Reviewed by Dan
TITLE: Cotton Candy Deceit
SERIES: A Circus Art #1
AUTHOR: Tray Ellis
PUBLISHER: Rooster & Pig Publishing
LENGTH: 36 Pages
BLURB:
Jack Abbott has forbidden his son, Zeke, to attend the local circus. When Zeke goes against his wishes, Jack must rescue him from the clutches of a world he once escaped, but only at the cost of his lover, Jonas. Returning to the circus brings back nightmares, but Jack learns that Jonas is still alive. Now an opportunity arises for Jack to rescue Jonas as well as Zeke, and to stop the dark dealer at the circus… forever.
REVIEW:
This is short story that moves along well, if in a very, very obvious direction.
In the story, we’re introduced to an eighteen year old kid named Zeke Abbott, whose father Jack has forbidden him to attend a visiting circus, or more exactly ANY visiting circus.
Something happened to Jack Abbott and his boyfriend Jonas when they went to a circus eighteen years before. Jack still bears the burn scars. But what happened, and why? Why is Zeke forbidden to attend the circus with his friends?
So now my issues with the story. It reads quite like a rewrite of Pleasure Island in Disney’s version of Pinocchio, with the difference being that this time it is a circus instead of an amusement park. Everyone isn’t turned into donkeys, but into other animals, although there is one donkey who used to be a girl named Nattie. I could only picture the bad guy, Weaverfrey, as a Pennywise the clown type person.
I wanted to like the story more, but it was just too predictable. If I hadn’t grown up with stories like Pinocchio, Peter Pan, The Lost Boys movies and others like it that teach morality, non-gluttony, etc. then it might have worked for me. But it felt like, been there, done that.
Honestly, although the story was well written, and well edited, it didn’t live up to my expectations from Rooster & Pig Publishing. I would have to say that my overall impression was that “it was OK”. It says on several sites that this is book one in a series. I’m unsure I would read further works unless they were longer, and didn’t read as much like edited plagiarism as this tale does.
RATING: 
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