Mechanique

War has destroyed much of the world, cities have crumbled and fallen, people have died or become lifeless beings.  Outside the fallen cities is a promise of something to help forget the pain, forget the fear, forget the war.  outside the cities is the tent for the Circus Tresaulti.  A circus where the performers all have something unique about them...they are made of spare parts, copper bones, and gears.  Boss is the creator and ringmaster for the circus, and is what allows the circus to have the magic that it does.  Soon they find themselves at war within as two performers battle to obtain coveted wings, as they work to solve this issue the war outside comes to their doorstep, threatening to destroy everything Boss has built.  Will they be able to put differences aside to survive the war at hand?

As I was reading this novel, others would ask me to describe it and all I could say was a post-apocalyptic, steampunk, circus.  I can almost barely tell you what this story is about because I got lost so many different times while reading.  The story is broken in various different narrators which makes it hard to follow what is happening.  Often the narrator flashes back to another time without any indication which makes it all the more difficult to understand.  It wasn't until the last 20% was I able to deduce what has really happening.  So much is happening in this novel from Stenos and Bird both wanting the wings to the government man wanting Boss's secrets to even George trying to figure out the circus and convince Boss to give him bones.

Characters were vague and hard to get an handle on, they all began to run together aside from a few of the more predominant ones, there was no real "main character" since the story was told through many viewpoints.  The descriptions seemed bleek and bland, matching the setting, although I will say occasionally the descriptions were beautiful such as the description of the coveted wings.  I have seen many others compare this to Night Circus, but they are complete opposites.

There are not many times when I do not recommend a novel, this is one of times.  I do not recommend it, while I am sure many others will love this book and have loved this book.  But I found it too difficult to follow and really tell what it is about, therefore I cannot recommend it.  As for a rating I would give this a 2 out of 5.