Seanan McGuire is one of the most prolific writers publishing in the speculative fiction genre, keeping up with her output is almost a part time job in and of itself. She’s won and received multiple literary awards, has multiple long-running series to her names (she’s also Mira Grant), the most popular and beloved being the October Daye urban fantasies of which I’m a recent convert (as in this past year). Boneyard arrived last year and I didn’t have a chance to get to it immediately. So, with that big grinning Jack O’Lantern on the cover and promises of monsters on the back cover copy, I figured I’d save the book for a Hallowe’en read this year. I’m glad I did.
Step right up to see the oddities and marvels of The Blackstone Family Circus and Travelling Wonder Show! Gasp at pit wasps the size of a man’s forearm. Beware the pumpkin-headed corn stalker, lest it plant its roots in you!
Annie Pearl is the keeper of oddities, the mistress of monsters. Her unique collection of creatures is one of the circus’s star attractions, drawing wide-eyed crowds at every small frontier town they visit. But Annie is also a woman running from her past . . . and the mother of a mute young daughter, Adeline, whom she will do anything to protect.
Hoping to fill its coffers before winter sets in, the circus steers its wagons to The Clearing, a remote community deep in the Oregon wilderness, surrounded by an ominous dark wood. Word is that a travelling show can turn a tidy profit at The Clearing, but there are whispers, too, of unexplained disappearances that afflict one out of every four shows that pass through the town.
The Clearing has it secrets, and so does Annie. And it may take everything she has to save her daughter—and the circus—from both.
From the twisted mind of Seanan McGuire comes a gripping tale of the Weird West, set on the haunted frontier of DEADLANDS, the award-winning game from Pinnacle Entertainment Group.
Annie Pearl, a.k.a. “The Mistress of Monsters,” runs a sideshow of monsters, strange creatures indigenous to remote locales, as part of (Nathaniel) Blackstone Circus. She’s got a pet lynx and cares for her sickly/handicapped daughter Adeline, a young mute girl. The story takes place in the waning days of the 19th Century, with many of the Western states still frontier land, unknown and mysterious. Her retinue of creatures includes monstrous piranhas and rat-sized wasps. Annie joined the circus out of desperation, she was on the run. Over the years, her collection of oddities has become one of the more popular features while she and Nathaniel have grown closer to each other.
As a traveling circus, new audiences are always being sought, which leads them to The Clearing in Oregon. To say this “clearing” is likened to the Wild Wild West is an understatement, not all traveling entertainers who journeyed to this region have returned. Despite the implied darkness surrounding the locale, Annie pushes Nathaniel to take the circus to that locale. Upon arrival, the Blackstone Family Circus was greeted with a great deal of hesitation, a sense of foreboding settled in quickly, but Annie and Nathaniel wanted to entertain. Enhancing the level of dread, and almost out of fairy tale, a dark and imposing forest lie at the outer rim of the Clearing.
Not a night passes before chaos ensues with fire breaking out and Annie’s daughter disappears into the forest and Sophie, the romantic interest of one of the circus hand, also disappears. With little hesitation, Annie and Martin (Sophie’s paramour) enter the dark forest, knowing some ‘things’ prey in the forest, if not the specific monstrous nature of its inhabitants: the Wendigo and giant wolves prey on lost souls.
As if that weren’t enough, Annie isn’t really Annie. Before joining the circus, she was Grace Murphy in the life she fled, husband to Dr. Murphy. Think Dr. Frankenstein but with less morals. At a few interludes throughout the main novel, McGuire focuses the narrative on the amoral Dr. Murphy and his plan to find his runaway wife.
I loved McGuire’s use of dialogue throughout Boneyard, so much can be imparted by the way these characters speak even as much or more than the content of what they say. There are so many wonderful elements to story, Annie being at the forefront. She’s a bold, admirable character who puts her daughter above everything and very much fits the Mama Bear archetype. It is through her where McGuire’s strong skills for dialogue shine the most. There’s an amalgamation of story ingredients in the novel – western/frontier story, dark fairy tale, plumbing local mythology, potent characters that make for a fun and ripping novel. I had zero familiarity with the Dead Lands franchise outside of the novels I’d received for review and I had no problems with becoming absorbed in the novel, both from a milieu and character perspective, within the first chapter or two.
Boneyard is a creepy, thrilling novel that hits many high notes with characters – especially the protagonist Annie Pearl – who engender in the reader empathy and that all important ability to make you as the reader root for them unreservedly. My only minor negative is that the pumpkin-headed monster on the cover didn’t have more of a presence. Think of it as Deadwood infused with a strong and appreciated horror and fairy tale. A great Hallowe’een or anytime read.
Recommended
© 2018 Rob H. Bedford
Trade Paperback
Published by Tor, October 2017
Review copy courtesy of the publisher
https://us.macmillan.com/excerpt?isbn=9780765375308
Great review! This sounds like a fresh take on a the classic running-from-the-past story. Annie seems like a well balanced, strong character with a dark streak. Looking forward to reading!