2.5 stars

Anyone who knows me is aware of the fact that I will read any book set in a traveling circus with bonus points if there is magic involved. Bacchanal, at first glance, ticked all of those boxes for me. Unfortunately, while the book is definitely interesting, the pacing and structure of Bacchanal leaves much to be desired.

We get a great beginning with the promise of dark magic and prophecy, which is then followed by about 150 pages of mostly life at the carnival with only the slightest bit of magic sprinkled in. The central plot gets completely lost during the middle of the book and doesn't really get picked back up until there is less than 100 pages to go. What is built up to be this fateful confrontation between the main character and the forces of darkness ends up getting magically wrapped up with barely any effort at all, which made little sense considering she had no idea about her powers days before. There was so much amazing lore that I had hoped would be explored, but very little of it actually ended up appearing.

I kept thinking while I was reading that this book couldn't decide whether it wanted to be a historical fiction novel about found family during the Great Depression or an epic fantasy. If Henry had chosen between one or the other, I think I would have been higher on Bacchanal. It just didn't really hit the mark for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and 47North for an ARC of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review!

If you find yourself looking for a creepy historical paranormal mystery, Bacchanal is going to be the book for you. Set in a carnival, it follows Liza, who has the ability to communicate with animals, and who is also searching for her family. But all is not as it seems at this carnival and, in its wake, it leaves a trail of missing children.

The book is very atmospheric, which is a good thing, because it’s also quite slowburning. The plot doesn’t exactly move quickly — although when it gets going towards the end, it really gets going. It spends a lot of time building up the creepiness of the carnival. Which is fine, but I found myself a tiny bit bored and skimming at points.

I suppose this is where it didn’t help that much to have multiple POVs. I find this a lot with me and mysteries, to be fair. If I know more about what’s going on than the nominal protagonist does, I get impatient. In all fairness, though, this book did a good job of keeping me interested besides. There was plenty for the protagonists to find out that other POVs didn’t know either.

In all honesty, this is a difficult one to review, I’m finding. Because I did like it, but I also wanted more from it. From the premise, from the very concept even, it felt like it should be amazing. But in the end, not a whole lot of it sticks in my mind, besides that concept. For all that I did enjoy it, I also found it a little bit forgettable.

But if the premise interests you, I would highly recommend giving this one a go. It’s a book I enjoyed reading and, to be honest, that’s enough.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for providing me with a copy of Bacchanal.

Eliza Meeks is a young woman who was abandoned by her family, she decides that her life would be better if she joined the Bacchanal carnival. She decides that she is a good fit for the carnival because she has a 'magic' power, she can communicate with animals. I wished that we could see how that works a bit better since that's why this story called to me. The premise of this book was a good one, however, it was very confusing at times, and hard to follow along. A certain usage of words made me uncomfortable, however, I do understand that this is a BIPOC story, so the author had every right to use those words.

I was very intrigued by this book's cover and the synopsis! Thank you NetGalley and 47North for approving my request for this E-ARC!

Eliza Meeks has no family but after getting out of jail she finds home in a traveling carnival in the south, Eliza Meeks has the ability to communicate with animals. While she starts settling in to her new life she realizes there's a demon among the animals at the carnival but only Eliza can sense it.

First off, I want to say the concept of this book is awesome! But the plot got confusing and hard to follow for me which is why I ended up not finishing.

I think this is one of those moments where a book isn't quite for me, but that doesn't mean its potential will be wasted on others! Historical fantasy with interesting social commentary.

I was immediately intrigued by the summary of this book! I loved the idea of communicating with animals by sending pictures through your mind. I also really loved the inclusion of PT Barnum's circus. I thought the writing was really good.

The premise of this bpook sounded so cool! Set in a carnival in the American South - so mysterious. However, the book left me very confused as to what it was actually about. I only finished it because when publishers grants my requests to review something, I feel obligated to finish through as a thank you, but that leaves me with little to say about this book.

It is about a young woman called Eliza Meeks who ends up at this carnival after being jailed. Turns out Eliza can "talk" to animals (she sends them pictures that they respond too - cool concept!). She slowly gets integrated with the other people working at the carnival.

I think there's a storyline with possession and demons, but I honestly couldn't understand much of it.

I really wanted to like this: a diverse set of characters in a depression-era traveling carnival run by a demon... hell yes to all of that! Just reading that description, I expected this to be so much fun and right up my alley. Unfortunately, I ended up finding it quite boring and got almost two-thirds of the way through (up to chapter 28) before I decided to put it down. I kept expecting something exciting to happen and for the story to pick up, but it never did.

For me, this book absolutely shone in the little snippets where it aligned with the description that I originally read; for example, the sheriff and the wax museum or the KKK member and the "peep show". So exciting; the type of shenanigans you expect to read in a book about a carnival run by a demon! I also enjoyed the back stories of the different carnies who were associated with the demon.

As is, this should be marketed as a YA book. The main character was full of teenage angst, much of the book concerns her romantic interests and naivete, and the dialogue was very YA (there is nothing wrong with that, I just was not expecting it, as the book is listed as Adult Fiction on Netgalley). As a 30-year-old woman, I would be disappointed if I purchased this book with the existing description and ended up reading what was mostly a teenage girl's angsty inner monologue with a little magic sprinkled in (again, nothing wrong with this type of content, just not what I personally enjoy, nor what I expected based on the description).

I really hate to give mostly negative feedback, because I love the concept of this book. I do think it has potential, but as is, the first two-thirds of it were way too slow, and I was unable to get invested enough to even care about how it ends. Maybe it gets more exciting in the last third of the book, but in my opinion, one shouldn't have to read 200+ pages before getting to some major, enthralling SFF content in a book marketed as SFF. I believe this may appeal more to readers who enjoy YA books, and in that case, it should be marketed as such.