drakaina16's profile picture

drakaina16 's review for:

Midnight Under The Big Top by Brian James Freeman
4.5
dark mysterious tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Thank you to Cemetery Dance for providing a review copy. 

4.5 stars rounded up. Midnight Under the Big Top comes out swinging with some very large names. It's divided into two acts, with a poetry intermission, and some excellent illustrations by Glenn Chadbourne. 

Act One
The Night of the Tiger by Stephen King ⭐⭐
Twittering From the Circus of the Dead by Joe Hill ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Facts In the Case of the Departure of Miss Finch by Neil Gaiman ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Girl In the Carnival Gown by Kelley Armstrong ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Herd Immunity by Tanarive Due ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Pickled Punks and the Summer of Love by Lisa Morton ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Courting the Queen of Sheba by Amanda C. Davis ⭐⭐⭐.5
The Circus Room by Nayad Monroe ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Black Ferris by Ray Bradbury ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Intermission (Poetry)
There are a lot of poems, and I didn't rate them individually, but these are my favorites:
Apology To the Ape Girl by Norman Prentiss
Clowns by Robert Payne Cabeen  

Act Two
The Great White Way by Robert McCammon ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Buried Talents by Richard Matheson ⭐⭐⭐
The Carnival by Richard Chizmar ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Mr. Bones' Wild Ride by Billy Chizmar ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Fair Treats by Jeff Strand ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Smoke & Mirrors by Amanda Downum  ⭐⭐⭐
Circus Maximus by Robert Brouhard ⭐⭐⭐
Laughable by Dominick Cancilla ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Count Zardov's Circus and Museum of Terrifying Grotesques by Heather Graham  ⭐⭐⭐
Dandy by Josh Malerman ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