An instant favorite. I'm already partial to stories about children being forced to deal with somewhat absurd horrors they have no control over, and I will never turn down grody creepy circus folk. Aaronovitch manages to balance soul-crushingly bleak with sweet pretty darn well here. This was my first piece of prose by him, and I very quickly found myself charmed by his style and vivid imagery. He really does a good job cooking up Gilliam-style visuals in this one, and I've found myself stewing on the character design and setting aesthetic for the last couple days since I gave this one a listen. I've already listened to it twice, in fact. Definitely see myself revisiting this again and again, and I'll be keeping an eye out for more of his writing from now on. Five stars and a favorite from me.