Review of The Emerald Circus by Jane Yolen

Many many moons ago, I read Briar Rose and have had a soft spot for Jane Yolen ever since, although a soft spot in that until now I haven’t read any of her other books (mainly because I aged out of the YA ones pretty much immediately after I read Briar Rose and I don’t tend to read too much adult fantasy, but I have bought some of her other books, like Foiled for Miss T).

So soft spot for Jane Yolen plus Jane Yolen books for request on Netgalley equals I have The Emerald Circus and another Jane Yolen book to review. And The Emerald Circus is a shout-out to Oz, and there are other fairy tale retellings/fairy tale inspired stories and then Disraeli casts cabalistic magic on Queen Victoria and Emily Dickenson is abducted by space aliens and …

Yeah, I’m back in the world of books with bizarre twists out of nowhere (no squid sex, so I guess we have a kinda win here?). So if you like odd, and short stories, and fairy tales, and aliens, The Emerald Circus might be the book for you. The Oz retelling was pretty nifty, I do have to say.

But then aliens. Sigh. Maybe my tombstone could read Always managed to find the books with surprise aliens in them.

The Emerald Circus by Jane Yolen went on sale November 14, 2017.

I received a copy free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.