This was a tremendously fun and interesting read... not to mention educational too. The whole travelling circus/sideshow thing has always fascinated me, so it was interesting to find a novel with that as it's backdrop. The characters felt very real and I found myself reading far past my bedtime because I wanted to see what was going to happen next.The only dissapointing part of the book to me was at the very end. I can see how some people like things to be tied up in a nice little bow, but to me it was so implausable that it almost ruined the whole reading experience.