The Book of Speculation

Title:  The Book of Speculation
Author: Erika Swyler
Genre: Mystery, Family History
Source: Library Ebook
Rating: 4 out of 5 paws

Simon is a library with a love and appreciation for books. His parents have both passed on, his sister is off traveling the land in a circus, his home is slowly crumbling into the ocean, and he just lost his job due to budget cuts.  Out of nowhere Simon receives a book in the mail from a book seller.  The man who sent it to him, believed it would be of interest to his family history.  The book is a circus diary of sorts, a book written by the circus owner chronicling important events and dates.  Simon begins to notice a pattern.  On the same date, women who perform as mermaids or swimmers die, by drowning.  The same way his mother died, and all the women seem to be tied to his family.  He begins to worry about the safety of his sister as she comes to visit and the date slowly draws closer.  But the more Simon reads, the more he discovers about not only his family's past but also that of his neighbor.  Can Simon stop fate before it's too late?

I have sort of been drawn into circus books or books that relate to a circus, so when I saw this book at the library (or rather on the library list), I decided to give it a shot.  I was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked it, but also a little disappointed that more was not done with a certain aspect of the book.  But don't let me get ahead of myself.  The book overall was an interesting one to read.  I liked all the characters.  They each had their own interesting quirk and element to add to the story.  They all helped drive the story forward even if it is in a small way such as that of the book seller.

Simon, I found Simon to be an interesting character in that he got so wrapped up in the family history he didn't see anything else around him.  He began to alienate and hurt the people around them despite him thinking he was helping or protecting them.  He was a warm, lovable character but had so many faults to him, but that is what made me love him even more.  I loved how protective he got when Enola comes with a boyfriend, one covered in tentacle tattoos and can apparently create electricity. Throughout the book, the readers see many different sides to Simon that makes him a well rounded likable character.  Honestly I wanted more of Enola and her boyfriend in the book (I forget his name right now).  They floated around in the background and every so often would pop back up almost like a "hey remember me" kind of thing.  I wanted more of Enola's tarot reading skills and them correlating with the book aside from her tearing some out or hiding them when Simon came into the room.  Maybe a scene without Simon, where Enola is reading the cards and mutters "it's happening again" or something like that.  Something to tie her into the story a little more.

 enjoyed how the book went between the two story-lines but did it in a way that it was easy to follow.  The reader found out more information as Simon found it out, so it was exciting to read.  It left me excited to find out what would happen next and what happened to the circus characters as well as how they all related to Simon. I loved the incorporation of people drawn to water and knowing various techniques to holding their breath underwater for long periods of time.  As a kid I remember trying to see how long I could do that, and had contests with my brother.  How I longed to be a mermaid or Skelkie.  I got really excited when the legend of skelkies were alluded to, I was hoping this would be played up more, but it wasn't.  They are one of my favorite creatures of lore.

There is a lot of descriptions in this book that some may feel takes away from the story, but at times it adds to the story.  I say this because it helps build the picture.  It helps create the world that the author intends the reader to see.  She wants us to see her vision and goes the extra mile to do so.  The pacing is a little slow in the beginning but it does pick up after a while.  There were some things that were never really explained such as how Amos was able to appear like he disappeared (made me think of that part in Avengers Infinity War when Drax thinks he's moving so slow he's invisible).  Or why the women of the family mysteriously drowned when they could hold their breaths or were strong swimmers.  While I did enjoy reading the book and was surprised at how much I enjoyed it, being left with a lot of unanswered questions left me feeling unsatisfied.

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.

Suspended

Suspended tells the tale of the Vagabond Circus, a place where dream travelers could be safe and be able to utilize their powers without fear of what the outside world would think.  Things begin to change when a stranger joins the ranks and Dave changes the story of the circus to accommodate a new act.  There is someone else creeping around the circus, attempting to take the life of the circus's ringmaster Dr. Dave. .  Dr. Dave has two rules for the circus, only two, 1. Respect one another, 2. No relationships.   Finley keeps himself a mystery which causes the others in the circus including his partner to have a hard time respecting rule number 1, and question his motives  and why Dr. Dave allowed him to join the circus.  Secrets become revealed and members of the circus begin to risk their lives to save the only home that they know.




I  have really been in a circus theme lately (and am finding it hard to find more books with this theme).  I was pleased with this book because I was not sure what to expect from it.  I picked it up as part of a kindle daily deal and fell in love with it, I need more both from this series as well as Sarah Noffke.  The cover is beautifully done and draws the reader into finding out more about the novel. The book starts off a little slow, but still pulls you in with someone lurking in the shadows.  The book does end with a cliffhanger which left me almost screaming at the kindle screen. 


I liked the dream traveler aspect of the story and wished this was utilized more, but I hope that it is in future novels.  The characters themselves were interesting.  I had a love/hate relationship with Findley, I wanted to like him so much but he was so mysterious even with his partner, Zuma whom I absolutely loved but could tell there is something more to her character that we haven't been introduced to yet.  I am interested to see where Noffke takes Zuma's character.  The phrases within this novel are what dreams are made of really, they are beautifully written and gives readers an insight to what's to come for example:


"Finley was a tornado, changing every second, beautiful and dangerous and unpredictable.  But Zuma loved storms.  Always had."


Does this tells us more about their relationship than we know?  I get goosebumps re-reading lines I wrote down.  It didn't seem like there was a dull moment, everything in the story lead up the suspenseful ending and revelations throughout the novel.  Somethings can be predictable while other things are not like you know someone is out to get the circus but you don't know who (or what).


My hats off to Sarah for writing an excellent novel and leaving her audience craving more from her.  I highly suggest this book to anyone who loves a good novel regardless of their normal genre.  For a rating I would give this a 4 out 5 because I think more of the dream travel scenes could have been used such as during practice.  Otherwise fantastic.