A great story. Read to Max.

Charlie is smart and tries to think things through. Even those it may not go as plan. I like how there are some scenes of the Charlie's parents showing how they are dealing with being kidnapped and being away from their son. It gives more depth and bigger role to play in the story. There are some scenes of Rafi looking for Charlie.

The writing is good. There are some detail description of the circus and the performers. It makes you feel like your right there watching the circus.

The whole book captures the fun and whimsical spirit of running away with the circus. While it has that, it also has a serious undertone. Dealing with losing your parents and having to find them, it pushes the limits of being a kid and growing up.

The weird lion creature that shows up near the end kind of feels out of places. I don’t where their going with this. Hopefully the second book clears it up. ( )

This book is set in some unexplained future (oil reserves are run out, everything's electric or wind-powered but then there's an animal wandering around that sounds like a sabertooth tiger, from the description). The protagonist, Charlie is ten- though he often sounds much younger. His parents are scientists and get kidnapped, Charlie sets off to find them but is very much frightened by a local thug who appears to be chasing him. However he has a secret ability- Charlie can talk to any member of the feline family (the backstory on how this happened is both charming and rather simplistic). So with cats as allies to spy for him and bring him messages, he sets off on a hopeless-looking quest to rescue his parents. Not very far into the book he winds up on a traveling circus, that's on a ship. As in, the ship is permanently decked out to house the animals and people, and give performances in a big top rigged in the center. Very elaborate and imaginative. Charlie is both awed and thrilled by the circus, and dismayed at how the lions in the act are treated- drugged to keep them calm and compliant. He makes a mad plan to help the lions escape the circus, and they in turn promise to help him find his parents again. All along, there's hints at bigger secrets looming than just his cat-communication ability which I'm sure will be explained in further books, as this is the start of a series that purports to be full of adventures.

This was fun, and the cats are just great (better characters than the lions, in my opinion). I certainly enjoyed reading it, although there are some awkward points. Lions don't purr, for example (unless in this future they've evolved to do so?) ... I did like that the author made some obvious points against stereotypes- Charlie himself is from a mixed-race family, and he often comes up against people make erroneous assumptions about his background, or about people of other nationalities as they travel, which he quickly points out are wrong. There's also the thoughtful contrast between Charlie's love of the circus flair and skill of the performers, and his unhappiness at how the lions are kept captive. But then there's this other storyline thread of big business and pharma going at odds against those who are actually trying to cure disease (asthma). It's an odd mesh of themes... I don't know if I quite liked it well enough to seek out the sequels on my own, but if my nine-year-old wants 'em, I'll be happy to read the rest.

more at the Dogear Diary ( )

Well-done world-building and character development. No cliches or tropes. The description of the circus is reason enough, imo, to read the book.

I love how Charlie is a kid - brave, clever, but still a kid. I love how we spend time with the parents - they aren't just vaguely waiting to be rescued. I love how even minor characters are well-developed.

I found the book both intelligent and exciting. My only quibbles are the big heaping pile of luck at the end, and the fact that I don't quite care enough to follow the rest of the adventure. ( )

I picked this up as a potential title for my Chatterbooks group, but as it turns out I can't get enough copies for everyone so it is a non starter. Probably just as well, since I think they would be frustrated by the fact that the story doesn't actually end. Turns out it is the first of a trilogy, but nothing about the edition I read made this clear. So that was a bit of a downer for a start. I suppose I should have expected it from the pacing. There is a very long scene in the circus describing the acts at length, which slows the action right down. It may be intended to build tension, but it doesn't quite work. At least not for me.
It wasn't a bad story, the basic premise was really interesting and I'm slightly curious to read the next one to find out what happens, but it didn't grip me as much as I expected it to from the blurb.
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