Black Carnival is one of those books that will stick with you for a long time. Set in 1886 New Sarum. England. Atherton has spent his life surrounded by corpses and child deaths. He is alone in his thinking that these children are being murdered. There is a town gang known as the Disciples who make life fairly difficult. Atherton is overwhelmed and alone, torn between finding a serial killer, his mental health spiraling, and a circus of freaks.
This is horror historical fiction at its best.

The circus is described so beautifully and macabre. You feel like you’re there experiencing the circus because of the detailed writing. The gothic magical world sucks you in and you don’t want to leave.

“Some nightmares are merely dreams in disguise. Trust that, together, we may yet find some purpose in yours”

I truly hope we get to see a visual adaptation of this made, this book is so beautiful. This is a book I want a physical copy of to reread over and over, annotate, and recommend to everyone.

The year is 1886 in New Sarum, England, and Atherton Graves only knows a life surrounded by corpses. Amidst a rash of child deaths, he alone suspects they are the product of murder. At least, that’s what the ghosts in his mortuary tell him. But there’s hardly time to hunt the killer; Atherton has just sold a cadaver to a spiritualist at the notorious Black Carnival, and the town gang known as the Disciples are not going to take that lightly.

Caught between a serial killer, a circus bursting with foul characters, and his spiraling madness amongst the restless dead, Atherton will undoubtedly become the villain of his own story. The question remains: who, if any, will be unscathed by the rampant destruction he’s invited?

it was a dark and a a bitt of a creepy story. And i loved it. there need to be more books like it. The author is a circus performer himself and it shows. The circus and the their family is written really well.
And the book has some great plotwist. a great read

A life surrounded by corpses, a rash of child deaths and the suspicions of these being the product of murder. A serial killer, a circus bursting with foul characters and a spiralling madness amongst the restless dead will undoubtedly have you question who the real villain is in this story. 

𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐐𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐥 & 𝐂𝐫𝐨𝐰 𝐏𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐇𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐝𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐝𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐩𝐲 𝐯𝐢𝐚 𝐍𝐞𝐭𝐆𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐥 𝐛𝐲 𝐇𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐧 𝐆𝐫𝐢𝐦

I really wanted to like this book. I picked it up as an ARC read and I don't know how much feedback will be incorporated before the publication date, or if there are some simple fixes that will change the overall story.
There is a good story in here. Somewhere. I love the idea of the Circus as supernatural locus, of the found family of freaks, of the otherworldly and the nomad nature. I'm a huge fan of Carnivale, of Harrow Faire and Penny Dreadful, and gothic literature in general. So I was immediately pulled to this novel.
But there is just so much going on that the story is lost in the telling.
Who is this novel about? is it Atherton, the young mortician who has become inured to his life and seeks the love of a recent widow? is it Boo, the young clown of the circus who has a mysterious past and wears a strange hat? Is about Lester, the coven leader who runs the circus and has pulled together a diverse group of performers and outcasts into her circus. Is the circus magical and otherworldly or is the world filled with ghosts and ghouls and demons and witches that walk among us like it was just as normal a day and night and this is merely entertainment within the wider magical world.
Or is about the Peaky Blinder-esque gang from whitechapel with the dirty cockney accents that has all of London and surrounding cities in it's grip of terror.
Is it a story of a child killing witch who is using them as blood sacrifices to enter Gehenna only to be never mentioned in the novel again.
The circus has a doctor that is trying to reanimate bodies like Dr. Frankenstein and is even reading Mary Shelley's book. Does that mean it's a novel or a text book, as she is using the same methods as Dr. F? She is grabbing bodies from a gentleman named Holmes- who is moving to Chicago soon. Is it necessary to add that tidbit in, is it supposed to be a gothic easter egg? Instead of giving as a sense of place we end up in a world where nothing really makes sense and there are too many characters to follow a narrative arc.
The Peaky Blinders gang member has a london accent we can tell because he drops his 'r' s. But the scottish ghoul has the same accent although it's supposed to be scottish. There is american spelling throughout the book so I would suggest it may have been better to write what you know and base the circus in the US. The vernacular word drops are not organic, but the author does provide a glossary.
As I said, there is a story here. The found friendship between Boo and Athie would be worthy of some more exploration. The world of Gehenna and London seem really interesting, can we explore that? why are there ghouls walking amongst us, how did they get to be ghouls?
I want to like this book. The writing (outside of the first chapter, which is bordering on a bit of purply prose) is strong and readable. the circus life and act descriptions are delightful and well thought out. The character of Mason, the scripture quoting gangster who isn't sure of his place in the world might have been a little more fleshed out, especially his relatiionship with Athie.
I want to say to this writer to take the book back and let it cook a little longer, trim out some pieces. Decide where you want to take us and who will take us there. I think there is a market for a book like this - but I also think it doesn't get dark enough for a full horror or sexy enough for a dark romance, not enough supernatural happenings for a paranormal investigative novel. Picking a theme might help find some direction for all these ideas.
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This novel is haunting. Twisted, but in a good way. A maze of triumph, vulnerability, precariousness, and turmoil on this journey of life and death, and it serves as a stark reminder that our lives are fragile, full of turmoil and failure, and we don’t always get what we want.

