This review of Amiee Gibbs’ The Carnivale of Curiosities appeared previously in the August 2023 issue of Historical Novels Review.
Victorian Dark Fantasy
With atmospherically rich effect, Amiee Gibbs’s The Carnivale of Curiosities combines gothic Victorian historical with dark fantasy. Among entertainments offered in Gibbs’s fantastical London of 1887, one stands out, the carnivale of the novel’s title. Gibbs interweaves a biting social critique into her plot as the highest echelons of society voyeuristically attend, “slumming it” in the worst city district to see freakish bodies performing astounding stunts and more.
Family and Freaks in the Carnivale of Curiosities
In contrast to that dark satire, Gibbs reveals the central theme of importance of family when she takes readers inside this circus’ life. These “freaks” with conjoined bodies, dog fur, the ability to generate fire from fingertips or disappear in an instant, have built a family by choice that understands love and loyalty far better than the natural families also depicted. Gibbs builds this heartwarming strand without sentimentality.
Real Magic and Human Evil
Family is both a source of strength and the primary driver of conflict in the novel. Another of its premises, created organically and believably, is that magic is real, and interacting with magic has genuine consequences, both good and bad. At the circus’s core is Aurelius Ashe, a character drawn in the tradition of Dr. Faustus. He grants wishes. When approached to restore the health of a young woman, ward of an influential banker, Ashe gradually realizes he has agreed to more than he bargained for. In essence, the novel asks, will the evil that bubbles just below the surface of humans win out, or will magic? And that magic is wielded by a suspiciously devilish man, but one who has built a remarkable family. If good and bad are hard to define in this world, that is clearly Gibbs’s clever intent. A nuanced dive into humanity by means of fantastical history.
Finding a Copy of The Carnivale of Curiosities
If you’d like to order The Carnivale of Curiosities here’s the link on Amazon (affiliate link)
If you’d like to order The Carnivale of Curiosities here’s the link on Bookshop.org.
Further Reading
You might also enjoy my review of the dark fantasy with two kickass heroines and a positive theme, The Queen of Swords by R.S. Belcher.