Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

15 reviews

bxnny's review against another edition

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i might come back to this one but the pacing for this is slower than i wanted, and i have other books more promising than this. i still love the premise, setting & characters, book is a solid 4.5 stars right now, i just don’t have the mindset to read this atm. 

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strawb3rrysugar's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

This book kept me company during a three-day power outage. As someone who doesn't typically gravitate towards historical stories, fantasy, or historical fantasy, this is a solid book. I didn't totally understand what was happening until the last quarter of the book, and it took some effort to keep track of all the events, but I was attached enough to this book that I was sad to finish it, and I hope to reread it at some point. I grew very fond of the characters and how they connected with each other, and I really liked the author's prose; immersive, but not needlessly flowery. A fun, emotional, gothic time, and definitely a rainy day read. 

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ramakn22's review against another edition

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The opening threw me so badly I felt like I couldn't find any piece of the story to latch onto. What I did get through was whimsical and confusing and sounded like it would build into something fantastical, just not for me.

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zomvi's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I read this for StoryGraph's first hosted readalong, so much of what I say here will be taken from my own forum comments.

At first, I did enjoy the shifting perspectives, but after finishing the book I feel that there wasn't much of a payout. These parts could have been used to pull the reader in better, or have provided more information or foreshadowing. The coming-of-age and passing-of-the-torch tropes seem a bit too convenient. I wish we got to know the characters more - I’m primarily a character-driven reader, and though many are intriguing to a certain extent, I’m not particularly fond of the overwhelming majority of the cast. Tsukiko is probably one character that interests me, but she does seem to be a bit stereotypical in the “eastern mysticism” kind of way that doesn’t really sit super well with me. I want to know more about the contest, the original rivalry that seemingly spawned this competition altogether, and indulge in more world-building, but it’s all a bit too vague. I wish there were specific Shakespeare quotes, instead of vague references as well. I’m also not really a fan of the love-triangle or enemies/rivals-to-lovers tropes, so was looking forward to some twists and turns or subverted expectations somehow,
but was disappointed.
I really did not find the romance compelling at all; there was no build-up or depth to the relationship.

I did enjoy a lot of the whimsical descriptions of the circus itself, especially the designs and performances or attractions, in particular. The use of color, and the black and white theme greatly complimented the day/night cycles the circus rigidly follows, and the contrasting chapters exploring the many mysterious characters added to the intrigue. I also really loved the food descriptions, and how immersive it felt while Morgenstern gave us the sights and tastes and smells of the scenes.
  
Regarding the ending,
Marco and Celia are, quite frankly, not very good people for how they've treated Isobel, who receives very little, if any closure, relationship or narrative-wise, or any of the other people caught up in this contest, which they did not consent to. I also really feel bad for Bailey; he’s a young kid and getting so impulsively tied to the circus forever doesn’t seem fair at all. I liked the bit at the end with Widget and Poppet more than Celia and Marco’s conclusion, honestly. I also felt really bad for Chandresh, when it was revealed his manipulation from Marco was destroying his mind, and for Friedrick, who was killed abruptly to move the plot along. Marco also seemingly takes advantage of Celia's grief by flattering her after his death, in which they sleep together for the first time (YUCK!). There were so many characters I wish got more recognition, while others I was tired of hearing about.


Overall, glad I finally knocked it off my tbr, but it just wasn’t for me.

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kcmg710's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0


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purplepenning's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

"A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world. His punishment? And his reward." —Oscar Wilde, The Critical as Artist

Undeniably beautiful writing in a turn of the century fairytale that is groundedly gritty and soaringly ethereal. I don't care for circuses, but it was the exact right venue for this story. This one didn't knock me off my feet quite as much as The Starless Sea, which I read first and with no expectations. Partly, I think, because I wasn't as enamored with Marco as I maybe was supposed to be and I wasn't as satisfied with the ending here, but mostly because:
"The finest of pleasure are always the unexpected ones." 

Definitely recommend for fans of The Starless Sea and Alix Harrow's Ten Thousand Doors of January.

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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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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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alexisgarcia's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional inspiring 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? It's complicated

5.0

i am so glad that this book lived up to the hype. i can’t even begin to describe how beautiful and magical the writing was. i could taste the circus snacks, see inside every tent and their corresponding act, and feel the magic that surrounded the circus. the concept was executed perfectly and truly left me in awe. this is one of the most beautifully written books i’ve ever read. i was fully immersed in this world and never wanted to leave. 

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