The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
Genre: Fantasy
Format: e-book
Source: library
Summary from Goodreads:
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....
Review
Just amazing. It's been a long time that there's been a book I'm reluctant to finish because I don't want to leave the world that's been constructed for me. The language is rich and beautiful, dripping with symbolism and hidden meanings. I'm looking forward to rereading this book in six months or a year to uncover layers that I missed the first time through.
The synopsis didn't exactly grab me - two young magicians are trained from a very young age to participate in a game only their instructors seem to grasp the scale of. Nor did the characters, with a couple of exceptions, forcefully drag me into the story. Instead it was the world that captivated me. I would love to visit this circus, to marvel at its wonders and partake in its delights. When I was ushered out of the front gate at the end of the book it felt like a true loss... I'll be back, but sadly I can only retrace my previous steps.
If you like immersive worlds, rich prose, themes and symbolism that you can really sink into, and being led along even though you're not exactly sure where you'll end up, this is the perfect book for you. If you are curious and still have your sense of wonder you will lose yourself in its pages. If you like an A to C through B plot and have little patience for nuance, don't bother.
Some notes on the medium - I read this as an e-book but I desperately wish I could have read a physical version instead. The timeline does some interesting things and I found myself turning to past chapters to compare dates quite a bit. There are also some foreshadowing passages that I liked rereading once the corresponding section was over... both of these were hard to do on an e-reader. There were also many times I would see a reference and think, "Oh, I saw this before!" but grew frustrated before I could find it again. If you have a choice, read the real thing.
The reader's guide actually has some great questions in it - if you're like me and just can't let the world go it provides interesting food for thought.
