City of Circles is an entrancing love story between Danu and Morrie, two circus performers, and Danu’s Lewis Carroll-esque odyssey through the magical city of Matryoshka, that ends with a heart-warming yet bittersweet twist. Danu is a tightrope walker who is mourning her parents, left with a locket that hides a secret. When the circus returns to Danu’s birthplace, Matryoshka, Danu is enchanted. Here, she gains the courage to open her mother’s locket, and discovers the name of a stranger who lives behind the locked gate of the Inner Circle. Fated to remain in Matryoshka, Danu attempts to resolve this mystery . . .
This book was more about emotions. There’s grief, love, loss and in glimpses happiness. It’s similar to a coming of age story, but not set in our world. We’re being told Danu’s story from her own point of view which at times is extremely compelling. At other times however, it’s very bland. There’s various shifts between these two states and I personally think there was too much time spent on minute details. We spend days with Danu where nothing of consequence happens even though we know she needs to read the top level of the city. Then when it finally get’s going and we start to unravel the mystery there’s barely any pages left.
The problem with so much emotional depth is that it lacked the description of the other characters and the world. We’re going to this beautiful and majestic city and we rarely get it described to us. There’s whole pages describing how Danu feels as she gets high from the spices that rain down over the lower city. But it’s hard to picture this due to the lack of imagery provided. In this world they’ve evolved so that they’ve got a city which spins around and moves daily using gears. Are we in a world set in the future or in the past? Will these buildings be Victorian era? Medieval? 2017’s new estate look-a-likes? We’re told at varying stages that they have technology. But horses are used for transport. And the only form of communication is letters. It just lacked the world around Danu.
The story that it does have, of Danu finding the courage to open the locket and then discovering the mystery is slow. The pacing of the entire book is slow. We don’t have any urgency or something to run towards. At first you think it will be getting to the city will increase the pace. After the longwinded journey to the city, Danu finally opens the locket and decides to find out the truth. But Danu as a character has no determination. She’s slow as she takes on boring tasks like shopping and finding a job. The actual mystery however is what kept me going. I defintely had ideas about what was happening and I was pleasantly surprised by the ending.
I was also extremely intrigued with how the magic worked in this book. As Danu is in the dark about it, we learn some aspects through her but most of them are through Morrie. Morrie to me was a much better character than Danu as he actually had urgency. I felt like his POV’s often brought the story forward in explaining things whereas Danu was not doing much in her chapters. Morrie’s magic was a point I was interested in as I wanted to know more about what it can be used for. It’s also linked a lot with the city which was another mystery.
I think this book is more for people who enjoy reading coming of age books, and books full of emotions. If you want world building, good side characters and an active plot then it isn’t for you. Although the premise of a City of Circles is wonderful, it just didn’t pull through for me.
Positives
+ Intriguing story
+ Magic system
Negatives
– Extremely slow pacing
– Lacked world building
I received City of Circles* by Jess Richards from the publisher. This is an unbiased and honest review.
Comments
One response to “Uptown Oracle Reads… City of Circles”
I don’t know whether to be tantalized or offput by the lack of world building. I actually like it when the author forces me to use my imagination … but this sounds a bit much.