Thanks to another year of Wyrd & Wonder and the crew for having me in The Night Circus read-along! After four weeks of questions and discussion of this book, I am so ready to be done thinking about it!
Here are my relatively spoiler free general thoughts.
I think the biggest surprise to me was how the morally gray sneaks up…but more on that later. I’m also surprised that this is a 13 year old book now, WOW. Also notable is that it won the 2013 Locus award for Best first novel.
Back when The Night Circus was originally all hyped up, it was marketed as two eventual lovers in a magical competition where only one is left standing. With that synopsis, I DNF’d it pretty quickly because the book is largely all prose and very little action.
Now, coming into the book knowing that it’s more about the prose, imagery, and magic than the competition, I am more forgiving.
Celia and Marco learn two very different schools of magic. Both have slightly abusive mentors, one physically and the other psychologically through a borderline neglect. Both are strong in different ways. Who will win?
What even is this competition? As the circus is formed and built and magically grown by the two competitions, we start to learn that…well… Sigh... It’s all very pretty and magical and I’d love to visit the circus but in my humble opinion, nothing ever really….happens. The entire book felt largely unresolved to me and drives home the fact that the book is more about the experience than the plot or action.
I personally liked Celia and Isobel and all the side characters but Marco was sinister and IMO a murderer. I didn’t really like their “romance” a whole lot. I thought they were both especially selfish, vastly so towards the end. But are they really selfish if their whole life is about this game their “fathers” are playing? They were never exposed to any normal kind of life so who knows if I’m really being fair.
I’m also not a huge fan of the third person present tense, occurring at the end of the Victorian era. It was easier when I got used to it but I never really felt fully immersed in that time period either. Jim Dale’s narration saved this for me – I don’t know if I would have finished it via the book but on audio I enjoyed it a lot more.
What did I like? Mostly the side characters. The imagery. The magic. Poppet & Widget and the kittens. The like life illusions. Ghost dad.
I just hated the huge anticlimactic stalemate that felt like a mady rushed conclusion.
Overall, I liked the book well enough but I wouldn’t read it again. I liked how the morally gray vs sinister aspects seep into the colorful imagery and never let go. I appreciate the prose and the magic. I just didn’t love this one 🤷♀️
Bookish Quick Facts
- Title: The Night Circus
- Author: Erin Morganstern
- Published: Doubleday, 2011 (originally)
- Length: 516 pages (my paperback)
- Rate & Recommend: ⭐⭐⭐✨ for fans of romantasy and all the prose
Here’s the 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.
–From Am*zon
Thanks for checking out my book review of The Night Circus by Erin Morganstern. I own the paperback and supplemented with the audiobook via Libby. As always, all opinions are my own ♥️
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