This book I really did enjoy the world. I loved all the various magic workers but both the pacing and the characters I struggled with. I had such a hard time becoming emotionally invested in the characters. I wanted to love them but i struggled to feel connected to them. The pacing of the book even thought it had elements of murder mystery the pacing felt off. I liked the illustrations but wanted more elements of that tied into the novel. Overall, i loved the world building but did not feel as connected to the characters as i wanted to be. ( )

This book I really did enjoy the world. I loved all the various magic workers but both the pacing and the characters I struggled with. I had such a hard time becoming emotionally invested in the characters. I wanted to love them but i struggled to feel connected to them. The pacing of the book even thought it had elements of murder mystery the pacing felt off. I liked the illustrations but wanted more elements of that tied into the novel. Overall, i loved the world building but did not feel as connected to the characters as i wanted to be. ( )

To be honest, when I first started reading this, I was thinking that this was going to be a 2 or 3 star read for me. I don't usually do to well with books that are too far out there and extra strange, and this book was certainly that. Once I finally wrapped my head around what was going on, I really got into this story and I felt myself constantly trying to guess who the killer was and what exactly was going on. One minute I would think one thing and the next minute I would think something else. The longer I read this book, the more I liked it! I would give this book 4.5 stars if I could. It was a lot of fun to read!

Gomorrah is the "burning city". It is a mystical magical city that is shrouded in smoke that travels from place to place as a sort of traveling "circus" of sorts. Sorina (our main character) has the ability to create illusions. Some of the illusions she creates are more permanent fixtures in her life. They have become the family she never really had: the grandfather, the uncle, the older sister, ect. All of these illusions have special abilities as well and they are what make up the cast of the Festival's Freak Show. That is until someone murders one. Being that they are just illusions, they shouldn't be able to die, but somehow they are. Sorina is desperate to protect her family and to find out who is responsible. This story has so many twists and turns that I didn't see coming and I loved it! ( )

I loved this book particularly because it's a stand alone. I can't think of any fantasy stand alone fantasy books and this one was so well done! The world building was really cool, the carnival theme was new and refreshing, the main character felt realistic, the plot made it hard to put the book down. The only thing is that it's more plot and main character driven than character driven. There are many many characters in this book, which makes sense given the settings, but some of Sorina's family felt a bit flat for me but that certainly didn't stop me from enjoying it and more was fleshed out than I expected! I will definitely be reading more by Amanda Foody in the future. ( )

“Yes, Venera and Hawk and all of your family may be illusions, but they still love you. And love is real. Love is a choice”

So I was going through my reviews and realized I never posted my review for this book. It's been too long since I read this for me to create paragraphs so I just decided to post here the notes that I took down while reading. (Note: I apologize in advance for my lack of eloquence, this was originally for my eyes only)

— overall thoughts: 4.25 —
- everything is so not typical
- its not even the cliche kind of unique. like its not normal, but you still expect it. this is really extraordinary in a way i didn’t expect it to be

— characters —
- i love how amanda foody was not scared to step out of the ya fantasy box when it came to the character designs
- i mean... SORINA!!!!!!
- both sorina and luca mean sun/light KANDKANFKSNFKSNDNSJD
- just like sorina’s illusions i feel like amanda foody created these characters but they were the ones who wrote their own story with their own personalities
- they just came to life
- LUCA OMG the dude... likes ... STARGAZING!!! am i already in love
- they were lovable individually and were endearing as a couple [of friends], but the romance still felt rushed

— plot —
- even though the pacing was quite slow at first, the details were explained, thus good world building
- the general idea was already intriguing enough, the story telling made it that much more lovable
- i didn’t feel the build up towards the major scenes in the first part of the book, so it felt flat but by the end part, i was finally feeling everything to the point that i was crying with the characters as well
- it was one twist after another
- the pacing of the plot in the first part of the book just needed a little something, and i think i could have enjoyed it more
- not saying the plot was bad because it was very much enjoyable
- the pacing was off because at 30% i still wasn’t feeling the life of the book that much... though i found myself feeling nostalgic by the end, so something changed in the middle - i always feel like the ideas are so great but it can be maximized so much more
- it’s like the plot was trying so hard to focus on how gamorah was her hoke but i found the family aspect to be more compelling and evident
- it was also explored despite it not being the main focus that amanda foody had in mind i believe (I don't even remember what I was referring to here)
- my only problem was that this was tagged as a mystery and i felt like it was lacking in that sense
- though, the fact that there were SO MANY twists and that they were all one after the other, was able to treat my problem a bit
- PERFECT ENDING

— themes —
- the fact that you can’t make someone love you... *screams*
- you choose your family
- the fact that amanda foody can come up with these kind of stories is already so unique and great in itself

— writing style —
- amanda foody does not have a flowery kind of writing style but its the kind that you figure out and slowly build in your head as you go along with the book and the story
- the story kept trying to focus on gamorah being sorina’s home when the family aspect was much more evident without the book even trying to go there
- so for me the building up of the world could have been done at the very first part and then focused on the family aspect of the book for the rest
- but this could be just me

i love how you can always expect amanda foody’s books to be something different and diverse. exploring the uniqueness in the modern world ( )