Khan Wong

In The Circus Infinite, Jes has escaped a scientific institute studying his psychic powers and ends up on the run on a pleasure moon. Joining a circus, he befriends a circle of unusual and intriguing people and creatures, including someone he bond with as an asexual queer person. But as Jes uses his powers and discovers new aspects of it, he becomes embroiled in the criminal underworld and must call upon all his resources and friends to take down the kingpin. Great atmospheric world building, engaging plot, some violence and gore, and a lovely found family.… (mehr)

Originally posted on Just Geeking by.

Content warnings:
There are a lot of torture, investigate and experiment scenes of a scientific and medical nature. They are extremely unpleasant and triggering. There are scenes of forced captivity, forced nudity, and forced restraint. During this time a friend dies and another commits suicide. There is also brainwashing involved. Murder, violence and torture also occur in a non-scientific capacity and are especially gruesome.

Throughout the book there are ongoing themes of close-mindedness, and prejudice, especially towards asexuality and mixed race people (in this universe mixed race refers to mixed species i.e. half human, half alien race). Scenes of drug and alcohol use are frequent throughout the book.

The Circus Infinite was one of those books that I have mixed feelings about. Fleeing from The Paragenetic Institute of the 9-Stars, Jes heads to the one place he figures they will never look for him; the infamous pleasure moon of Persephone-9. The universe Wong has created is magnificent, an open world sandbox that has taken present day issues and ideas and run forward thousands of years. Earth is long gone, humans spread across space and migrated to two different planets; Indra and Loran. Both of them vastly different from the other. Despite their differences they have kept the human need to colonise, with humans retaining their perceived superiority over alien species despite mating with them. As one character refers to humans being responsible for the most cross-species breeding in the universe. Of course, they also remain among the first to show their disdain for the mixed race offspring of such unions. Thousands of years has not removed prejudice from the universe and Wong deftly shows it at play in society throughout the novel.

One of the main ways is the sexuality of the protagonist, Jes and that is what makes The Circus Infinite is an interesting and important read regardless of its flaws. Jes is asexual and also an emphath. Wong uses Jes’ empath abilities to help describe asexuality to the reader. In a book with a romantic relationship most readers will be familiar with the language the author uses to describe romantic feelings. In The Circus Infinite Wong has to walk the reader through how emotions feel to Jes, how they appear as physical manifestations. For example, during a house party Jes refers to all the feelings of need as a type of monster trying to batter down the walls. Drawing on these vivid descriptions Wong develops a sense of how it feels to be asexual in situations where romance, and sexual desire are rampant or expected. While Jes obviously feels these in a heightened way as an empath, it still enables the reader to draw a parallel to uncomfortable experiences that they have had.

While the house party was a good example, as were other moments in the novel, one scene struck me as feeling unnecessary. It felt out of place and felt almost like the author was torturing the main character. The pleasure moon is described multiple times throughout the novel, it is no secret that there are pleasure houses and the like on it. But apparently it was completely necessarily to include a scene in one, and since the book is only from Jes’ perspective, you can see where this is going. It was an extremely painful scene to read as someone who is not asexual, and it felt completely unneeded in terms of saying “see this is how asexuals feel”. Instead, it just felt like it was playing to the crowd a bit too much for my liking. The book’s set on a pleasure moon so by golly we will have a scene in a sex club! It was just over kill.

Sadly, that was a bit of a theme in The Circus Infinite. The world building was solid, however, there was too much crammed into the plot and the book was trying to be too many things at once. Was it trying to be a space opera or science fiction pulp novel? Or a crime caper about found family and becoming your true self? Maybe it’s a superpower book set in a circus? On top of all this there are numerous side plots with the theme of changing perceptions, and while they were solid plots involving interesting characters, they were again, they just felt like too much being pressed into one book. There’s no information regarding whether this is a standalone or part of a series, the book ends in a way that either is plausible. I think this would have been better suited as a duology or a trilogy.

Despite having so many moving parts the plot is actually quite simplistic; a fugitive runs away from an evil scientific organisation, hides where he doesn’t think anyone will look but, surprise, gets found out anyway and then gets blackmailed. Simple doesn’t always mean a bad thing if there are twists and turns, and the way the synopsis is written I was expecting those. Unfortunately, The Circus Infinite wasn’t quite the thriller or the mystery that I expected. Instead, it’s more a novel about parties and raves.

“Pleasure” moon is a bit of a misnomer, and at least to me, means something entirely different to the atmosphere of Persephone-9. While there are pleasure houses, as mentioned, the emphasis is on hedonism and more specifically, the consumption of copious amounts of drugs and alcohol. I’m not a fan of either of these, and in real life intoxicated people are a source of great anxiety to me (re: previous trauma), so reading a book that is frequently filled with scenes of people doing just that is not a fun read for me 1. The author’s biography refers to becoming involved in the Burning Man culture and underground circus’ so this may very well be from his own experiences, which is fair enough. That being said, if the synopsis had said “party moon” I would have not picked this book up because I would have identified it as not being my type of read.

There is a chilling contrast between the party scenes and those of found family and the stark reality of what happened to Jes at the Institute. While this is a novel about a party lifestyle, it would be remiss to say that is all it is. These scenes are explicit, they are cold, scientific and terrifying. Wong does an excellent job of separating them completely from the joy of finding a home, of finding family. These moments will have you holding your breath, feeling your heart beat in your chest and only then will you remember they are flashbacks, that Jes has already escaped.

Another of Wong’s strengths is his world-building. The universe he has created is wonderful and interesting, the cultures of the alien races incredibly thought out especially the asuna. Their physical description is stunning, and I’m not going to say any more because it’s something you need to enjoy for yourself. I did feel that compared to the other alien races the asuna and the Mantodean were more developed compared to some of the others. Likewise, some physical descriptions were a bit confusing. Mantodean culture was described well, however, their physical appearance was confusing to me, and it was only after I noted the mantis on the book cover that I realised that what I had imagined was completely different to what had apparently been described. I also have no idea what a Bezan looks like.

The Circus Infinite is a fun novel about found family with a caper twist and more importantly, it has an asexual protagonist and all round diversity. The problem for me was that despite these good qualities it was a bit too hit-and-miss in other areas, and overall it just didn’t make a huge impression on me. I felt that the emphasis on a hedonistic lifestyle overwhelmed everything else that was taking place in the novel, and it was hard to take things seriously when everyone was more interested in partying than anything else.

For more of my reviews please visit my blog!… (mehr)