Grief reared its ugly head, but I think that has more to do with me and my own recent personal life experiences than with the novel itself.

All of that being said, I loved it. When my physical copy arrives, it shall proudly sit on my shelf of all-time favorite authors.

Well done, Harlequin Grim.

Anytime there’s a haunted carnival, I will read it. The atmosphere was perfect. This should be read around Halloween time. I want more of this world.

‘Who can be prepared for everything the world asks of them? The truth is, we rarely are. But can you stand up when the moments come? That’s all that matters. To hell with being ready.’ 🎪🖤

Wow, I absolutely loved this book! I wasn’t sure what to expect before reading it; but it is easily one of my favourite books I have read so far this year! ❤️

This book is a horror and historical fiction book set in spooky and gothic New Sarum and London, England in 1886. Throughout the book you are fully immersed within this world of sprits, magic and crime, getting both a depiction of what life and people really would have been like during this period, with an intriguing fantastical twist. We follow Atherton Graves, the 19 year old undertaker working in his family business, as he uncovers a series of strange and disturbing child deaths, which he alone suspects are murders. Whilst working to uncover the cause of this rash of child deaths, he also becomes wrapped up in the world of the notorious Black Carnival after selling a cadaver to a spiritualist there. This sale enrages the town gang called the Disciples- they work closely with his family’s business and feel wronged by Atherton, thinking that he sees himself above them and that he’s trying to make a mockery of their power and their fear-invoking presence in the town. They will look to seek vengeance and right his perceived wrongs. 🖤

✨ ‘You cannot weigh the truth of your actions by the uncertainty of their consequences.’ ✨

One of the things I absolutely loved about this book was the multiple POV’s- I don’t think I have read a book with more POV’s but it works absolutely perfectly for this book! It conveys a great depth and understanding of each of the characters, giving the reader insight into their thoughts and feelings and understanding them in a way that the other characters wouldn’t. This makes you realise that even though they are all different, conduct themselves in different ways, they are actually more similar to one another than they believe. I thought it was a great and very clever choice to have a POV chapters for Mason throughout the book- it brought him from being seen as just a mob boss, crime leader who’s merciless and just acting out of his power hunger, to understanding exactly why he feels pressure or the need to act this way. ESPECIALLY when we see his thoughts when talking to his father.

✨ ‘Everybody deserves to find their place in this world. Where they fit in. Where they can trust their efforts mean something.✨

I also really loved the characters in this book- they all had their own purpose and part to play in the story, and I loved that you could clearly see their part in influencing Athertons’s development as a character. Especially Ivory, who shows up in a lot of ways like a father figure as the book goes on- both in a way to help him controlling being a phantom, and also personally as he sees a lot of himself in Atherton. I also thought Boo was an extremely likeable character- I liked that he seems misunderstood by a lot of people, but not by Atherton who seems to form an understanding with him from the get go. I really enjoyed getting to see an insight into his life before the circus and when joining it! 🎡

✨ ‘Some nightmares are merely dreams in disguise. Trust that, together, we may yet find some purpose in yours.’ ✨

