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| cover art by Ashley Mackenzie |
Stories by JY Yang are fast becoming a must read for me, their style of writing and world building captures you and really draws you into the stories that they weave. I really love their 'Tensorate' series so far (and looking forward to the next book in the series, 'The Ascent To Godhood' out in the summer) as well as the few short stories I've read, and 'Circus Girl, The Hunter and Mirror Boy' is another worthy addition to their catalogue of essential reading. An urban fantasy ghost story, of sorts, set in an intriguing world where magic and its practitioners are part of normal life.
Lynette, who used to work in the circus ten years previously, is revisited by a ghost from her past during a traumatic time for her, a spirit that appears as her reflection and whom she appropriately refers to as Mirror Boy. Mirror Boy comes bearing a dire warning; a serial killer that has left a trail of bodies is hunting both him as well as Lynette. Hearing this, she goes on the run, trying to figure out why this mysterious serial killer would be after her, and along the way, gets a little help from a witch.
It's a solid read that's fast paced, wonderfully written, and told from the three POVs from the title; Lynette the circus girl, who has most of the narrative, the serial killer that's hunting them and of Mirror Boy, and it works very well, with the right amount of story and exposition split between the viewpoints. The story is also hauntingly creepy at times, especially with some aspects of Lynette's past, and during the killer's POV, as we discover his motivations behind the killings and find out why he's after Lynette.
I loved the world that the story is part of. It comes across as a very lived in world that could be set anywhere, and it's one that I would love to return to again.
Available to read for for free from the Tor website
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