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A review by a_mae13
Miraculum by Steph Post
2.75
"Oh really? You felt human? How very special for you." "No. I felt like a god."
Oh look, another book that I remember nearly nothing about besides that I enjoyed it and that I had read another circus-themed book 😂 this was like the third or fourth book I read that was centered on a circus. Miraculum was a slow-burn plot about the Spectacular Star Light Miraculum, a traveling carnival that's petering out in terms of popularity. It's the 1920s, so there's new and exciting entertainment on the market. But the carnival pushes on.
As soon as we meet the freaks of the show, a man is found dead hanging in a tree (I'm pretty sure). He was the show's geek, someone who bites the heads off of chickens. It's ruled as a suicide since he was hanging. Conveniently, a new man in town named Daniel and he's willing to fill in as the geek. Ruby, the carnival's snake charmer, is pretty reserved and doesn't love the new guy. Everything seems a bit suspish to her, since the previous geek had JUST died. But, it's business so the owner puts Daniel in the show.
Of course, Daniel isn't what he seems to be and since he's started, all of these weird things start to happen. Soon after, there is another death. I'm pretty sure that this guy was found dead and it was presumed that he fell off of the Ferris wheel. We soon discover that there is more to these characters than what's on the surface. Ruby was abandoned by her family, living with her grandparents in a small cottage in the forest. She's sent away to become a tattooed woman in New Orleans, but the tattoos she receives aren't the beautiful, precise images that the other girls have. Hers are tribal, minimal, and tattooed with ancient methods, leaving her with undefined patterns rather than the remarkable masterpieces that she's seen. She stays with a woman who's a well-known hoodoo master. Ruby becomes infatuated with the history of hoodoo, the gods, the magic, and the rituals. That is until these things come to life around her. Also, her dad is the Pontillier, the carnival owner.
After the second death hits the carnival, Ruby starts to snoop on Daniel. He's too normal to be a geek. He's got clean clothes and fancy accessories, he's not hurting for money and doesn't need the poor income that geeks make. So why is he there?Well, he's a trickster god, that's why. He's come to wreak havoc on the carnival before he moves to his next chaos site. With his magic, he can charm and manipulate others, making them do whatever it is he wants or demands. But Ruby? She's immune. Why? Her tattoos. The hoodoo master foretold a prophecy that Ruby would eventually cross paths with this god and wanted to arm her with charms to defeat him.
Daniel is frustrated with her immunity and explodes, literally. He sets the carnival ablaze and destroys everything in his path, including people. One of the side characters, January, melts to death in Ruby's arms. Many others die (except our main characters of course) and this is the breaking point for Ruby. She vows to defeat him and seeks the help of Hayden, her ex-boyfriend, and an artist with the carnival (who is technically a main character but a bit forgettable unfortunately). They set up a little blackmail situation at a ball. I don't remember how we got here, but we did. It's a black and white theme but Ruby wears a bright red gown to stand out and grab Daniels's attention. This is where things get a little confusing because it's described as a power balance, Ruby can see into his power and Daniel can see into hers. And then it just ends, literally. It's a funny ending because he is a trickster god, and he says "Oh well you don't get to know how it ends, she drove me out of town and won this time". I suppose it leaves it open for additional installments, but it's a little disappointing since Ruby and Daniel were the only characters that I cared about.
Overall it was an interesting storyline. I really liked the hoodoo aspect and the introduction of the old gods. There are a lot of circus books that focus on magical carnivals where the carnival is literal magic. But this was a historical representation of carnival acts, where you had people who practiced hoodoo, snake charmers, menagerie girls, and ancient books of gods and spells. It has a tragic backstory of our main characters, both Ruby and Hayden, and a mystery character that appears after death and destruction. While it was a bit slow to start and had a very abrupt and unresolved ending, the majority of it was captivating and entertaining.
Oh look, another book that I remember nearly nothing about besides that I enjoyed it and that I had read another circus-themed book 😂 this was like the third or fourth book I read that was centered on a circus. Miraculum was a slow-burn plot about the Spectacular Star Light Miraculum, a traveling carnival that's petering out in terms of popularity. It's the 1920s, so there's new and exciting entertainment on the market. But the carnival pushes on.
As soon as we meet the freaks of the show, a man is found dead hanging in a tree (I'm pretty sure). He was the show's geek, someone who bites the heads off of chickens. It's ruled as a suicide since he was hanging. Conveniently, a new man in town named Daniel and he's willing to fill in as the geek. Ruby, the carnival's snake charmer, is pretty reserved and doesn't love the new guy. Everything seems a bit suspish to her, since the previous geek had JUST died. But, it's business so the owner puts Daniel in the show.
Of course, Daniel isn't what he seems to be and since he's started, all of these weird things start to happen. Soon after, there is another death. I'm pretty sure that this guy was found dead and it was presumed that he fell off of the Ferris wheel. We soon discover that there is more to these characters than what's on the surface. Ruby was abandoned by her family, living with her grandparents in a small cottage in the forest. She's sent away to become a tattooed woman in New Orleans, but the tattoos she receives aren't the beautiful, precise images that the other girls have. Hers are tribal, minimal, and tattooed with ancient methods, leaving her with undefined patterns rather than the remarkable masterpieces that she's seen. She stays with a woman who's a well-known hoodoo master. Ruby becomes infatuated with the history of hoodoo, the gods, the magic, and the rituals. That is until these things come to life around her. Also, her dad is the Pontillier, the carnival owner.
After the second death hits the carnival, Ruby starts to snoop on Daniel. He's too normal to be a geek. He's got clean clothes and fancy accessories, he's not hurting for money and doesn't need the poor income that geeks make. So why is he there?
Daniel is frustrated with her immunity and explodes, literally. He sets the carnival ablaze and destroys everything in his path, including people. One of the side characters, January, melts to death in Ruby's arms. Many others die (except our main characters of course) and this is the breaking point for Ruby. She vows to defeat him and seeks the help of Hayden, her ex-boyfriend, and an artist with the carnival (who is technically a main character but a bit forgettable unfortunately). They set up a little blackmail situation at a ball. I don't remember how we got here, but we did. It's a black and white theme but Ruby wears a bright red gown to stand out and grab Daniels's attention. This is where things get a little confusing because it's described as a power balance, Ruby can see into his power and Daniel can see into hers. And then it just ends, literally. It's a funny ending because he is a trickster god, and he says "Oh well you don't get to know how it ends, she drove me out of town and won this time". I suppose it leaves it open for additional installments, but it's a little disappointing since Ruby and Daniel were the only characters that I cared about.
Overall it was an interesting storyline. I really liked the hoodoo aspect and the introduction of the old gods. There are a lot of circus books that focus on magical carnivals where the carnival is literal magic. But this was a historical representation of carnival acts, where you had people who practiced hoodoo, snake charmers, menagerie girls, and ancient books of gods and spells. It has a tragic backstory of our main characters, both Ruby and Hayden, and a mystery character that appears after death and destruction. While it was a bit slow to start and had a very abrupt and unresolved ending, the majority of it was captivating and entertaining.