I loved the way friendship was shown between the characters and the progression of Atherton and Lilian’s relationship- Harlequin Grim shows love, both romantically and platonically, and the emergence of love in a way that feels very natural, accurate and beautiful. On the other end of this, I loved how death was shown- as someone who often questions the existential it was incredibly interesting to me. There were so many great quotes I loved about death in this book, and how love and death are intertwined. 🖤

✨ ‘And what would friends be for, if not the shouldering of weights we cannot bear on our own?’ ✨

The circus as a place was also described so very beautifully, in a way that is detailed but also very easily to follow along with. You can really tell that Harlequin Grim has a circus background as you feel incredibly immersed within the world he is describing. It is both magical, fantastic and wondrously captivating, yet eerie and laced with dark and horrific undertones- all balanced in the perfect way! 🎪

✨ ‘We’re going where people like you and I belong, Atherton Graves. We’re going back to the circus. And soon it’ll be autumn. The best season yet.’ ✨

As you can tell by my review I loved this book and highly highly recommend it- I read this within 3 days and couldn’t put the book down 😂 it’s full of emotion, with lots of twists, a gothic yet magical world and characters that are so intriguing and that you can really connect to.

Thank you very much to NetGalley and Quill & Crow for providing this ARC to me to read! 🎪🖤

DNF’ed at about 45%

I want to preface this by saying I tried my hardest to get into this book. I wanted to give it a fair chance and not quit right away because the premise of it sounded really interesting, but it just ended up being not for me.

At 45%, the main plot of the book doesn’t feel like it has even begun yet and I don’t find myself having the patient or the desire to keep reading just to get to it. The multiple POVs, while interesting, don’t exactly feel like they add to the story when we’ve only been dropped hints of what the actual plot is so far.

The characters accent being written into the actual dialogue was a note of criticism for me as well. Especially because it wasn’t always consistent in how it is written. (i.e. in the same scene a character uses ‘ave and then uses have the next time they speak.) Mentioning the setting kind of had me assuming they had accents already so I am not sure throwing the accent into the dialogue was a necessity.

Based on the other reviews, I am happy to see others loved book. but it just wasn’t for me and that’s okay. I still wish the author the best of luck with this release in the future.

This book has spoiled me for reading anything else. It’s been a week of chasing the feeling of being sucked into this world, and I haven’t been able to replicate it. The characters haunt me in my dreams. The prose is addicting, the rhythm enchanting. Grim has found the perfect algorithm combining humour, horror, and heart. This one is absolutely a new favourite, and I’m itching for the sequel.

The Black Carnival by Harlequin Grim is a gothic fever dream that drips with eerie charm and Victorian horror. Set in 1886 New Sarum, the novel follows Atherton Graves, a haunted mortician whose only reliable companions are the ghosts in his care. When a string of child deaths stirs suspicions of murder, Atherton’s descent into madness intertwines with the grotesque spectacle of the Black Carnival and the dangerous attention of the local gang, the Disciples.

Grim’s prose is vivid and unsettling, capturing the decayed elegance of a world teetering on the edge of the supernatural. The cast is twisted, the carnival a haunting delight, and Atherton a magnetic antihero unraveling under the weight of grief, guilt, and ghostly whispers. It’s a tale soaked in moral ambiguity, dark whimsy, and creeping dread—perfect for readers who enjoy horror with heart and a taste for the tragic.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this atmospheric and wickedly imaginative novel in exchange for my review. The Black Carnival is a chilling and original addition to the gothic horror genre that will leave you marveling at the beauty in its darkness.

Great book loved the vibes and it was written great loved it and will be recommending it to everyone

"The world makes fools of people who think they know it well"

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the e-arc copy in exchange for an honest review. Trigger warnings at the end of the review under a spoiler warning.

Anybody who knows me, knows that I adore any book about a circus/carnival, bonus points if the book is a fantasy. And while the title is named after the carnival and the carnival wasn't the main part in the story at all, I still adored it. This absolutely blew me away! Fair warning to people wanting to read it, this book is DARK.

We follow multiple POV's, but Atherton is the most important one. We follow his story navigating through his work in a mortuary, trying to uncover why so many kids are ending up on his table while also dealing with the Disciples (a mobster family) before and after he sells a body to the circus in town.

