Find author interviews, excerpts, reviews, and other coverage of new and older books, with genres mainly focusing on fantasy, sci-fi, and horror here!
Take a look through the Recommended Reading tag for some great stories to add to your TBR!
If you visit Bookshop.org via the linked banner below, you can purchase many of the books reviewed here and help support independent bookstores at the same time. Cosmic Circus may receive a small commission for purchases you make from the shop via this link.
A small town in rural America surrounded by fields of sunflowers sounds like an idyllic place to live. But this small town holds a dark secret. Men live pretty good lives in Bishop but women don’t fare as well. The list of dead and missing women stretches back all the way to the founding of the town when the first traveler
Read MoreThe Betrayed is the third book in the Dawning of Muirwood trilogy by Jeff Wheeler. Wheeler’s take on the famous Arthurian legend is told from an unexpected viewpoint. Instead of following Arthur or Merlin, or even Guinevere or Lancelot, Wheeler builds his story around a young abandoned girl named Eilean. In the previous two books, Eilean found her affinity for magic,
Read MoreJoin Alina as she tries to defeat the Darkling and save Ravka in Leigh Bardugo’s Siege and Storm. This is Bardugo’s second Grishaverse novel in the Shadow and Bone Trilogy. [ Warning: My review of Siege and Storm contains spoilers to this book and its predecessor Shadow and Bone (read the review here). Find this and many other books we’ve reviewed
Read MoreRavka is a country torn by war, and by something worse. The Shadow Fold, a place of darkness and monsters, was created centuries ago by the Black Heretic, an arrogant and dangerous mage. Alina is a cartographer in the first army, about to cross the Fold for the first time. When her ship is attacked by volcra she unknowingly releases a
Read MoreCamavor is an ever-expanding kingdom, reminiscent of the Roman empire, the British empire, or even the United States. As their new young king, Viego, pushes into yet more territory that doesn’t belong to him, an attempted assignation changes everything. His wife is poisoned during the attack and nothing can stop the venom. Viego begins to fall apart and so does his
Read MoreAn ancient illuminated manuscript, written by a woman no less, has been discovered in a cellar in Germany. The old woman who found it has contacted Professor Gertrude Eisenberg, a doctor who specializes in Middle High German. When Dr. Eisenberg examines the manuscript, she discovers the story of a young girl who lived 900 years ago. That manuscript is The Book
Read MoreHalf a world and over a decade apart, two seemingly unrelated stories end up colliding. The focus of my review today is Marvel’s The Winter Soldier: Cold Front by Mackenzie Lee. It’s 1954 and V is Russia’s best agent. He has only one directive: Comply. He follows that without question until he recognizes someone he shouldn’t. Suddenly he feels the weight
Read MoreAn unknown magic disturbs Hela, Queen of Hel, in her own realm. Angry at the intrusion, she begins to search for the source. At the same time, Brunnhilde the Valkyrie is awoken from disturbing nightmares full of dread, night after night. Uncertain of the cause of the dreams, she only knows that the lack of sleep and the lingering sense of
Read MoreThe world never seems to run out of spider heroes. In Araña and Spider-Man 2099: Dark Tomorrow by Alex Segura, Araña is the latest in a long line of spider people who feels the same calling to use her powers to help others. Balancing high school, friends, and family, and saving the world is as hard for Araña as it’s been
Read More
