colleen the convivial curmudgeon’s Reviews > Carniepunk > Status Update

'Daughter of the Midway...' - Pretty decent ending to the collection. Broke out of the UF mold, and it was nice to see a story from someone inside the carnival. Funny how only the first and last stories actually seem to do that...

'Hell's Menagerie' - A Charlie Madigan story - Once again, I'm not familiar with the series this story is a part of, but you get enough of a gist to follow along. I generally liked this one - mostly because I have a weakness for animals, I think.

"A Chance in Hell" - One problem with reading a themed collection of short stories like this is that, by the time you get to the end, you've seen most variations played out already. This variation was another "devils in a carnival stealing souls" thing - though I did like the heroin ex-demon thing.
I wasn't really a fan of the idea that if you get tempted by one of the big 7 the once, you're auto-slated for Hell.

'Inside Man' - One of the cooler stories - I liked the memory thing. Minir complaint that the only "circus" aspect was more reminiscent of IT than anything else.

'Freak House' - part of the Strays series, which I'm not familiar with. Lead is a half-djinn, which is an interesting and unique.twist. Story was ok, though the writing had a pretty typical UF vibe.

'Parlor Tricks' - Nicely violent version of a familiar story.

'Recession of the Divine' - Playing with an interesting concept, sort of like American Gods - i.e. the gods are desperate for prayers/beliefs and the power which comes from it - though the story, itself, was fairly predictable.

'Duet with Darkness' - I kinda guessed where the story was going - at least the gist of it - but it was done pretty well. Another where the carnival aspect was peripheral to the story, but the story was good enough I didn't mind as much as with some of the others. I'm not familiar with the series it comes from, and this almost makes me want to check it out. Almost... But the writing was kinda choppy.

'The Cold Girl' - Ok story, but a bit.cliche. would've liked more description of the nature of the Vold Girl and the carnie folk.

'The Sweeter the Juice' - An ok twist on a zombie story, but the carnival was pretty peripheral to the story again. More window-dressing that anything.

'Werewife' - I liked this one better. Wish a bit more time was spent on Valentina and the carnival itself, and I was expecting a bit more of a twist with the end, but, overall, better than some of the other ones.