A review by witchofthemountains
Freaks: Alive, on the Inside! by Annette Curtis Klause
4.0
I've been a Klause fan since ninth grade when I stumbled across Blood and Chocolate on my English teacher's bookshelf.
Klause is good - no, great - at delivering interesting plots that should be ridiculous but are so rooted in relatable characters that they ground the whole thing. The settings are well-rendered without being overdrawn, and Klause treats the history of "freak shows" with the complex lens it deserves. Given that this is essentially a paranormal YA romance (from a male perspective I might add, which is incredibly rare) I didn't expect that kind of treatment for the source material. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised.
If you're in the mood for a historical paranormal YA, then this is the book for you. The characters are intriguing, the setting is well-rendered, and the writing itself is artfully crafted. Klause is a master storyteller and this novel is just one more piece of proof to that.
Klause is good - no, great - at delivering interesting plots that should be ridiculous but are so rooted in relatable characters that they ground the whole thing. The settings are well-rendered without being overdrawn, and Klause treats the history of "freak shows" with the complex lens it deserves. Given that this is essentially a paranormal YA romance (from a male perspective I might add, which is incredibly rare) I didn't expect that kind of treatment for the source material. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised.
If you're in the mood for a historical paranormal YA, then this is the book for you. The characters are intriguing, the setting is well-rendered, and the writing itself is artfully crafted. Klause is a master storyteller and this novel is just one more piece of proof to that.