2 Books Like Daisy Dunlap and the Cartoon Carnival

This book involves an amnesiac main character which can be a very frustrating trope if done wrong, but the way information is dripped out to help the reader solve their past along with the hero kept me reading.

In the end, the payoff both fit my expectations and the clues I'd managed to piece together but still managed to surprise me. The main character is sympathetic and you really feel his frustration with those around him keeping secrets.

Trigger: There's more child death in this than I expected. Like death in fantasy books, not really unexpected, but there are two plot points where specifically young children die (including an infant death) that anyone who has had trauma regarding that should probably be forewarned, and other scenes of destruction that more indirectly reference the death of children.

If I had one complaint about this book, it's that theworld building is SO dense. So much detail was put into everything and there was a lot to keep track of from politics to language and turns of phrase to the type of games people are playing. The story of friendship and a character finding their confidence while solving a mystery steeped in levels of political intrigue, however, will keep you reading even if you're like me and aren't hugely worried about tiny cultural details.

The characters are also charming, gently flawed but loveable, with disability and chronic illness reps.