I loved the multiple perspectives and how each character really had their own voice and personality. Sometimes with multiple perspectives characters personalities can get lost in the authors writing style but not with this! I really couldn't put it down. I really hope to see more from this author!! Very intriguing story, interesting characters, great world building, overall just a great mystery/horror read!

Out of all the books I've read this year, The Black Carnival truly took my breath away. I was still thinking about it long after I finished it. I devoured it in two days, completely unable to put it down.

The alternating POVs are a style I love; it adds so many perspectives to the same situation. The POV characters were as original as they were compelling. The setting outside the carnival felt accurate to the time and had little to do with anything particularly magical, which I enjoyed. The main antagonist was as normal as they come, but the energy he radiated made him feel extraordinary.

What stood out to me most was the deep connection I felt to the main characters, in a way I usually don't. You truly feel for their struggles and pain. It can be difficult to write a sympathetic character, but Harlequin Grim hit the mark dead on. I will be reading this book again, and I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a new read.

"Ghost are just that - fragments. Mangled remnants of who we were, trying to make sense of what we couldn't understand in life."

Wow! I went into this one with low expectations and was pleasantly surprised. I loved it - the story, the historical setting, the circus universe and the motley crew of characters. There is horror aplenty with all kinds of nastiness.
The writing is great, the story is told from multiple point of views. I love the prose, generously sprinkled with all those ancient words. The descriptions are detailed, vivid and sometimes lyrical. The characters are well fleshed out and so different from the usual run of the mill horror characters. The plot is great with a lot of twists.
I will be reading this one again and other works by this writer. I also hope we will get to see some of the characters (Atherton, Boo, Lester, Kayne......) again in the future.
Great read.

"So we begin as we have begun a hundred times before - from darkness to bring people stars."

Black Carnival by Harlequin Grim is one of those books that sinks its claws in and lingers. I went into it expecting something along the lines of Caraval or maybe even The Night Circus—you know, whimsical, mysterious, dazzling. But this? This is darker. Grimmer. And honestly, way more unsettling in the best way.

"We are no better than those men. We never were. We hold candles to the Devil and stand in the shadows they cast."

This book delivers big on atmosphere—creepy, cultish circus vibes that feel like they’re creeping up your spine with each page. It’s the kind of story that makes you feel like you’ve stumbled into a twisted funhouse where every mirror shows something a little too real. The death toll is high, and yes, child death is present, so that’s something to know going in. Some scenes are genuinely haunting. This isn’t a book for the faint of heart, and I mean that sincerely. Read at your own risk—but if you're into that dark, unflinching storytelling, you’ll probably devour this like I did.

What made this even more fascinating for me is the author himself. Harlequin Grim isn't just a pen name with a flair for the dramatic—he actually lived a life that feels tailor-made for a gothic novel. A mortuary worker turned full-time circus artist? Yeah, you feel that authenticity bleeding into the pages.

"A man who spends most of his waking life with the dead should never be afraid to live."

This was strange, eerie, and totally unique. It won’t be for everyone, but if you like your fiction soaked in death, mystery, and carnival shadows, it might just be for you.

‘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! 🎪🖤