I thoroughly enjoyed this book. This is not my usual genre of choice, but when a friend of mine loaned it to me saying that I’d enjoy it, of course I’m going to give it a peek. Once I started reading, I had a hard time putting it down!! The tale kept me enthralled wondering what would happen next the entire time. It’s definitely a book worth reading in my opinion!

A good book because of the amazing unique characters but it really has some weakness in the storyline which is too simple and predictable.
Towards the end I also developed some kind soft disliking towards the main character Abel because he never freaking believes in Minnie and her future predictions even though it was made obvious through several chapters before how reliable they are. Plus, at times he seemed to think a bit too much about sex, became annoying quickly. Also the more alive Tauseret became, the less I liked her, she seemed way too bossy and kind of arrogant. The ancient signs of love (scarab etc.) she tells Abel about were beautiful though.
All in all worth the read for the original characters but not Klause's best work.

Although it is not quite what I expected, I found this an enjoyable read. It's a fascinating subject and one that I rarely see explored in as much depth and variety as this book. The freaks themselves are the heart of this book and make it worth reading. The crocodile woman, Miss Lightfoot, and the man with two heads, Mr. Ginger, are particularly well-written, and their side relationship interested me much more than Abel and Tauseret. I also enjoyed the little girl Minnie. The time period is captured well, and the research put into this book is clear.

All that being said, what really disappointed me was the incredible amount of sexual references. Alright, he's a seventeen-year-old boy with girls on his mind and raging hormones, but I really didn't need to hear all the gory details. A brothel is time-accurate and circus people are likely to be more bawdy than most of society, but honestly. I get it. I'd rather get on with the story.

Apollo was cute at first, but he kind of got annoying as the story went on. I could sympathize with Abel in this case. Phoebe irritated me to no end.

Overall: A good book, mostly well-written and very well-researched, that needed a stronger relationship between the two main characters than lust and much less sex. Three and a half stars.

Growing up in an odd world, a boy named Abel was anything but just that. In Freaks, Abel Dandy is the son of a father without legs and a mother without arms. They are circus performers, but with Abel not having any physical abnormalities, he is confused at what he will do with his life. His above-average knife-throwing skills have had a few looks at by some people, but Abel fears that there isn't going to be a place for him in the world. I liked this book because of its details, as well as the overall plot. I recommend this book to basically anyone, because it is just a good story that can be enjoyed by not just one specific group of people.

The book I read over the past three weeks is Freaks: Alive, on the inside by Annette Curtis Klause which is the story of a boy named Abel whose live revolves around the Freak Show. He runs off one day and encounters many adventures. I found this book at the Beaumont High School campus library and it immediately caught my eye and pulled me in even more as I test read the first page.

So Abel receives a ring that’s basically been controlling him. The ring, little does he know, has been causing him to have weird dreams about a woman who speaks to him and encourages him to come to her. He leaves his home at the freakshow to try and explore new areas and be on his own for once. He tries to also find love because everyone in his town thinks he’s a “freak” because his parents are in the freakshow. He first ends up on a circus and travels with them, assisting the knife thrower to earn his keep. He later discovers that his best friend from home, Apollo (The dog boy), has sneaked away and followed Abel as he was running from home. The circus goes ballistic and kicks Abel off of their train, imprisoning Apollo. Apollo eventually was able to get out and reunite with Abel who stood at a barn where he gained a liking towards one of the girls. The girl was told to distract Abel as the owner of the place had her brother who was also a freakshow owner, steal Apollo for his own. The girl came into contact with his ring, causing her to step away and confess what was happening. (Abel has no clue that this ring is in a way helping/protecting him). Abel confronts the owner’s brother, Mink, and then agrees to go along since Apollo was delighted to join his show. During the time at the freakshow, they go through a lot of deaths and an enemy, CeeCee who is half male-half woman. Abel also discovers that Mink has kidnapped many of the children that are special, making him set a mindset to help get them home. By the end of the book, Abel finds the woman who has been in his dreams which is a 500-year mummy in which the magical ring turns her back to her young self. Abel falls in love with this woman and they all manage to get away from the twisted freakshow with the help from the friends they’ve gained along the adventure.

My thoughts at the end of the book were compelled of me screaming for more. It was such a good book and I want to know more, I want them (Abel’s friend group) to go and endeavor another adventure or encounter Mink once more. My favorite part was when Abel discovered that his ring actually had a power that was somehow connected to the Mummy to where it would restore her little by little as the ring touched her.

I feel that anyone really could have a liking towards this book. If you’re into freakshow and such things in that genre. But this book was very enjoyable and I craved more every time I put the book down. Overall it is a really great book and I recommend it for anyone.

Able Dandy goes out to seek his fortune amid a sort of ghost story. I loved Klause' return to the theme of the seventeen-year-old protagonist first beginning to tread the waters of adulthood, and it's notable that this is the first of her novels with male main character.

The setting of this is genuinely fascinating and I liked it loads better then Alien Secrets, so that's a big plus. I've come to conclude Klause' books have to be judged each individually on their own merits; it's of no use trying to build among or bridge them, the given title will either resonate with you or it won't.

