Thank you so much for the opportunity to read this book. Unfortunately I have been unable to get into it. DNF @ 7%.

A beautiful wonderful and poignant read. So sweet and the characters are so well written. I loved the plot and the romance. It was so sweet.

This was not great writing. I love circuses, but this novel felt very silly in a not enjoyable way.

This review is scheduled to post on my blog on January 12th, 2018, and is currently on Goodreads in a less complete form.

This was a strange, compelling book, but ultimately a tiny bit disappointing.

I'll start with the strangeness, which I enjoyed a lot. It's set in a travelling circus, which I enjoy as a setting. The cast is mostly focused on the sideshow 'freaks'; as outsiders they're both sympathetic and interesting characters. Their talents and oddities aren't where the strangeness comes in, though; while bearded ladies and contortionists may be unusual enough to find themselves in a circus, they're not inherently supernatural.

Olympia, the titular character, starts out as an aerialist, who just happens to turn invisible sometimes -- but her invisibility isn't her talent or act. It's just A Thing That Happens, without the author or other characters particularly feeling the need to explain why. If it were her act, this would be a relatively conventional fantasy circus. The fact that it's merely a quirk of her nature makes this book different, and more interesting because of it, if also more frustrating.

The strangeness, then, was there from the beginning, and things start to get stranger when members of the circus begin to disappear one by one in impossible ways.

This is where the word "compelling" comes in. I started this book quite late at night, with a bad headache, planning just to read a little bit to switch off my brain's dissertation mode that would inevitably keep me up if I didn't. Instead I ended up reading more than half the book. With each disappearance I became more and more interested in knowing WHY and HOW these characters were disappearing. Would the circus survive? Would they come back? The more I read, the more questions I had, and it was only reluctantly that I put it down to go to sleep.

However, it was in the resolution of this narrative that the disappointment arrived. I won't give too many details, as I don't want to spoil the ending, but I had a lot of questions and was given very few answers. Indeed, some of the hints that I was given confused me even further. I think I can see what the MEANING of the disappearances was, if that makes sense, but not how they happened. Like Olympia's invisibility, they weren't explained; however, while her invisibility wasn't the crux of the tension and mystery of the book, they were, and I felt there needed to be slightly more explanation, especially as I'd been so intrigued to know what was happening.

Other things I enjoyed about the book include the fact it centres on a f/f relationship, as well as featuring other characters from diverse backgrounds. I also liked the glimpses of each character's backstory that came periodically. At first they threw me off, but I settled into it and enjoyed the insight they offered into what had brought each character to the circus. The writing style, too, was enjoyable enough, although didn't blow me away (I measure that by how often I highlight phrases on Kindle just because I like them; I only highlighted a few bits of dialogue in this one).

It was probably shaping up to be a four star read, but the ending did disappoint me somewhat, as I really wanted some more concrete resolution, so I'm only going to give it three.

This book disappointed me a bit. It started out with such a strong premise and a mystery to be solved. I enjoyed the alternating viewpoints and exploring the pasts of the characters. That being said, I would like for it to have had some sort of resolution at the end, which the reader does not receive. Characterization was strong, and I found myself drawn to many of the characters, which left me feeling all the more disappointed with the ending.

I love books that are set on a circus backdrop and this one was SO mesmerizing. I loved the descriptions of the circus and the characters within it and I was so sad to see the book end.

One thing I will say that I would have changed about the writing was that I wish there had been more dialogue between the characters so that you got to know them for who they were rather than be told who they were through descriptions and imagery.

One of my favorite themes in the book was this idea of belonging. No matter who you are, there is a place out there with people who will appreciate and love you and I loved that the circus provided that for so many of our characters.

Thank you for the opportunity to review this book, it is so appreciated!

Argh, this was such a frustrating book! The premise is so intriguing and the opening chapter sets up what was promising to be a very interesting story and mystery. Circus performers mysteriously disappearing into thin air during their acts--how can someone mess that up? Look no further than this book! The disappearances are really just treated as a device, they're not investigated and none of the remaining circus performers seem to want answers. Each chapter for the most part introduces the back story of the latest character who will disappear, but with just a few exceptions, the characters are introduced in the same chapter they disappear. Am I supposed to feel anything for these people? Is the intention that I'm supposed to care?
Olympia Knife herself is just as big a mystery as the disappearances. Even though it's primarily her point of view in the book, she is such a detached and boring character.
I just didn't "get" this book at all, so much telling and no showing. At the end, I couldn't even really tell you what this was really about, or what it may have been a metaphor for, but frankly I don't want to waste any more time even thinking about it.

I was unable to review this book because of a conflict in my schedule. Sorry for any inconvenience this has caused the publisher or the author of the work. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to review for you and I look forward to reviewing for you in the future.

Liked the premise, not the writing.

I was drawn in by the promise of a lesbian romance set in the circus. I kept reading because these are truly unforgettable characters and a unique storyline. Ultimately, I was underwhelmed by the quality of the writing and that affected my overall impression of the book.

This was an interesting book to me, but if you're looking for something with some closure or a real ending you should probably look elsewhere. I really liked the structure of the book - each chapter has a flashback / background story for a different member of the circus juxtaposed against what is going on in the circus in the present and then at the end of the chapter the person it was about generally vanishes. This was a really great way to break up the story and give us background info about all the characters and I just really liked it as a framing device.

