This book was the first book I ever added to my goodreads account back in 2016 when I first opened it. It then sat on my tbr for the next seven years and WOW am I upset at myself for sleeping on this book!

Smiler's Fair is a traveling city, but while it's the books namesake, it takes more of a symbolic meaning to the story than anything else. Yes, we get chapters with characters who live in it, so we do get to learn about it, but it's not necessarily the focus of the book. It's the tie that binds these characters more or less.

This story has multiple povs, each entrenched in their own trials and tribulations. It's violent at times, but I was enraptured by each story. There is a lot going on but each of these characters are woven together. There's murder, vice, cults, political intrigue, monsters and magical beings, an interesting mythology - all centered around a prophecy that was never prevented as it was hoped to be.

I think it unfairly gets compared to some other books like Night Circus (it's nothing like that, and I honestly don't understand the comparison) and Game of Thrones (but again, it's an unfair comparison because it's a high fantasy with a prophecy, and lots of murder, but that doesn't make it comparable in my opinion. They are not the same.) Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and hope to read the sequel soon.