Reviews with content warning for Sexism - The Night Circus

If there's anything Morgenstern knows how to do, it's atmosphere and immersion. But like Celia and Marco and the circus itself, finding a balance is difficult.

Too many times did I find myself skipping over useless lines of what could be called world building, oftentimes finding it a waste of imagination to try and picture it in my head. On the off chance that I did read these lines (sometimes paragraphs and pages) of world building, I'd get tired and have to force myself to trudge through just to finish. Do you realize how boring something has to be in order to get tired of imagining? I know that all of it was to show, not tell, but I just didn't really care for how every piece of paper on any given desk was aligned, or how a random hotel receptionist treated her equally useless customers. These pieces of text were chores to get through.

Another thing I don't like about this book is how pretentious the writing style feels. Like somehow I'm the idiot for not grasping every metaphor that's been drawn out longer than necessary, or for not being able to decipher the endless riddles that every character is supposedly fluent in speaking. It seems like the author got so caught up in flexing her beautiful vocabulary and keeping a mysterious air around each character that she forgot to make her work cohesive. Sometimes I thought I was reading purple prose for pages and pages, and wondered when it would finally end and I could reenter familiarity.

But earlier, I mentioned that Morgenstern had a knack for atmosphere, good god she sure does. Le Cirque des Reves is nothing like I've ever read before, and I feel swept off my feet every time the book takes place in it. It's magical, enchanting, whimsical, fictitious, dreamlike, but even those words don't do the circus justice. Coming back to reality after reading about a new tent or through the short second person intermissions was burdensome, and I didn't want to put the book down during those moments. I have nothing but respect for the author's creativity and passion that she clearly poured into the circus, and in all honesty, it's been a source of inspiration for me for years. When I go to create something, I try to make my love for the work obvious in its medium, whether that be words, or pencil on paper, or in photos. That standard had been set by Le Cirque des Reves, because no matter what angle you look from, it exudes a certain kind of devotion that I have only ever seen in another book of Morgenstern's. It's a skill of hers.

Of course, if I mention the circus, I've got to mention the characters that made it happen. Celia and Marco are dear to me, and I loved watching them grow up bound to each other. Almost like soulmates, in some sick and twisted way. The game they are made to play and how it forces its way into their lives and personal relationships and the circus, of all things, was amazingly well done. All from the binding of the rings to the first tragedy in the circus, to the conclusion of the game, I was enthralled the whole way through. Celia was great to read, because no matter how composed she may have seemed on the outside, on the inside, she was struggling in some form. Despite her rough upbringing and constant exhaustion, she did her best to treat every member of the circus with kindness and make the burden on them as little as possible. Even Isobel, who had every reason and then some to hate Celia, couldn't find the will to simply dislike her. Celia Bowen is a beautifully written character, and her relationship with Marco just makes her better. Marco, on the other hand, is unique in his own ways. Sometimes he frustrated me, especially when it came to love, but those frustrations only enhanced my experience with the resolution of his conflicts. When he finally had his mind set on one goal and one person, that was his peak.

I give The Night Circus a 3.75, because although I loved the characters, the setting, the romance and the conflict, the agonizing boredom in between all the good was enough to knock a few decimals off its rating. By the time the last 100 pages came around, I was itching for the book to end already and pretty much speed read them in record time. The conclusion beyond the end of the game was pointless to me, and I didn't care much for savoring it, being far too done with the pointless pages.

This book used to be a solid 5.0 a few years ago. It kind of hurts to see something I used to hold on a high pedestal be brought to the light and seen for the lesser book that it is.

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