Reviews with content warning for Injury/Injury detail - The Night Circus

this book single-handedly dragged me out of my reading rut… where do i even start. a gorgeous tale of whimsical magic and wonder that’s left me with a sense of comfort i haven’t felt in a long time. this book was constantly at the back of my mind when i wasn’t reading it, and it was so nice being able to settle down and fully immerse myself in it, with each part i left off at.

where do i even start! the characters are (generally) so lovable, with changing povs but not too many that it gets confusing and overlaps. they were also slowly introduced, so that i didn’t feel too overwhelmed or mix up people’s identities. i’m normally not a fan of non-linear timelines either, but this one was brilliantly executed — plus it’s only another diverging timeline from the future and they converge in the end, so it wasn’t messy or distracting.

the romance was a special kind of gorgeous. i love this forbidden lovers kind of trope, and it didn’t detract from the overall plot of the story either; it complemented the main storyline and made it stronger. the descriptions of fleeting gazes and uncontrollable lust was so JWBSHSHSHSH be still my heart….

overall, the flowy, descriptive prose really captured the circus in all its allure, in all its mystique. made me yearn to disappear within its folding, looping paths and get lost in that world of secrecy. the passion of those who chased after it, the emotions evoked from the injustice of pawns trapped in a game they never wanted to participate in (or even had a choice). all feels so raw, and vivid

i do have a few small qualms though… that overall did not detract from my enjoyment of the story. for a story that has elements of loss and dealing with grief, it feels very brushed upon? the reactions of characters would feel too casual, some conversations talking about these losses somehow making it all about the main characters again. felt like this didn’t do the deceased characters a service and felt kinda out of touch during those times:/ and at this point, there’s certain elements about characters’ decisions and actions that don’t feel adequately explained or rationalised. and i suppose because of that things felt off balance — especially towards the end as things were unravelling.

but all in all… so many hearts and love for this story. 😢😢😢 take me back

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itsheyfay's review

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challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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maeverose's review against another edition

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dark inspiring mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? No

3.25

This is a bit of an essay…
This review is for my first re read of this book, which I originally gave 4 or 5 stars (can’t remember)

!!!This will have spoilers so skip if you haven’t read the book!!!

TL;DR: It didn’t hold up. I feel very similarly as I did for the starless sea. I love the setting with my whole heart, the writing and the atmosphere. Bailey’s chapters remain my favorite. But I was incredibly disappointed with the romance and the way the plot played out.

The things I loved:

My favorite thing about this book is the circus itself. I wanna visit it so bad. Just the descriptions of the circus, the different foods, performances and tents. I need it to exist.

I also loved the atmospheric writing, the way she describes scents, sounds, etc makes it so immersive.

Bailey’s storyline is my favorite. I love his friendship with Poppet and Widget and his journey to joining the circus himself.

The things I didn’t like:

The main romance was so disappointing. For a book that’s marketed as a fantasy romance, I would’ve expected more of a focus on the romance. It’s not even a focus until the last third. They barely interact until then. For an opponents-to-lovers, I wanted tension between them before getting to the romance. What little tension there was came in too late and felt forced. It doesn’t have to be full-on enemies to lovers but it just doesn’t make sense to me that by the time they do finally get together, they get together with no hesitation, knowing they’re opponents. They shouldn’t have been that trusting of each other. I didn’t buy their love for each other. It was very instalove on Marco’s part, and instalove doesn’t work for me for multiple reasons. One being that it’s hard for me to buy his attraction to her when he doesn’t even know her. He fell for her years before they ever really spoke to each other, let alone got to know each other. I can’t buy that, personally. And from Celia’s perspective, she didn’t pay him any attention hardly until the end. It literally says in the book that to her he blended into the background before she found out he was her opponent. She didn’t care about him. It was also somewhat instalove for her after that point. Given that this book takes place over so many years, that would’ve suited a slow burn romance perfectly. Even though it takes years for them to get together, it’s not slow burn. The point of slow burn (imo) is the mutual tension and build up before they finally confess their feelings and get together. They need to interact.

Marco’s relationship with Isobel. He was kinda terrible to her. He fell for Celia the moment he saw her, but didn’t break up with Isobel until 15 years later… like yes Isobel could’ve taken the hint that he didn’t like her anymore but it was really sh*tty of him to not just tell her that it was over. He knew Isobel still loved him, or he wouldn’t have broken up with her at all. He just let that go on for 15 years…… another thing about their relationship that bothered me, is if you pay attention, towards the end Isobel says she was younger than Bailey when she met Marco. Bailey was 15 when Isobel met him, Marco was 19 when he met Isobel. So Isobel had to have been 14 at the oldest…. That makes me uncomfortable.

The competition. I liked that it wasn’t action heavy, but I felt like there was so little focus on the competition that it just felt a bit low stakes. Not even just that but it hardly felt like there was a competition at all.

———————————

I think I’ll still read future books by Erin Morgenstern, because I love her ideas so much, but so far both her books have been disappointing for me. I wish she would work on creating more fleshed out characters and plots, then she could easily be a favorite author.

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zoeelora's review against another edition

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dark inspiring mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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micaelamariem's review against another edition

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dark emotional inspiring mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

What a magical story! I will never be able to wrap my head around how talented Erin is and how she can interweave stories and timelines and make the most beautiful story of them all. The writing itself is beautiful but so was the plot. I fell in love with the circus and wished I was there, finding new tents every night, as two magicians played a dangerous game and tested the limits and the rules. There was the perfect amount of sacrifice and loss and love and happiness to make the most bittersweet ending and this will definitely be a book I recommend to friends in the future.

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