The Night Circus: A Novel

Every once in a while a book comes along that amazes you. That leaves you speechless, that leaves you incapable of words, that leaves you wondering how you're going to adequately review a book that is so much more than any words you can type. For me, The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern is that book. I feel that no matter what I say, no matter what I write, my review will never, ever do justice to the amazingness of this book. I could type for days about how much I loved the book and I still wouldn't feel as if I had adequately gotten my point across. To really, truly believe just how good The Night Circus is, you simple have to read it. No amount of reviews you read, no amount of authors can tell you how good it is; you have to read it yourself and if you do read it (and I really think you should) then you should prepare to be amazed. The Night Circus is like no book I've ever read before. It's truly spectacular and, better yet, it's truly unique. I'm sure there are many books about circuses or about magic, but none will ever come close to how special and how utterly captivating The Night Circus is. It's not the kind of book I normally read - it isn't Chick Lit, it isn't a crime novel, it doesn't seem to have a genre but anybody who likes a good story will enjoy this. You don't have to be a circus fan, although it will probably help. You just have to like well-written fiction and you have to have a bit of an imagination. There are thousands of books published every week that say they're fiction, but The Night Circus is true, proper fiction. It's not something you can see happening, it's not true-to-life, it's good ol' fiction and it's stunning. It's fiction in its purest form, a proper story. Something I'll re-read many times, with a story I'll never forget. There are so many threads to The Night Circus, so many different elements and characters that help make the story what it is but it's so easy to keep it all going. The central plot is the circus itself, of course, but there are so many layers to the novel that it's hard to define just one main plot. It all adds up, it all comes together, all the strands, all the plots, to make an extraordinary read. There's Celia Bowen, daughter of Prospero the Enchantor; there's Marco, who came from nothing to be something; there's the other folks who live in the circus; there's a boy named Bailey who becomes a major part of the book; there's the Murray twins Widget and Poppet; there's Herr Thiessen, a clock-maker, and then there's the people who started Le Cirque des Reves. There's so much detail, so much thought that's gone into the novel and it's mind-blowing. There's not a chance I picked it all up during my first read and I'm going to have to read it again because it's the kind of book you can read again and again and I have no doubt that during the second read I'll notice things I never noticed before. It's that kind of novel. Erin Morgenstern is a genius. She's a magician. Her mind must be an amazing place to be because The Night Circus is just so rich with detail. It's so captivating - so much so that I truly would love for The Night Circus to be real. I'd love to go and be part of that. The book just blew my mind. After reading it I can see why it's billed as the love story of the year, why it's billed as the best debut this year. Heck, it's one of the best debuts ever. It is truly one of the best books I have ever read. I literally found myself reading the book slowly on purpose. I didn't want it to end. I didn't want to reach the end because there was something so magical about reading about everybody. I grew to love the characters so, so much and all I can do is urge you to read the book. It's beautiful inside and out; the UK hardback is one of the most stunning books you will ever see, with so much detail having been put into it and the story inside is even better. It's the complete package. I will never read a book like The Night Circus again. It captivated me from page one and I loved every page. All of the hype is deserved, and more. Just read it, I swear you'll love it.

I think this just became one of my favourite books. It’s very unique, and I can totally imagine this being made into a Tim Burton movie. The circus arrives without warning, and is only open at night. Within the the black-and-white striped tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amusements. Behind this façade, a fierce competition is underway between two young magicians, Celia and Marco. They do not know that only one of them can survive, and that the circus is nothing but a stage for this remarkable battle of imagination and will. Things only get worse for them when they fall headfirst into love; the game must still play out and the fates of everyone involved in the circus hang in the balance. The setting of this book was very interesting, well thought out and extremely unique. The circus was described so well that I found it really easy to imagine myself walking round it and exploring each of the tents. I loved that it was set during Victorian times, and I found it very easy to visualise it like this. One thing I did find confusing was that the book jumps back and forward in time and it was often quite difficult to remember that things were not happening chronologically. Underneath each chapter title is a descriptor showing where and when the events are taking place and I often had to look back to see where in the timeline certain things were happening. I will say that this book doesn’t really have a plot, and we basically just see the day-to-day (or should I say night-to-night!) running of the circus. This is not really bad thing in this case, as it is quite satisfying to see the circus developing and the relationships building between the characters. I enjoyed reading every page about the circus. I was a bit annoyed that the two main characters seemed to fall in love almost immediately, and they do not really meet properly until halfway through the book. However, because the book takes place over a number of years, the relationship probably developed behind the scenes. I normally hate reading about relationships, but I loved these two characters and wanted to read more about how this relationship developed. It was almost as if a lot of scenes had been cut out of the finished book. The book also doesn’t really have a proper climax, and I was very underwhelmed with the last fifty pages or so. There isn’t really a duel like the blurb describes. These were very minor drawbacks for me as I loved the book as a whole, but will still stop me from giving it 5 stars. I loved each character individually; they were all well written and different from each other. They were almost too perfect - none of them seemed to have any flaws. Celia and Marco were lovable leads and I rooted for them being together. I think Bailey was my favourite character overall - I loved reading about his discovery of the circus, his relationship with his family and his little adventures with Poppet and Widget, who I also loved. The man in the grey suit was very mysterious, and I got the impression that he was supposed to be written as the main villain, but he didn’t seem that threatening to me. I felt really sorry for Isobel, and how her love for another character was never requited, and I really thought she would react in a really negative way when she finally discovers that he loves someone else. Celia’s father really annoyed me throughout the whole book, but thought he was written very well - it was really easy to see how much Celia really didn’t like him. If you haven’t read this book yet - you should! I loved escaping into its world even though it wasn’t really a story with a lot of excitement in it. 4.5/5 stars.

