The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern Review

 

Description

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, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love—a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands.

True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus performers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead.

Written in rich, seductive prose, this spell-casting novel is a feast for the senses and the heart.

Huh. That''s really all I have to say, huh. I went into this book expecting to absolutely adore it, pridefully putting it onto my favorites shelf and raving about it's writing. I read the first few chapters feeling like I had wandered into unknown territory, where I wasn't sure I was safe. Well, hat quickly went downhill.

First I want to address how people say this is similar to Caraval, absolutely not. The only similar thing is the circus thing, but Caraval isn't exactly a circus so I'll still interject that. Caraval, in my opinion, had the lyrical prose and wonder that the night circus was supposed to have, it's like, all the things that have been raved about in Night circus, weren't actually there but were present in Carval.

Why am I talking so much about Caraval? Because Caraval IS my favorite book of all time, it's the book that swept me off my feet, cushioned my fall, and threw me into wonderland, it gave me wonder, it made me look at the world like it was a mystery I had yet to solve, an ability I lost as I grew older.

I expected that same feeling from the night circus and reaching till part three, and I still didn't even understand what was going on, The Night Circus was the bad kind of confusing, the kind that made me go 'what' at least 20 different times a chapter, and I despised that.

The description promised me a magical duel, filled with forbidden romance and 'I have to kill you' vibes I expected passion, danger, urgency, love, more emotions than just, whatever this was. What did we get? Two boring, dull characters with no proper motivation and goals who fell into an insta-love for no reason, there was no urgency, and this stupid 'competition' kept lasting for years and years. I don't know about you, but don't competitions have a due date? Don't they end?

Let's talk about my main problem with this book, it's sprawling, and not in a good way. There are so many POV's and we keep jumping from random moments in time that I simply can't keep up, I'm not one to pay attention to dates, I'm not that kind of reader, I need consistency, and this book didn't give me that.

Now the prose, and the setting, they are magnificent, I love the writing here and I love the scenes and the setting, I would genuinely want to go to a circus like this, and I don't even like going to circuses. The prose is the only reason this book is getting two stars, because it's beautiful and I'm shallow and if I see something pretty, I want it.

I hate dnf-ing books, it brings me physical pain to not finish one, but not only did this book nearly put me in a slump, it took me months to even reach the second part, and I can't go on like that. So with a heavy heart, I give this review and rating.

→ 2 Stars

Quotes

“People see what they wish to see. And in most cases, what they are told that they see.”

“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. Your sister may be able to see the future, but you yourself can shape it, boy. Do not forget that... there are many kinds of magic, after all.”

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

“Stories have changed, my dear boy,” the man in the grey suit says, his voice almost imperceptibly sad. “There are no more battles between good and evil, no monsters to slay, no maidens in need of rescue. Most maidens are perfectly capable of rescuing themselves in my experience, at least the ones worth something, in any case. There are no longer simple tales with quests and beasts and happy endings. The quests lack clarity of goal or path. The beasts take different forms and are difficult to recognize for what they are. And there are never really endings, happy or otherwise. Things keep overlapping and blur, your story is part of your sister’s story is part of many other stories, and there in no telling where any of them may lead. Good and evil are a great deal more complex than a princess and a dragon, or a wolf and a scarlet-clad little girl. And is not the dragon the hero of his own story? Is not the wolf simply acting as a wolf should act? Though perhaps it is a singular wolf who goes to such lengths as to dress as a grandmother to toy with its prey.”

A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world.