I've read a lot of YA about shady magical circuses, but for some reason I feel like I rarely see that in a realistic-fic so that was really fun! I really liked the first act of a Spectacle of Souls. It does an excellent job of introducing us to its characters and mysteries. My interest dwindled more as the plot continued but that was mainly because of a shifting focus towards the protagonist's relationship with a love interest who never really sparked my interest. The plot was still good, but since it was framed around how it would effect them and their relationship that I didn't care for I became less invested.

My nitpick-y main issue with this book is how the character attempts to gain leverage. To try and get the books antagonist to give her what she wants, Caitlyn threatens to kill herself and it's treated as a clever move on her part which yeah, I get he's the villain, but I wasn't a fan of a character using suicide threats to manipulate being framed as a good decision. I feel like there were a lot of other ways she could have gotten what she wanted and what the plot needed to continue that are a lot less problematic.