I was a bit put-off by the title of this one. Freaks: Alive, On the Inside! is unwieldy and smacks of hammering out the obvious, particularly following up on the lovely and evocative titles of The Silver Kiss and Blood and Chocolate. I think it would have been a lot more powerful just titling it: Freak. Three stars; well worth reading.

Related reviews, in reading order:
#1 | Blood and Chocolate
#2 | The Silver Kiss
#3 | Alien Secrets
#4 | Freaks: Alive, On the Inside!

I'm trying to remember the last time I saw "loins" (and/or references to sexual organs and physical possibilities relating to them) this often in a YA ("recommended for readers 14 and up", it says) novel.

Right. That would be never. This book is smuttier than a, erm, circus full of, um, smutty things. We have a horny seventeen year old hero, an equally horny ghost, some bawdy freaks and other carnival folk (and lots of musing on their sexual physiology and what they can do with it), our hero being propositioned by a woman for sex because she wants to see what "special attributes" he has below the waist, a brothel, men loving men in plain English (you go, Ms. Klause!), and our hero's casual assertion that he doesn't want to disappoint another boy he thinks is moony over him, masturbation...

That said, it's all rather disappointing in the end. It lacks the fierceness of Blood and Chocolate and the subtlety of The Silver Kiss. But it's good to see ACK's name on a book again.

Annette Curtis Klause touches an interesting part of the past in her book Freaks: Alive on the Inside. In this book, Abel Dandy is a freak. But the term "freak" is in the eye of the beholder for Abel is the only normal person living in a freak show amusement park called Faeryland. Abel's dad has no legs, his mother has no arms, and his first kiss was with Phoebe the Dog-faced girl. Aspiring to be a knife-thrower, Abel takes off to join a circus. Abel begins having dreams about a mysterious Egyptian girl. Abel discovers that he was not the only one to make a break away from home. His friend Apollo the Dog Boy followed him on his journey to find fortune.

While his dreams get more and more realistic, Abel and Apollo find themselves in all sorts of trouble. The worst being a traveling freak show run by Dr. Mink. Abel finds himself in a position to be a hero, save his friends and get the girl.

Not nearly as engrossing or sexy as Klause's Blood and Chocolate , but it has some entertaining aspects. I like the idea of exploring the lives of human freaks in shows and circuses of the 1890's, but Klause throws in a rather ridiculous and unnecessary supernatural subplot involving an ancient Egyptian mummy who comes to life as a hot teenage fantasy. The characters of the freaks, on the other hand, are interesting and movingly human. I wish she'd focused on them and felt free to step away from fantasy for once.

The story was... meh. The sexual wording throughout made me uncomfortable and it further ruined my enjoyment of what little could be enjoyed.
It laid things out so plainly with weak foreshadowing that it made reading forward feel pointless. I'm bummed because it seemed like it would be an interesting book and it felt more like a train-wreak

I'm going to start this out by saying the cover is beautiful and by one of my favourite artists.

That said, I agree with most of the reviewers of this book in that it does talk about the boy and his out of control sexual desires quite a bit. It doesn't make the book any less appropriate for an older teen audience (14+) but it does get a little tedious. We know how a boy his age would react to an enticing topless dance. We don't need to hear about it every time he has a dream, honestly. I did enjoy the story, though, and would recommend it for people interested in a rarely used subject in YA of circus acts and sideshows. It seems that Klause did quite a bit of research on the subject while writing and you actually get transported to the time and place with ease - the history doesn't seem forced.
I didn't like it as much as I remember liking Blood and Chocolate but I like it much better than The Silver Kiss (which seemed quite juvenile and ordinary to me).

Abel Dandy is the only "normal" person at Faeryland, a circus of oddities, or Freaks, at the turn of the century. Even his doting parents are freaks. Abel's only hope for being in the show instead of being an errand boy, is to hone his skills as a knife thrower. He's always wondered what it would be like on the outside, to be like everyone else instead of being the odd one out.

I loved the characters in this book. Abel was a strong main character, he never failed in his support of the people who were family to him, but bashed by the rest of society. All of the supporting characters were based on real circus acts from history. My favorite character was Apollo, the 12 year old puppy boy, who followed Abel when he ran away. He wanted to escape his abusive father and looked up to Abel. Apollo's wide-eyed innocence and optimism was quite similar to an actual puppy and he was a lot fun to read about.

The mysterious ring and the dreams that Abel had about the beautiful girl seemed somewhat disjointed from the rest of the story. The way that his dream girl reveals herself at last is very odd and wasn't believable to me. I would have rather had the entire book be about the circus and Abel's adventures on the road.

I picked up this book for the cover, and my appreciation for the artwork grew as I read the book and realized what all of the elements represented. I love a cover illustration that is truly made for a specific book instead of a manipulated stock photo. All of the main characters and story elements are woven together in this gorgeous illustration.

This was a very unique, enjoyable read with a great message and colorful cast of characters.

reviewed for: http://inthehammockblog.blogspot.com/