consequence happens even though we know she needs to read the top level of the city. Then when it finally get's going and we start to unravel the mystery there's barely any pages left.

The problem with so much emotional depth is that it lacked the description of the other characters and the world. We're going to this beautiful and majestic city and we rarely get it described to us. There's whole pages describing how Danu feels as she gets high from the spices that rain down over the lower city. But it's hard to picture this due to the lack of imagery provided. In this world they've evolved so that they've got a city which spins around and moves daily using gears. Are we in a world set in the future or in the past? Will these buildings be Victorian era? Medieval? 2017's new estate look-a-likes? We're told at varying stages that they have technology. But horses are used for transport. And the only form of communication is letters.  It just lacked the world around Danu.

The story that it does have, of Danu finding the courage to open the locket and then discovering the mystery is slow. The pacing of the entire book is slow. We don't have any urgency or something to run towards. At first you think it will be getting to the city will increase the pace. After the longwinded journey to the city, Danu finally opens the locket and decides to find out the truth.  But Danu as a character has no determination. She's slow as she takes on boring tasks like shopping and finding a job. The actual mystery however is what kept me going. I defintely had ideas about what was happening and I was pleasantly surprised by the ending.

I was also extremely intrigued with how the magic worked in this book. As Danu is in the dark about it, we learn some aspects through her but most of them are through Morrie. Morrie to me was a much better character than Danu as he actually had urgency. I felt like his POV's often brought the story forward in explaining things whereas Danu was not doing much in her chapters. Morrie's magic was a point I was interested in as I wanted to know more about what it can be used for. It's also linked a lot with the city which was another mystery.

I think this book is more for people who enjoy reading coming of age books, and books full of emotions. If you want world building, good side characters and an active plot then it isn't for you. Although the premise of a City of Circles is wonderful, it just didn't pull through for me.


I received City of Circles* by Jess Richards from the publisher. This is an unbiased and honest review.

[Osbian Night · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have to say this is brilliant … but the cover and the descriptions of it are really misleading. They’re not wrong exactly but don’t quite represent the story very well.
The cover, which I love, gives a sense of the supernatural. I asked my mum what she thought it was about based on the cover and she said something to do with magic or vampires … Well there is a bit of mystical in the book but it’s not a main part of the story and other than say Tarot cards the first bit of magic isn’t till half way through the book. TBH, magic doesn’t really have an effect till the last quarter of the books. It’s not a bad thing.. i guess that depends on your POV… I’m just commenting on the cover.

Now the descriptions of it. It's described as “an entrancing love story between Danu and Morrie”. Again, the ‘romance’ between the two is part of the book and runs all the way through but it’s more subtle than a love story and not really what the narrative focuses on.

This story really is about Danu and how she wraps her grief around her. She keeps her father’s bootlaces wrapped tight around her ankle and her mother’s locket like a choker. The locket is a major part of the story. Danu doesn’t open it till years after her parents death, despite her never taking it off, and she only does just before the circus leaves her birthplace in a moment of desperation. What’s in it was definitely not what she was expecting.

The book perfectly mirrors her grief with the tone and writing. I’m not sure I could read the first couple of pages again because they brought up so much emotion but it is beautifully done and would highly recommend this book to read.

Full review at:
https://osbianreviews.wordpress.com/2...

[Sam Hanekom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Danu has suffered an immeasurable loss; the death of both parents, gone within hours of each other. Victims to a disease which felled many others in the circus to which her family belongs, her parents’ deaths make her an orphan.

Danu’s grief is deep and wide, an ocean threatening to drown her at any moment, without hesitation. In an attempt to try distract herself and live, she decides to learn something new. This is how she comes to learn to walk the tightrope with Morrie, a talented teacher who soon proposes. However, Danu cannot love as he needs, for the grief which splinters her heart has left it hard and cold.

When the circus moves towards the famous city of Matryoshka (Danu’s birthplace), she feels the spark of love for the bright colours and complex architecture. In an attempt to connect with her parent’s ghosts, she decides to stay in the city of circles and uncover her past, and the secrets which enshroud it.

City of Circles is a sensory adventure; tactile and immersive, the reader can taste the smells carried on Matryoshka’s wind, hear the music and laughter within the city, and feel the unfathomable mourning which Danu radiates. The reader’s senses and heart are fully engaged in this book, unlike Danu’s heart, which she locks away. Jess Richards raises poignant questions of what it means to love and be loved, and what it means to live rather than simply being alive.

Complex characters, vivid descriptions and poetic prose make City of Circles a work of art which leaves the reader longing for the circus, for freedom, and for redemption. A masterpiece.

City of Circles by Jess Richards is published by Sceptre Books, and is available in South Africa from Jonathan Ball Publishers.