The Night Circus

You will like this book if you like dreamy, fantastical scenes and mysterious carnival type settings and unexplained mystery and magic. If this is you, you will probably also like (and possibly better) books like Caraval, and The High House.

You will NOT like this book if you look for: solidly explained magic systems and worldbuilding; fast-moving plots; and watertight plots and character motivations.

I picked up this audiobook simply because my company's holiday party this year is themed after it, and I wanted to know more about the theme. Goal achieved; now I know to dress in black and white, and wear a red rose or red scarf. The rest of the book was entertaining but confusing to listen to in audio form, since the timeline jumps back and forth and it's very hard to keep track of which chapter is happening in which year when you can't flip back to check the way you can on paper.

Generally speaking, most of the cover blurb is at best exaggerated and at most an outright lie. The book is really about the circus, which isn't even a circus but more of a masquerade carnival type thing. It mysteriously appears overnight, opens only between dusk and dawn, and vanishes without warning. Visitors wander between different tents as they wish, each containing a different wonder.

In the back story, we learn that two rival magicians have each chosen a student to compete in some vague type of competition that is never clearly explained even to the students. These two very problematic teachers teach and abuse their students in various ways and bind them irrevocably to this competition for life. They agree the competition will take place in the circus, but don't tell their students anything useful about what's required, how to win, or how it's scored. Instead, the students grow up and even once they both join the circus, the story wanders around for 15 years or more with both completely unaware of what they need to do to win or lose, instead entertaining themselves by making more magical marvels in the circus until they're indispensible to its continuation. The previous competition between the previous students of these teachers lasted for something like 37 years and only ended because one of them killed herself, so ya know, this book is actually relatively brief.

Anyway, without getting into plot details, plot is rather rambling and the ending seems a little contrived. So if you enjoy magical rambling tales go for it, but if you're looking for reasons, motivations, and logical plot devices, this probably isn't a book for you.

Originally Posted: August 29, 2014

Posted Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Actual Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

I have found that one of the most satisfying feelings in the world is coming upon a book which helps you rediscover what it is that you love about reading and Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus was able to do that for me. What I love most about this novel is that while it is a love story, it isn't strictly a love story. There are so many other elements and factors in play - other people who are ultimately affected by this unseen battle being waged between Celia and Marco. Morgenstern’s style of writing in this novel is just as magical as the characters and the world she created. I admit that I had difficulty with the style at first, I kept wanting to experience everything from either Celia or Marco’s point of view because they were the focal point of this battle, this story. Yet, when I reached the end and finally understood how and why this story had developed in the way it had…it blew my mind and it just made sense. The ending gave this story a perfect sense of completion.

I want to take a moment to discuss the love between Celia and Marco. The first thing I noticed about their love was, I think, one of the most important factors of a realistic relationship which can be looked over and that is time. It took time for the love between Celia and Marco to grow. Now, I know that one could argue that their love was a complete whirlwind, but I truly don’t believe that was the case. The two of them had been bound in this battle since their childhood and openly competed against each other within the circus venue for many years, continually responding to the moves of the other. Each item created a silent message to the other, almost as if each was a letter awaiting a response. Eventually, the exchange became filled with more depth, more meaning, more emotion and a love was able to grow from that. The idea of love growing over time between two people through simple exchanges, or in this case complex magical ones, isn't a difficult or unrealistic concept. In fact, I would wager that a love developed in this way over time would be far more realistic and stronger, than some of the seemingly more whirlwind love stories found in other novels. That isn't to discount the love stories of other novels, on the contrary sometimes a good whirlwind romance is just what a person craves, but there are times when the steady and more realistic type of love story is going to win out.

The other portion of Celia and Marco’s relationship that I adored was their desire to take control of their own destinies. Rather than continuing to be pieces in a larger battle between their teachers which had been going on for many years, they took control of their own fate and ultimately found a way to be together. I was genuinely hoping for them to find a way that they could both survive this competition and be together. This is the type of reaction I hope to gain from reading, I hope to genuinely feel for the characters involved and Erin Morgenstern did an excellent job of eliciting emotions in her readers towards her characters.

As I stated previously in this review, this book is a book which was able to reaffirm what it is that I love about reading. I love the experience of reading about characters I truly grow to care about and reading a story which does justice to reality by not glossing over the complexity of real life even with the presence of magic. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is in need of a good book to curl up with and read.

Originally posted on my Wordpress.

DNF at 59%



I started out liking the book. The descriptions of the agic and the circus seemed promising, and the jumping around in time wasn't that hard to follow. But as the story wore on, it seemed the more words I read, the less got described. There was no in depth descriptions of the magic beyond what we learn in the beginning. And at more than halfway through the story, neither the reader nor the main characters are at all aware of how this game they are playing is supposed to work, all because their abusive parent-figures won't tell them. And even the READER doesn't get to know why. No one is privy to any vital information except two very deeply unlikable characters who quickly become boring in their mysteriousness.



This book is billed as a romance, which is my least favorite genre, I only picked it up because no other source I read about it said it was a romance. I was willing to give it a chance though since I'd heard so much good about it. However, the characters that are supposed to be end-game spend about 55% of the book making absolutely no contact at all, ever. One of them does't even know who the other IS.



When Marco first meets Isobel, it's set up like she knows more about illusions and magic and such things, and that she's hiding something. I believe Marco notes that Isobel sounds like a fake name. In that moment, I thought for sure that Isobel was Celia in disguise and THAT would be the moment their ill-fated romance starts. That was not the case, however, and Isobel turns out to be nothing more than an amateur Tarot reader, who really serves very little purpose. Why have Marco enter into a relationship with a random girl when we know already she is not his opponent, and therefore not the one he's supposed to fall in love with? And then he just casts her aside with NO WORD TO HER after he hangs out with Celia for more than a minute one nigh, and decides he's in love with her. Even though they only see each other once every three or so years. Ok.



I wanted to like this book. The descriptions of the circus from the eyes of outsiders was fun, and I loved reading about the twins, but ultimately, this book offers very little. There's no substance to it, and it promises flair without delivering. I decided it was't worth my time to push through it.

Oh man. This is right in bullseye of the kinds of books I look for.

Normally this would be the kind of story I'd expect from an old-school Clive Barker, or a more sedate China Mieville, but it's not horror, and it's not a sweeping urban fantasy epic. It's about two wannabe demigods who have nothing better to do than to place bets on who can field the better pupil, a millionaire who unknowingly concocts their arena, and the potentially ill-fated pawns who are forced to play their parts as combatants before they become lovers.

The writing is the best part, which I can only described as "measured breath". It rolls and surges and recedes like a symphony. Morgenstern chooses words well; they're not tangled up like Mieville's, but they still manage to paint as clear a picture as Mieville can. No part of this book dragged, which can be a problem when a less skilled author attempts to write in such a melodic style, which made me never question that I'd finish this book, and quickly (by my personal account).