I am not a big fan of Genevieve Valentine. I've heard a lot of her Mechanical Circus (I flatly refuse to even attempt to spell the proper name) stories, and they never quite seem to resolve into sense for me. They're very beautiful, lyrical even, and they just... don't... click. I also have to admit that Laurice White is very hit-or-miss for me, and this one was a miss. I loved her work on the post-Katrina-New-Orleans story (can't recall the title), but sometimes I can't understand her. I don't think it's her accent. I think it's... I dunno. She's a professional (website and everything!) so I don't want to blame her equipment... but I can't figure out what else it might be. Sometimes her recordings seem to pick up a lot of distortions.
I dunno. Maybe it's me.
Anyway, this story surprised me. I still wouldn't say I liked it, but I disliked it less than I usually dislike Mechanical Circus stories. I think it was the deep personal focus, and cyborg performer's regrets. I like the idea of choices that cannot be unmade and the consequences thereof. I like the idea of a post-apocalyptic circus that thrives, in part, because the performers agree to go under the knife and become something other than human.
I think the trouble is that these stories tend to be very slow. Not a lot actually happened in this story. They're also emotional stories that are driven by emotional... blankness. Many of the characters - basically, every character who isn't the main character - is driven by motivations that are never really explained. The boss, for example, is the consumate distant badass. It's one thing to make a character enigmatic, but I feel that these stories fall off that fine line and into the realm of characters who are total blanks.
So... not a hit for me. Sorry.