The Circle Breakers

The Leap Cycle #3

by Patience Agbabi

Fourteen-year-old Elle and her friends are going to a not-to-be-missed funfair. But a ride on the Ghost Train takes them further than they ever imagined. They end up in 1880, face-to-face with criminal mastermind, The Grandfather!

To Elle’s surprise, he needs her help. Someone has threatened to reveal The Gift to the media. If that happens, everyone will know that Leaplings can leap through time; no Leapling will be safe. Meanwhile, Millennia’s power at the head of The Vicious Circle grows.

Will Elle work for a villain to save her secret community? Can she and The Infinites crush The Vicious Circle for good?

209 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 19, 2023

About the author

Patience Agbabi (born 1965) is a British poet, author and performer. In 2017 she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Patience Agbabi was born in London to Nigerian parents, and from a young age was privately fostered by a white English family, who when she was 12 years old moved from Sussex to North Wales, where Agbabi was raised in Colwyn Bay. She studied English language and literature at Pembroke College, Oxford.

She earned an MA in Creative Writing, the Arts and Education from the University of Sussex in 2002, and in September that year was appointed Associate Creative Writing Lecturer at the University of Wales, Cardiff.

Agbabi was Canterbury Festival's Laureate in 2010. In 2018 she was Writer In Residence at the Brontë Parsonage Museum.

Reviews

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

The idea of this book is really intriguing, and I wish it lived up to all I hoped it was. The concept of people who were born on February 29 being able to leap through time is super cool, and I loved that this book was led by a young, Black, autistic girl.

However, the main plot line, the mystery of who wrote some notes, was hardly the focus of the book, and it was common for the subplots to overshadow the mystery solving. Because of this, there was no real sense of urgency or tension, and any emotion felt about the mystery was equal to other scenes that didn't seem relevant to the overall story. I felt like many scenes were included just to lengthen the plot rather than advance the plot or character development.

Again, the premise of the mystery, someone threatening to expose the existence of Leaplings, is intriguing but fell flat for me. Almost every person we encountered in the story knew of Leaplings, even if they shouldn't, so it didn't make sense why the threat of Leaplings being exposed was scary.

The constant switching between locations and times was often confusing, and not every travel scene made sense for the story or characters. Overall, I found the characters to be a bit flat, and the plot got lost amongst the other events in the story. The relationship between Elle and her grandmother was cute and heartwarming, but that was one of the few aspects of this book I truly enjoyed.

[Mrs Walsh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great addition to the series!

[Frances · Rating 4 out of 5]

First in the series that I have read but good fantasy adventure, and good for inclusivity.

[Emma Ferrier · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25

Loved this. Brilliant third book in the series.