The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern – 387 pages
Book Blurb:
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.
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.
My Review: 3.5 stars
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The Night Circus is wild ride through the author’s incredible imagination. This book is a tough one to digest let alone review. It’s like Alice In Wonderland meets The Hunger Games at a circus. It’s definitely an overly creative tale with imagery that is impeccably described. The author truly brought to life the people, the smells, the feel and the look of this magical circus. White flames, an ice garden, a wishing tree and the lake of tears were a few of the more dramatic attractions at the circus as well as ones I particularly enjoyed reading about. Time is a character unto itself in this book and the power of stories and the passing of them over time is inherent throughout the novel. Overall I enjoyed this book but I don’t think it’s mass market fiction.
Quotes I liked:
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.”
-“The finest of pleasures are always the unexpected ones.”- “Only the ship is made of books, its sails thousands of overlapping pages , and the sea it float upon is dark black ink.”
– “Above them, the clock continues to turn its pages, pushing stories too miniscule to read ever forward.”