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Nice book

Erin Morgenstern liefert mit ihrem Debütroman The Night Circus (Der Nachtzirkus) ein ungewöhnliches und nachhallendes Lesevergnügen ab. Zunächst erscheint einem die Entscheidung, im Präsens zu erzählen, sehr gewöhnungsbedürftig, doch nach einer Weile stellt sich dadurch verstärkt der Eindruck ein, das Ganze direkt mitzuerleben. Durch die episodenhafte Aufteilung der Kapitel und einer nicht chronologischen Erzählstruktur, die in der Zeit vor und zurück springt, erfährt man zunächst auch nur die grobe Rahmenhandlung und ist darüber hinaus als Leser ebenso ahnungslos wie die beiden Spielfiguren Celia und Marco. Die Autorin schildert die Welt dabei sehr plastisch und schafft es trotz einer wenig ausgefallenen Sprache, Leben in jedes Zelt und jeden Charakter zu hauchen. Als Freund bildhafter Beschreibungen ist man mit The Night Circus daher gut beraten. Doch auch die Ideen selbst verstehen zu faszinieren, es ist beinahe enttäuschend, dass man als Leser nicht die Chance hat, den Zirkus leibhaftig zu besuchen. Anfangs bleibt lange unklar, was die eigentliche Handlung dieses Romans ist und was der Zirkus damit zu tun hat. Man entdeckt gerne jedes einzelne Zelt und kann sich als Leser an den wunderbaren Ideen und Beschreibung ergötzen, doch was der Zweck des Ganzen ist, wird nur vage angedeutet. Erst nach und nach setzen sich ab Buchmitte alle Episoden zu einem großen Puzzle zusammen. Die Handlung erstreckt sich über ca. 30 Jahre und wird durch die Sprünge in der Erzählung bereits komplex, doch auch die Beweggründe und das Verhalten der Protagonisten werden erst dann nachvollziehbar, wenn man sich immer mal wieder einen Moment Zeit nimmt, um sich in die Figuren hineinzuversetzen und über ihr Handeln und ihre Reaktionen nachzudenken. Das Buch macht einen traurig und glücklich zur selben Zeit, wenn man versteht, was das alles für die betroffenen Charaktere und ihr Leben bedeutet. Dieses Gefühl spiegelt auch perfekt wider, wie der Nachtzirkus – The Circus of Dreams – auf seine Besucher wirkt, und erklärt, weshalb ihm eine Schar von Menschen rund um den Globus folgt. Er berührt Sehnsüchte nach Geheimnissen, Magie und Mystik in der Welt. Es erwarten einen hier keine großen Spannungsmomente, keine epischen Schlachten, nicht einmal aufgebauschte Dramatik oder ein fulminantes Finale. The Night Circus schafft es auf ganz alltägliche, sanfte Weise ergreifend und faszinierend zu sein, angereichert mit einem Hauch von Magie, die sich nicht in bombastischen Effekten zeigt, sondern im Erschaffen von Attraktionen. Für den Romantiker wird auch bald ersichtlich, dass … nein, das wollen wir an dieser Stelle nicht verraten. Nur so viel: das Verhältnis zwischen Celia und Marco entwickelt sich auf erwachsene und beiläufige Weise, vermag es aber trotz hintergründigem Ablauf, die Pläne der beiden Wettväter gründlich zu stören und den Wettstreit zu einem noch grausameren Akt zu machen, als er es ohnehin schon ist. Neben stark gezeichneten Charakteren, die mit jedem Kapitel mehr Persönlichkeit bekommen und einen dazu bewegen, Interesse an ihrem Leben zu entwickeln, ist vor allem die Idee interessant, wahre Magie hinter technischen Konstrukten zu verstecken um sie glaubhaft zu machen. Der Roman spielt in unserer realen Welt um 1870 bis ca. 1900, später wird auch ein noch deutlich neueres Datum angedeutet – das einen von Schmunzeln begleiteten Aha-Effekt auslöst – und so bleiben die Magier selbstbestimmt unerkannt und verbergen ihre Talente hinter dem Scheinbild des Zirkus. Bei allem hat man stets eine gewaltige Welt aus feinen, detaillierten Scherenschnitten vor Augen, sobald man den Zirkus betritt, was sicherlich der reduzierten Farbgebung und künstlerischen Beschreibung zu verdanken ist. The Night Circus ist keine schnell zu verschlingende Lektüre. Daher die Warnung: wer leichte Kost für zwischendurch sucht, wird mit diesem Roman sicher nicht glücklich werden. Allen, die Bücher vor allem emotional erleben und erfühlen wollen, ist dieser faszinierende, ruhige Roman dagegen dringend zu empfehlen. Ansonsten verhält es sich mit The Night Circus wie mit der Farbgebung der Zelte in schwarz oder weiß: Entweder man liebt es oder man hasst es, dazwischen dürfte es kaum Graustufen geben.

It's a Must Read for any Fantasy lover. This one has become by most favorite book. Purely an Enchanting plot and the characters in it was so well written. It's very beautiful how the author blended two different timeline story into one at the end. I just couldn't put the book down. Buy this one without any 2nd thought. Marco and Celia made me so attached to the book as well as to their "Circus of Dreams" 🎪🪄

The Night Circus takes you on a decades-long journey of a travelling circus fuelled by a competition between two long time rival magicians. Shrowded in mystery the black and white tent arrives in each new town. As quickly as it arrives, it vanishes with the morning sun. Follow the contortionist, the fortune-teller, the twins, and the magician and run away with the circus! Erin Morgenstern did a fantastic job in creating a rich and palatable dream world in The Night Circus. It offers everything one could ask for in a novel: magic, romance, intrigue, rivalry. Her characters are unique and their lives keep you turning pages well into the night.