However the characters' behavior doesn't really make sense to me and none of it is every really explained. I mean first of all why does Olympia go invisible in the first place and is it actually related to all the other other disappearances? Why does no one seem that concerned that people are literally vanishing into mid-air? I mean you would think after a few such disappearances they would either start trying to find answers or break up the circus in an attempt to make it stop but everyone seems to kind of just keep going along on autopilot. And why does Diamond float away instead of disappear?? What is the point of any of it???

I gave it three stars because I thought it was an interesting concept and liked the way the story was set up, but there are definitely no answers for anything so if you need a good ending I wouldn't recommend it. I can ignore a bad ending if the journey is interesting but I know a lot of people can't.

I have very mixed feelings about this book. I’m always intrigued by stories that use the circus as a backdrop and the author certainly created a uniquely interesting world that showed the dark side of that glittery arena.

One of the negatives for me is that there was A LOT of the author telling you stuff instead of letting the story and characters show you so it came off like I was being talked at rather than guided. I wanted more dialogue and action. There were also some questionable things like claiming kangaroos came from the Wilds of Africa – I couldn’t figure out if that was a typo that didn’t get caught or if the author really believes kangaroos come from Africa instead of Australia.

Of course it was hard when you got to parts that had the characters being made fun of by audience members so if you get triggered by people degrading others be prepared. Even if it was true to what happened during these type of circus events it still makes it hard to read about people using degrading insults and physically assaulting those who are different.

You do get a diverse and intriguing cast of characters so that helped take some of the annoyance out of the way the story is written as you become curious about them and how their lives are going to unfold. The author handled the lesbian relationship well so it felt realistic rather than something on display to gawk at.

In some ways it felt more like an anthology of stories as you get chapters focusing on different characters such as Arnold, Daniel, Madame Barbue, Magnus, Ramus and more. You get their backstories all the while the author keeps weaving Olympia’s story in between.

A huge positive for me was showing how everyone, no matter how different, has a place and purpose in this world. Rather than judge and demean those who are not like you we should embrace and celebrate what each has to offer so we can make this a more magical world.

DNF @ 46%.

I'm not quite sure what to make of this book. I was super excited by the concept of queer girls in a traveling circus, but after struggling through the first half I'm still very confused as to what this was actually about.

The author took a unique approach in telling this story—each chapter jumps back and forth in time, and a series of character backstories are juxtaposed against and the mysterious string of disappearances currently plaguing the circus. It sounds a bit intriguing when I phrase it that way, and I did enjoy a few of the backstories......but there was quite literally NO plot. The main characters didn't even seem to take much of an interest in the disappearances of their friends???? They just kept on traveling around and performing like nothing had happened, and it was too dull for me.

The writing leans heavily on narrative summary, which was technically well-written, but still left me feeling very distanced from what was going on.

Knowing that there was a f/f romance was one of my main motivations for requesting this on NetGalley, but I ended up disappointed on this end as well. Olympia and Diamond had pretty underdeveloped instalove, and I wasn't even a little bit invested in their relationship.

Oh, and I had a really bizarre WTF moment when the book was listing several of the circus animals and referred to “a kangaroo straight from the wilds of Africa” .......what??

I did enjoy reading a few of the characters backstories, but overall the writing and format really didn't work for me on this one.

Also, content warnings for fatshaming, racial slurs, and ableism. (all of these occur in the context of malicious spectators at a circus sideshow.)

Olympia Knife is a very peculiar book. It's prose is intricate, flowery and absolutely delicious. The book tells it's story in a very quirky way, making the voice of the narrator itself stand out and reminding me of movies such as Big Fish and even, to a certain extent, Nanny McPhee. If you're a fan of that style of narrative, Olympia Knife will definitely feel like home.

The magical elements tie in with the mystery within the story and it all feels very real and flow naturally within the world, even if magic isn't exactly common. The world itself is very easy to get into, which I think, outside of the writing itself, is the book's biggest strength. Olympia Knife book felt magical to it's very bones.

The plot itself can be a bit confusing at times, especially because the narrative isn't linear. Olympia Knife has a big number of characters, many who are diverse in some way, and we do get to know about some of their back stories, which I appreciated. I especially loved that we get to follow, overall, a queer woman. As other queer fem bloggers have pointed out before, young adult isn't exactly known for it's love of f/f couples or wlw in general, so it always makes me happy to see new books with queer women main character coming out, especially a story as different and interesting as Olympia Knife.


While Olympia Knife might not be for everybody, it's writing is gorgeous and the characters present a wide range of people. I recommend this book to anyone who wants an immersive and magical story.

OLYMPIA KNIFE is a highly imaginative book about a young trapeze artist in a traveling circus. when Olympia's parents vanish into thin air during their performance, the rest of the members of the circus become her family. But as other members of the circus disappear without warning, Olympia's world begins to crumble and she has to learn to survive on her own. Beautifully written, with truly fascinating characters, OLYMPIAN KNIFE is an intriguing book. I did not like the ending however, and it diminished the impact of the rest of the book.

This book just didn’t really capture my attention. There was too much explaining and describing and not enough dialogue and actual doing, which made the story kind of boring for me.
The style of the book just wasn’t for me.

I really enjoyed reading this book, but it was a little bit weird for me since I've never really read anything quite like this. To me, it read something like a folk tale almost. I can't really describe it, I need some more time to process my thoughts on it, but I really enjoyed it and will definitely be reading it again!
One part I really loved was learning about all of the different characters from all sorts of backgrounds and learning how they came to be at the circus.
I also really loved the development between Olympia and Diamond. Reading about Olympia going through the process of discovering who she really is and what her sexual preferences are, was great!
Like I said, I really just need a little bit of time to process my thoughts. Eventually I plan on writing a full, detailed review, so that will be coming soon!