Something Wicked This Way Comes

When a sinister traveling carnival arrives in a small Illinois town one October, two thirteen-year-old boys—Will Halloway and Jim Nightshade—discover the carnival's dark power to grant wishes at a terrible cost, and must find the courage to stop its evil ringmaster Mr. Dark. A literary dark fantasy that explores the shadow side of desire and growing up.

Content Ratings

No Romance

There is no romantic content; the relationship between Will and Jim is based on deep boyhood friendship.

Intense Themes

The novel explores the terror of dark desire, the loss of innocence, the fear of aging and death, and the temptation to bargain with evil; Will and Jim must confront the darkness within themselves and others; themes are philosophically and emotionally complex and genuinely unsettling.

Moderate Violence

The carnival preys on people's desires and transforms them, sometimes fatally; people are aged, transformed into freaks, or trapped; Mr. Dark is a genuinely frightening villain; violence is literary and atmospheric rather than graphic.