The Chaos Circus

I don't typically like 1st person present tense, but the prose in this was so amazing and pulled me in so beautifully that I didn't even realize what PoV it was until a third of the way in. Combine that with exquisite layering, excellent pacing, and characters you can root for, and you have a fantastic escape, one of the best books I've read in a long time. This is a YA that doesn't take it easy on itself, that shines with insight that strikes hard and fast at the heart of things, unapologetic for being itself. Absolutely brilliant.