Review for The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern!
Quick View Review
Characters: **** (5/5)
Plot: **** (4/5)
Writing Quality: ***** (5/5)
Amazon Rating: **** (4.5/5)
One Sentence Review: A unique atmosphere filled with elegant beautiful magic, this masterpiece will captivate you and hypnotize you until the very last page.
Pairings: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, Time Between Us by Tamara Ireland Stone
Playlist: Let it Go by James Bay
I See Fire by Ed Sheeran
Cosmic Love by Florence + the Machine
Wicked Game by Emika
Continuum by Young & Sick
Full Review
Le Cirque des Rêves: a dreamy unique circus that magically appears with no warning. It’s only open at night, and possesses capturing and awe-inspiring attractions that seem impossible.
Except the circus has magic on its side.
Behind the engrossing atmosphere of the circus, a tense competition is taking place between Celia and Marco, two magicians who were bound as enemies by their competitive and angry instructors from early childhood. The duel possesses a twist, however: only one of the magicians can come out alive.
Unfortunately, somehow, Celia and Marco fall utterly in love with each other, endangering the circus and everyone around them. To save their beautiful love, they will need to find a loophole in the competition, or else everyone from the performers to the patrons’ lives will be at risk.
Dang, this book was a whirlwind and a tornado; it was one of those spinny rides that leaves you super dizzy at the end. After you finish you’ll be off balance and need to take a few deep breaths before getting up and moving on. With a writing style fit for a classic, this book will toy with your emotions and rapidly draw you into its dreamy beautiful current. The atmosphere was so dream-like, I sometimes had to pinch myself because I just didn’t know whether I was asleep or awake.
Ok, I admit that was a slight hyperbole. But still. You get my point. The circus = feeling of flying among the clouds whilst daydreaming. I loved it so so much.
The characters (insert heart eyes emoji here). Marco was immediately crushed upon by yours truly (because he changed throughout the book and was caring yet forceful), and I loved how Celia was strong but flawed, beautiful yet vulnerable. I loved how Chandresh Christophe Lefèvre was a little bit crazy but used his madness to be creative and make unique productions come to life. I loved how the antagonists (Alexander and Hector Bowen) possessed the perfect balance of villainy and weakness. I loved how all the minor “background” characters were important yet did not disrupt the focus of the story. Basically, I loved everything (because you definitely didn’t know that after my list of “I loved”s).
The plot. This book just keeps getting better, doesn’t it? The chapters were arranged perfectly and flowed flawlessly. The little story interruptions could not have been better placed or better written, and overall I loved the meticulous manner in which Morgenstern’s (I’m jealous of that last name, by the way) idea came to life with this book. So why not 5/5 stars for the plot, you ask? The ending, that’s what. It just happened super fast and I felt like I got lost and never really found my way back. The buildup was jaw-droppingly incredible, but the climax just grabbed me, roughly spun me around for a while, and left me dizzy (I seriously need a new analogy) and not knowing what the heck just happened or what was going on. Even after reading those chapters again, I just couldn’t figure it out. But, you know, that could just be me.
Finally, the writing quality. I’ll be brief, because I’ve alluded to its beauty a few times. All I can say is that Morgenstern’s writing possessed an elegance the likes of which I have only seen in classics and was utterly captivating and breathtaking.
Overall, all I can say about this book is “Whoa”. Other than an ending that I had a hard time comprehending, it was completely flawless: characters I fell in love with and writing that I just can’t get over. If you’re looking for a magical book that isn’t so action-packed, this is the one for you.
Make sure to come back next Wednesday for a new review!
Happy reading!
Xoxo,
Jordan
