Book Review: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
Genre(s): Historical Fantasy / Speculative Fiction
Book Synopsis:
The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night.
But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway: a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them both, this is a game in which only one can be left standing. Despite the high stakes, Celia and Marco soon tumble headfirst into love, setting off a domino effect of dangerous consequences, and leaving the lives of everyone, from the performers to the patrons, hanging in the balance.
Review:
I’d heard a lot of good things about The Night Circus, and it was on my radar for a long time. I read The Starless Sea by the same author a couple years ago, and I liked it well enough, but The Night Circus was so much better.
The best word to describe this book is atmospheric. Every location the reader encounters is described in fantastic detail, though it never feels overwhelming or bogged down. The circus is the centerpiece of this story, and its unique features are present throughout, creating a memorable—and magical—backdrop for the characters living and working within.
And it’s not your typical circus. It features elements that patrons would never encounter anywhere else, like the ice garden or the wishing tree. It is imbued with an elegance that any circus I’ve ever attended in the real world lacks, and has an air of mystery that is both captivating and enchanting. There were many of the typical circus acts—acrobats, a contortionist, a fortune-teller, and of course, an illusionist. (I also appreciated that there were no clowns.)
The two magicians mentioned in the synopsis are only one piece of the story, though they affect everything that occurs in the circus. Their story arc begins years before the circus’ inception, then follows its creation and early years of operation. All the while, they’re bound by the rules of the game they’ve been forced to play in, a competition of sorts, where only one can become the victor.
The other story arc follows a young boy, and begins several years after the circus begins to tour. He falls in love with the circus at age ten, and thinks about it often once it leaves. Six years later, it returns, and he falls in love with it all over again. He has a larger role to play than is immediately apparent, but as his storyline and the magicians’ slowly close in on the same point in time, all of the various threads of the plot begin to come together and make sense.
I liked how the author intertwined the two seemingly unrelated storylines and revealed how they fit together gradually. I wasn’t sure about the brief interludes written in second-person that tried to bring me into the story as a patron of the circus, and for most of the book, they felt unnecessary… That is, until the very end. And then that also made sense, and made for a clever ending.
This is one of the more unique books I’ve read in a long time, and I really enjoyed it.
Author website: erinmorgenstern.com
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