The story is quite magical, both in the story it tells and the feeling it gives you. You get the feeling of the old traveling circus with some futuristic upgrades. I don’t really know what steampunk is but this definitely worked. Throughout the story there is always a little something that adds some fantasy to the overall world and the storyline itself. Reeder does a really good job establishing her world and I enjoyed listening to her descriptions of everything. She definitely has a way with words.
The two main characters, Carthage and Huxley, are a great duo and play off each other really well. It was like listening to two long time buddies while they reach for the stars, even though they aren’t quite friends. The development of each was done really well and often I got wrapped up in who they were versus what they were doing. I definitely look forward to more of this duo on their magical journeys. Not sure how this fits into the historical fiction category, I would call it more of a science fiction mystery. This had a few different mysteries that unfold throughout the story and the one that was the most touching was Carthage’s family mystery.
Travis really knocked the narration out of the park for this. This story really allowed him to show his full range of character voices and accents. You can tell he really enjoyed narrating this book as his enthusiasm really brings the entire story to life. His narration paired with the fun dialogue really brought out all of the character’s emotions. It really sounded like he was acting out the story versus just reading it.
I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.