Inspectors' Review:
Nice thick paper!
I can smell the circus!
Not sure if that is positive of negative!
Boss wouldn't let us use the scissors...boo!
Boss' Review:
This review is a continuation of the Boundless Library experience, A Feather in Dust, which takes place over six months. You will a package each month in addition to online content including audio clips, articles, and more.
This experience follows the dual journey of an unnamed author and her creation, Alkonost. The Boundless Library is attempting to connect the missing chapters of this book that is spread out across the United States and in each chapter you are meant to discover a location the character has gone. I have posted two other reviews that go into more detail but essentially the author appears to have taken the same journey as Alkonost and was inspired to write a story. There appears to be crossovers between character and author.
This chapter was a little bit of a let down compared to the others. This may because we were spoiled with all the extra documents in the last two. This particular chapter houses a series of thick cardstock that you can cut out to create your own circus. There is information about some of the performers, including our main character Alkonost, and a written note from the head of the circus which reveals there may be tension coming soon. There is an accompanying audio clip that reveals new parallel characters (I think of them as real world characters, likely associated with the author). I am still quite interested to see how these new tensions will play out! I just wish there was more to unpack.
The mystery of finding the location definitely required a lot of googling. My one friend kind of guessed proximity based on the last location and then we googled the crap out of the area until we found something that seemed to make sense. In this frame of mind, this is not a self-contained experience. You will need to go outside the game to find answers and that can be frustrating. I am thankful I am playing with Americans (Canadian, here) because I’m not familiar with the history of certain locations which can limit my research.
Customer service wise, the game arrived much earlier than I expected! I was quite happy to see shipping is becoming more efficient.
Overall, this is definitely the weakest of the chapters so far but it did provide some interesting plot elements that I am curious to watch play out. I really want to see what happens with Alkonost and how much of her journey is like the authors…I have theories but I will keep them to myself right now.
Update - an additional audio podcast was included with this chapter which further pushed the narrative and I am fascinated to learn more. I was correct on my last location but I'm a little more hesitant with this next one. That said, this doesn't negate the lack of narrative detail the building of the paper circus tent provides.
Check our Boundless Library here. Membership is free to sign up but the stories do cost a monthly fee of $40.00.