"The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not"

My favorite read this year ♥

Within the black-and-white striped tents is a magical unique experience ♥

The book is about two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who, when they were children were arranged to be in a competition by their guardians, the venue for their competition is Le Cirque des réves, a circus that travels the globe, where Celia is the Illusionist, and marco is the assistant of the proprietor, the novel follows their challenges, their magical powers and their relationship with each other and the other characters.

I Loved The characters, each one of them was extremely interesting, Celia and Marco especially, i loved them, Poppet and Widget as well.
I loved the mystery that surrounded the circus, it was perfect, the story was beautiful, I felt connected to it, I felt like this could be a place I belonged to and loved.

“You may tell a tale that takes up residence in someone's soul, becomes their blood and self and purpose. That tale will move them and drive them and who knows that they might do because of it, because of your words. That is your role, your gift.”

This book gave me every feeling I ever wanted from a magic circus, it was a very very nice experience and I loved every second of it.
I definitely plan to check other Erin Morgenstern books.

“Someone needs to tell those tales. When the battles are fought and won and lost, when the pirates find their treasures and the dragons eat their foes for breakfast with a nice cup of Lapsang souchong, someone needs to tell their bits of overlapping narrative. There's magic in that. It's in the listener, and for each and every ear it will be different, and it will affect them in ways they can never predict. From the mundane to the profound. You may tell a tale that takes up residence in someone's soul, becomes their blood and self and purpose. That tale will move them and drive them and who knows what they might do because of it, because of your words. That is your role, your gift.... Do not forget that... there are many kinds of magic, after all.” ♥♥♥

The premise for this book is a simple one: two magicians are pitted against each other in a duel and the Night Circus is the venue for this duel. And the author could have done so much with a premise such like this, but, unfortunately, she didn´t.

 

The plot was pretty much non-existent and the little bit of story that existed was moving at a snail´s pace, I was constantly at the border of being completely bored by this book. And then the author didn´t even give me an explanation for the duel and the reason behind everything that has happened within the story.

 

In my mind, there can only be two reasons for Erin Morgenstern to totally disregard the plot. She either wanted to write a character-driven novel or she simply wanted to indulge in the beauty and lavish descriptions of the circus.

 

If this supposed to be a character-driven novel, it certainly didn´t resonate with me, simply because I didn´t feel any kind of connection to any of these characters. They are simply there, doing whatever they are doing. They didn´t make me feel sad or happy or any other kind of emotion that I can possibly think of. I was following these set of cardboard characters in an uninspired story and having come this realization, a big “meh” was looming above this book.

 

Which brings me to the circus, Erin Morgenstern´s main reason for writing this book. Don´t get me wrong, the descriptions of the circus are bloody gorgeous and absolutely stunning. It´s one of those literary places I really wish would exist in real life. And I can take a fair amount of descriptive writing. But this book is 500 pages long and those are too many pages only filled with descriptions over descriptions without any kind of plot and uninteresting characters.

 

So, what am I looking for in a book? A plot, interesting characters and compelling (and in this case magical) story telling. Erin Morgenstern only gave me the story telling part with this book and as wonderful this novel was from this perspective, it just isn´t good enough for me.       

Erin Morgenstern takes readers on a decades long battle between two magicians:

 

The Night Circus just appears one night without warning and it is the most interesting place you will ever be. All are drawn towards it and no one will experience it the same, or each time they visit. But the circus is more than just a place to entertain, it is also the battle ground for two Magicians; One born with the magic, another who learned it. They are pitted against each other in a game fought by two long time rivals, who are the only ones who know the rules and will determine when there is a winner.

Alright, maybe I'm in the minority on this one but I just wanted the book to get on with it, get to the point, get to the battle that seemed to be promised in the premise of this book. I was like the two main characters, I had so many more questions than answers even as you read farther into the book. What are the rules, how do you decide the winner, what is the overall point of the circus. I understand these questions do get answered, it just painful at times getting there. Plus this all out battle that I thought was going to happen in some form, well I hate to spoil it for you, but there never really is a battle in the common use of that word. This battle is more of whits, imagination, moves and power (but not like chess, as this is stated several times throughout the book).

I felt like I never got to really know any of the characters, I think this had partly to do to the multiple points of view but also the writing style (characterizations are sideline for descriptive words). None of the characters exuded any emotions even at traumatic events. They were all written in a way that made them fall flat, as if they were all emotionless creatures. This caused me as a reader to no really care about any of the characters, sure there were some that were interesting but I never really felt engaged with them. Further, I never really understood the relationship that came of Marco and Celia, in my opinion it kind of came out of left field. I get that they had respect for each other as opponents but I just never felt the passion that they supposedly had for each other.

 

What this book has going for it is that it is beautifully written. The words flow together amazingly and Morgenstern description of the atmosphere or location of where the characters are you truly feel transported there. Honestly, if this book would not have been as well written as it was, I would have put it down part way through (well that and trying to figure the hell out what was going on...it was so frustrating at times). Additionally, I cannot fault Morgenstern with the creativeness that she display in both the idea of the plot and of the Night Circus itself as well as what the magicians are able to achieve. The Night Circus is a place that I would love to visit and I feel that I have through the many scenes the Morgenstern had take place there.

 

This book is a bit of a puzzle for me, while it was beautifully written I struggled to connect with the characters and plot. Maybe if Morgenstern can find a way to make her characters more engaging for the reader and the plot slightly less slow she would have a winner in my books. I think I would try a book by her again just for her ability to put words together.

Cheers!!!

Not sure I have anything similar to this that I could recommend, so I you have something you think I should try instead of this or like this, let me know.

 

I read this book for the Creep Carnivals square for Halloween Bingo. There are aspects of the Night Circus Circus that are for sure strange especially its ability to appear out of nowhere, but I would still want to visit.

This is wistful and imaginative and quite beautiful, although I don't know that its beauty hits me the way it does other reviewers, especially as I didn't connect with the characters. Still, it's quite romantic and magical in a way that is still grounded very much in the historical 19th century. 

This book has an atmosphere to it. And that really makes it stand out.
I really enjoyed the descriptions of the circus. Maybe even more than the story itself, even though, I quite liked it.
There is, however, a small something I can’t put my finger on that doesn’t let me give all the 5 stars.