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.
My Review:
Unique, magical, unpredictable.
If I have to be short and direct with my review, this is it. If you happen to meet me or text me and ask how I found “The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern”, that is all you are gonna hear from me.
That is unless you are ready to have a real conversation. You know, 3 am conversations. About life and the universe and whether mushrooms are drugs kind of conversations. That is the kind of conversation needed if you really want to talk about this book.
Now that you have decided to continue reading this review, let me give a brief of how I really feel about this book.
Do you believe in magic? You must have seen many magic tricks in life. But I am talking about real magic. The kind we see in fairy tales with magic wands. Most of us don’t believe in that sort of magic. We are believers of science and facts.
The author writes, “They [People] want to believe that magic is nothing but clever deception, because to think it real would keep them up at night, afraid of their own existence.”
Well, that’s true. Like, really, imagine a world where you could fix broken things with just a look, turn things into something else, change your clothes like your mood, fix your injuries with a touch, and travel to places without moving an inch. Won’t it be horrifyingly amazing?
Now, sadly, we boring mortal humans don’t know how to do magic, but we do have the Night Circus – a place where you can experience it all firsthand. All the horrifyingly amazing things I mentioned, you get to witness. Reading this book is like being at the Night Circus. So, it does make come true one of the many magical experiences.
The author provides an almost real experience with the magical description of Le Cirque des Rêves (The Circus of Dreams). There are many tents in the circus, each providing a different experience to the visitor/reader. I like how the author chooses to tell the reader about each tent separately throughout the book and not mix it with the story.
The writing style is almost poetic and definitely dreamy. The story takes unpredictable turns one after the other and keeps you wondering about what’s to come.
Each character is given a frame, a space of their own. The reader is really able to bond with the characters. I particularly like Celia and Marco’s relationship as it grows through the story. It is an amazing, tragic, and forever kind of love story.
I would definitely recommend you read it if you like fantasy, magic, and romance that is not cliché.