While I did figure out really quickly who the killer was (but that is nothing new with me), it happened multiple times that I was sitting with my hand in front of my mouth in absolute shock because of what was happening in the story. The atmosphere and the characters were amazing, and while things were gruesome it never felt like it was too far fetched or too over the top. What I loved was that the main antagonist throughout the story felt so real, and I loved that there were a couple of chapters from their POV as well, making them feel more human and fleshed out as a character.

Can't wait to have the finished copy of this in my hands so I can read it again. I saw on the author's website that there will be a sequel, and even though this book isn't out yet, I can't wait to see what happens next!

trigger warnings: (also mentioned at the back of the book)
alcohol and drug use, blood and gore, graphic depictions of dead children, graphic depictions of death, gang violence with hanging and gunshots, murder of children with descriptions of their bodies, ritualistic suicide and violence towards women.

This book is a fever dream wrapped in velvet and dipped in shadow. It’s eerie, enchanting, and just the right amount of unhinged. The carnival setting is so vivid you can almost smell the popcorn and blood. Every tent feels like a trap, every performer is hiding something, and the whole place hums with dark magic just waiting to bite.

The story moves with this slow, spiraling tension. You’re never quite sure who to trust or what’s real, which honestly fits the vibe perfectly. It leans into the unsettling and makes you question everything, including whether the main character is walking into her destiny or digging her own grave.

Some parts felt a little thin, but the atmosphere more than made up for it. It’s the kind of book you read with the lights on but still feel watched. I loved how it played with themes of power, desire, and the price of curiosity.

Solid 4 stars. If you like twisted carnivals, morally messy characters, and a plot that dances on the edge of nightmare, step right up.

Thank you for the opportunity to read your work.

Unfortunately I will have to DNF this book, I just can't wrap my head around the multiple POV's.
From what I have read there is a lot of attention to detail in the descriptions, which I appreciated. The concept of the book is very good, but the constant jumping of POV's kept leaving me confused and a bit disoriented.

A gothic thriller that feels perfect for those dark, chilly October nights. While the prose was a little too flowery for me, this is still enjoyable.

Wow. This was definitely something!

I wasn't sure at first but I ended up enjoying this!! It was creepy and fun. I love the cover as well!

Bleak, haunting, and beautifully miserable — this is less The Night Circus and more The Skin. I loved the characters, the decaying Victorian setting, and the grim folklore-laced murder mystery at its heart.

The violence is graphic but purposeful, adding to the sense of spiraling madness around Atherton and his ghosts. My only real gripe? I wanted more actual "carnival life" — the Black Carnival feels more like a dark backdrop than a world we truly step into.

Overall, this is a gothic thriller for those who crave bleakness over whimsy and don't mind getting a bit of blood on their hands.

I connected with this one in a way I rarely do. The amount of empathy I felt for the main characters was profound. You truly feel their struggles and pain. Writing characters this sympathetic is tough, but Harlequin Grim nails it perfectly. I’m definitely planning a re-read, and I’d recommend it to anyone hunting for a memorable new favorite.

Sci Fi & Fantasy
Historical Fiction
Horror
Violence
Ghosts
Murder Mystery


Dark, grim and wonderfully grotesque even a little Burtonesque.

Atherton Graves works for his father’s family business as a mortician. The family pays a protection fee to a gang called “The Disciples” but after Atherton secretly sells a cadaver to a spiritualist from the Black Carnival, all goes to hell when Mason Cross, the head of The Disciples catches wind of it.
The world building was incredible to me. The atmosphere that was created reminded me so much of the Penny Dreadful TV series which I thoroughly enjoyed. The colours of the carnival tents and clothing of the acrobats and clowns gave it a Burtonesque flavour and The Disciples gave it an air of Peaky Blinders minus the caps and all mixed together with mysterious child murders and dark rituals.
This was absolutely thrilling and disturbing at the same time.

Please read the content warnings as there are quite a few. This book is not for the faint of heart

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts are my own.
A huge thank you to Netgalley and Quill & Crow’s books for this e-arc.