Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - Yösirkus

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

Content Warnings

laneys_library's review against another edition

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challenging inspiring mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

So so beautiful! I can’t even describe how this book makes me feel. I have the extreme desire to experience the circus for myself. Usually I don’t prefer slow paced books but I loved every second of this! The authors writing is so gorgeous I feel as if I’m there, at the magical night circus. This book is so mysterious, mystical, and surreal. I beg you to read it if you haven’t already!

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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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bi_n_large's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

The last quarter of the book is so frustrating. I despise Marco with every fiber of my being.

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talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

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literarypenguin's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious slow-paced

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

5.0

The Night Circus is about a circus that arrives without warning and just as quickly as it arrives it vanishes without a trace. This book tells the story of that mysterious circus and how it came to be and the people, who are just as mysterious as the circus itself, who brought it to life. This book has been on my shelf for a while now and I have heard nothing but positive things about this book from various booktubers and bloggers. One of the booktubers I watch says The Night Circus is their favorite book of all time. After finishing this book I was left with a feeling of wonder and happiness but also sadness because the book that I really enjoyed was finished and I quickly wanted to pick it up and read it again. Because of what other people have said about this book my expectations going in were very high. I really looked forward to reading this book and I believe this book is now one of my favorite books of all time! I think what makes this book stand out among all the other types of fantasy books of its kind is the writing and the mysterious nature of the book. It really added to the book and made you feel like you were discovering more as you read.

The writing was what really made this book stand out in my opinion. It was mysterious with a small touch of whimsy and magic! It appeals to all of your senses and there were moments when I could smell the food served at the circus or hear the music during one of the performances. That is how amazing the writing is! What else I loved about the writing was the pacing it didn’t feel slow or fast at any point in the story. It was just right which is rare to find a book with the right amount of pacing. Everything felt consistent and the writing helped move the story along. The way that the story was written made you feel like you were a guest at the circus and every chapter felt like you were opening up one of the tents and exploring what was inside.

The Night Circus is about two young magicians who are fated to be competitors in a mysterious competition and because of this competition, they help bring to life a whimsical and lively circus. They must both keep this contest a secret and continue to keep the circus alive and well while ignoring the feelings that begin to bloom between them. The plot was so magical yet at the same time, it was mysterious like the circus itself. You really felt like you were finding out more about the story as you went further along in the book. The competition itself was a great point of conflict in the book and was a great driving force between Celia and Marco to explain why they were doing what they were doing and why they couldn’t be together. What I loved the most about the story was how organically it flowed and how important moments in the book happened naturally. I think what makes the story different from other stories is how it combined the real world with the mysterious world of magic and how it melded them both perfectly. It felt like the magic wasn’t too overpowering and wasn’t too weak either. I think the story’s greatest strength was the magic system and how it was written into this world seamlessly.

Our two main protagonists in the Night Circus were Marco and Celia. Celia was the daughter of a former famous magician and Marco was the adopted son of an aloof man with an unknown past and name. We not only had two great main characters but side characters with great representation. Tsukiko was an Asian possibly gay female character and Chandresh was a gay male character with a mixed heritage. So many other interesting and intriguing side characters as well! The development of these characters was so good and well written some changed for the better others went through a lot of horrible things and events but came through it in the end. I loved each and every character there wasn’t one that was bad! I adored the romance between Celia and Marco! Even though it wasn’t present too much in the beginning it started to develop more towards the end. The few moments we were shown of it were so heartfelt and beautiful that it made me envious of it at times.

The story takes place in the Victorian Era around different places in the world though most of the time it takes place in London or America. I thought the world-building was very good and to have it take place in different parts of the world fit the story very well considering the circus traveled a lot and showed up in different locations without reason. The multiple points of view in the story also worked well and added to the story. Eventually, the points of view came together in the most lovely way possible!

One of the themes the book portrays very well is the pressure kids face from their parents when they put too much on them. Celia and Marco’s upbringings are hard and both of them face abuse and neglect from the people that are supposed to love them the most. Because of these upbringings, Celia is more cautious with people and Marco is more closed off towards people. I think this shows just how much our upbringings can affect us in our adult lives. Another theme was being told we could only do one thing our whole lives instead of what we want to do or who we want to be. Celia’s journey in finding herself and who she wanted to be was so fantastic and so was Bailey’s. Bailey goes from a boy raised on a farm to being the kind of man he was supposed to be and not being afraid to do what he wanted instead of what his family wanted for him.

I highly recommend Night Circus and I hope people take away just how magical and spectacular this book really is! I think this book should be read by everybody and it is very much worth your time and enjoyment. The Night Circus is truly a book for all ages and I think now more than ever this book is needed.

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