Circus of the Unseen, a Book about life, death and the space in between.

Video Transcript

Hi, everyone. My name’s Juliet and today I’m going to be talking about Circus of the Unseen by Joanne Owen. This book, I would say, is one that bridges the gap between Middle Grade and young adult, in terms of subject matter, but the style leans more towards middle grade. So, basically for the upper end of middle grade. I’m going to plump for 12+.

This subject matter revolves around death, but it is also steeped in Polish Mythology.

Rosie is the main character and her grandmother dies. When Rosie is tidying up afterwards, she falls through the floorboards and ends up in this mysterious world, which, it turns out, is a place that exists between life and death. As Rosie gradually discovers what the place is, she has to make a very big decision.

So, the first third of this book didn’t engage me all that much, but once we ended up in the other place, it became a lot more interesting. This other place is quite weird. It’s got a sort of circus vibe to it, even though it’s about death. Yeah, I know. It’s weird.

And even considering the subject matter, this book isn’t overly sentimental. Rosie is extremely practical about everything that’s happening to her – too practical? Maybe.

If you enjoy fantasy and mythology, and you want a book that is slightly more adult in nature, this book might be the one for you, but I don’t think it’s a book for everybody.

Another challenging book that you might want to try is this one, The Boy with the Tiger’s Heart. There’s a review of that on my channel page.

The full book description is coming up, but before you go, don’t forget to like and subscribe. Thank you for watching and I’ll see you next time.