The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

The Night Circus

by Erin Morgenstern

In 1886, a mysterious travelling circus becomes an international sensation. Open only at night, constructed entirely in black and white, Le Cirque des Rêves delights all who wander its circular paths and warm themselves at its bonfire.

Although there are acrobats, fortune-tellers and contortionists, the Circus of Dreams is no conventional spectacle. Some tents contain clouds, some ice. The circus seems almost to cast a spell over its aficionados, who call themselves the rêveurs - the dreamers. At the heart of the story is the tangled relationship between two young magicians, Celia, the enchanter's daughter, and Marco, the sorcerer's apprentice. At the behest of their shadowy masters, they find themselves locked in a deadly contest, forced to test the very limits of the imagination, and of their love...

A fabulous, fin-de-siècle feast for the senses and a life-affirming love story, The Night Circus is a captivating novel that will make the real world seem fantastical and a fantasy world real.

Reviewed by Chelsea on

2 of 5 stars

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I was originally going to give this book 1 star but I bumped it up a full star because the writing was gorgeous. The way the author just uses words in general was amazing. But honestly that's probably the onnly thing I liked about this book.

It's never easy reading a book after it's been hyped up for so many years. I tried not to have high expectations for this reason but even with that being noted I still couldn't enjoy myself while reading.

The description and the hype of others made this seem like an action packed book with lots of fantasy elements. I can tell you right now that there was no action whatso ever and I was bored the entire time reading this. I was so SAD because I kept expecting it to pick up as book often do but there was NOTHING to keep me going.

There's supposed to be this "fierce competition" which ends up just being little tweeks of the circus now and then. There's nothing "fierce" about it? Nothing exciting ever happens? The most we see is a new tent pop up once and a while. Also this competition lasts YEARS and we still get no action? Really? Plus even the two competitors don't even know what the competition is even though I could have told them how it was gonna end up from the first 30 pages of the book. Maybe I've gotten to the point in my reading life where I've read too much and nothing can surprise me.

Bascially the description we get of this book makes it seem really intense and like there will be lots of life or death moments but it's mostly mind games. The "game" doesn't make any sense and the author just throws in whatever rules they feel like, or so it seems. The "romance" starts very suddenly and it super rushed. There was nothing surprising or remotely exciting at any point. Even the ending felt boring to me.

I'd say this book is more for people who enjoy pretty words on paper and don't mind reading 500+ pages where nothing exciting happens.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 7 March, 2020: Finished reading
  • 7 March, 2020: Reviewed