It was back in highschool when I first discovered Annette Curtis Klaus, I read Blood & Chocolate so many times along with The Silver Kiss. I was addicted to those two books. So when I was at Halfprice books last year and came across Freaks: Alive on the Inside, I had no clue of its existence. (It came out the year I graduated which makes sense as to why I didn't know about it.) So naturally I bought it. Would I ahve been addicted to this book back then had I read it, to be honest probably not, but I still would have enjoyed it like I did now.

Freaks: Alive on the Inside (can I mention that I thought this was just called Freaks, I thought the Alive on the Inside was just a blurb on the cover haha) Is a story about Abel Dandy a regular kid growing up in a circus full of "freaks". First I want to say I love that this YA story followed a male character through the whole book, no split pov with girls it's strictly a story revolving around a young man. I make a big deal about this because I feel like this is extremely rare now a days, not many YA books have male main characters and usually if they do its split with female povs as well.

Now to put Abel's character in the plainest terms possible, it would be major horny. A few other reviewers say he is 14, that's not true, on the first page of the book he states that he is 17

but I was seventeen and yearned to kiss a mouth sometimes without getting hair up my nose.

So honestly his horniness made total sense, was it awkward at times while reading, sure, but that's probably because I am an adult and not into hearing about what a 17 year old kid wants haha, but had I been 17 when reading this, I doubt it would have bothered me. Outside of his horniness, Abel is actually a very dependable, and caring character. While he does leave his family circus to head out into the world to find his place and make his fortune (and maybe find love on the way) you see the many layers of his character. After the dog boy Apollo follows him, a whole string of events start to roll out that really help portray the type of person Abel really is. While he does feel the like he has zero chances of making it big because he is normal in a world full of different people, he actually genuinely loves and adores them, while also respecting them and wanting them to be treated like proper people in society.

Along his journey you get to see 3 different types of circuses, his home circus that employes differently abled people, such as siamese twins, little people, people with missing limbs and such, they are employees, who make an actual living working for the circus. They get to put on performances and are paid for doing so, and none of them are forced into doing it. The 2nd circus he comes into contact with is one that absolutely refuses to higher differently abled people as they find it to be dehumanizing but not in the way you would think. They are the kind who think they are doing what's good for them by turning them over to the asylums, where they are tortured or killed while thinking they have taken the high moral road, they actually see them as even less by thinking they shouldn't be seen in public period, and should be locked up. The 3rd circus is the one that exploites differently abled people, they are forced into slave contracts, they aren't paid, they do no performances. They are meant to sit on stage and just have people gawk at them. I really liked how Klause included all 3 different types and allowed us to see Abel's reaction to each one.

We spend a majority of the book with the 3rd circus, where Abel's character really got to shine, he immediately recognized the horrible atrocities that the people of the circus were facing, and wasted no time speaking up about it. He also instantly recognized how many of them had been tricked, coerced or even stolen to be apart of this circus. He is observant and spent a lot of time getting to know them while also working on a way to save them. Of course he did at times think of himself and internally complain about how this was all throwing off his original plans, but not once did he ever put himself before helping the others, his plans always consisted of getting them taken care of first then himself. I really loved his moments with the children, he was like that big brother who you could always count on.

Now I really loved and enjoyed all the parts with the circus, it was entertaining and captivating and I wanted to know how Abel was going to save everyone. The other portion of the story, the dream lady and the Egyptian past was.....weird. One of my favorite tropes is lovers being reborn to find each other, and while this isn't exactly that it has the idea behind it, but it was executed is a such a weird way. It felt out of place in this world of Abel's circus life. It was also when Abel's horniness really popped up, and it was made more weird when the mummy body was brought it, that was just uncomfortable. Also the dream lady is older than Abel which I have to say is very uncommon in stories, it's usually the male who is like centuries older. I just honestly didn't care for this portion, it just didn't fit the overall story in my mind.

Freaks: Alive on the Inside is a strange mix of story themes, but still weirdly captivating in its own right.