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folkofthebook's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
tense
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
4.5
“The circus arrives without warning.”
if you thought caraval was trippy, give this a whirl 🖤
slow-paced, but vivid and fantastical. i admittedly felt a bit bogged down sometimes with the time jump POV changes and would have liked a little more of the romance, but overall erin morgenstern delivers a vividly crafted tale of magic, time, and mystery. she cuts no corners on her lush scenery and revelry, the imagery so vibrant and detailed you can almost taste the caramel popcorn.
“When all of this is over, no matter which one of us wins, I will not let you go so easily. Agreed?”
“Agreed.”
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Gun violence and Blood
Minor: Death of parent, Suicide, Death, and Suicidal thoughts
flowersindecember's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
such good vibes all around i enjoyed myself so thoroughly there were just a lot of timelines to keep up with but i LOVED the romance subplots and that they weren’t the main focus of the book but also were at the same time. it was just really good but i cannot explain most of it
Content Warnings
Minor: Suicide, Grief, Blood, Child abuse, Death, and Violence
megj23's review
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Death and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Blood, