It's pretty good for an almost 40-year-old fixup novel.

It's also an interesting read for me personally. Longyear's book on writing was a book I read pretty early on in my writing life, and a lot of the stories that were used in this novel were also used as writing examples. Made for a lot of "Oh, so that's how that story went" (the rest of those tales show up in It Came from Schenectady, btw). ( )

Part of Longyear's cycle about a planet settled by traditional circus people. The concept of traditional circuses lasting long enough to get into space may have seemed more credible when Longyear wrote in 1980 than it does now, though eve then they were fading. However, credibility really is not the point of these stories, which depict a quasi-anarchist society based on (at least ceremonial) haggling and its attempts to fend of the larger, more powerful and more conventional neighboring galactic federations. ( )

Read prior to 2004.

Outstandingly original concept and entertaining stories. First of a series of excellent books. ( )

Now this is what science fiction is supposed to be. Funny, clever, intelligent stories. They're all too rare these days!

Circus World is a collection of linked short stories in the classic SF style. They share the setting of [b:City of Baraboo|1009457|City of Baraboo|Barry B. Longyear|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1180202545s/1009457.jpg|995583] and [b:Elephant Song|95242|Elephant Song|Wilbur Smith|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171299520s/95242.jpg|91830], which were published after it but are set before. This is vintage Longyear, light, amusing, clever, and very enjoyable.

It's the story of a world settled by the survivors of a crashed traveling circus starship. As such, it's particularly recommended for science fiction fans and those who love circuses.

In general, Circus World is somewhat reminiscent of the Hoka stories by Poul Anderson and Gordon R. Dickson - the humor is nowhere near as broad, but the tone, theme, and styles are somewhat similar. If you like Circus World, you'll probably also like the Hoka books (which I'll review later).

The mystery and science fiction writer Fredric Brown also included old-time carny (carnival) themes in some of his stories in both genres (he worked as a carny for a while), so fans of Circus World are likely to enjoy his books as well. ( )