The Troupe, by Robert Jackson Bennett

I picked up The Troupe because it had a striking cover.  While I never "judge a book by it's cover" the cover art will draw me to pick up a book and check out the back.  And this story promised me a glimpse into the shadowed world of vaudeville and a mysterious troupe that seems to alter reality in whatever town it stops in.  I was hooked!

The book follows a boy, gifted pianist George Carole, who is searching for his father.  Because of a faded poster left behind with his mother's things he believes it's Heironomo Silenus, vaudeville star.  As George looks into this possibility, he realizes that while Heironomo Silenus is famous and always has a sold out audience, no one can remember what he does.  The other bizarre acts, a woman who seems lost in her own world but can bend steel beams with her bare hands, an ethereal dancer who claims to be a Prussian princess, and a man with uncommonly clever puppets are well remembered, but Silenus is a mystery.

Catching up with Silenus' troupe is more difficult than George expected.  Once he finally meets Silenus face to face, George slowly realizes that trying to find his father has become a very dangerous endeavor.  Because Silenus has made a lot of enemies throughout his life and strange, bland men are closing in on the troupe.

I love the world that Bennett created here.  All of his characters were complex and genuine.  As the story behind Silenus is slowly revealed, I hurt for him.  I felt George's pain in trying to find Silenus, only to find out Silenus barely remembered George's mother and wasn't interested in forming a relationship with him.  The other performers are secretive and suspicious, also shutting George out of their lives.  But George is persistent and eventually learns the secrets behind Silenus' act.  The troupe is responsible for finding pieces of The First Song, the song that began creation.  If the song is not collected and sung, the world will be eaten away by the darkness of nonexistence.

I admit, when I read the final confrontation, I totally cried.  I don't want to give anything away because this was a great stand-alone book that deserves to be discovered.

Upcoming Reviews

Look forward to a review of The Troupe, by Robert Jackson Bennett, which centers around vaudeville and a fight to save the universe.


Also, The Twelve, from Justin Cronin, which is the next installment of the series begun by The Passage, will be released soon.

Cold Days, the latest book in the Dresden Files series, by Jim Butcher, will be out in November.  In preparation, I am rereading some of the earlier books.

Great books to look forward to!  If anyone has recommendations, I am always open to ideas for new authors and series.

Fairy Tale Retellings - a television series

I'm sorry I have been remiss in publishing reviews.  We have had a busier summer than we anticipated, but in a good way.  While it is not a book review, I wanted to mention to my curious readers about a series I have recently started watching on NetFlix.  If you haven't seen Once Upon a Time and love fairy tale retellings, it's a must see.

The plot has a lot of layers, even from the beginning of the series.  It hooks you, steadily drawing you into this world.  You see in flashes the fairy tale world of Snow White, Prince Charming, and the Wicked Queen and present day life centering around a young woman named Emma.  Emma is drawn to Storybrook, Maine -- a city that seems to have been left behind in time.  It is said that the occupants of the town cannot leave and don't know who they are...well, were, before The Curse.  Every person there is/was a character from fairy tales.  You follow Emma as she tries to disprove this theory and find out "what's really going on" in this small town.  It's a smart twist.  I'm still in the beginning of the series and will post the occasional update as the storyline progresses.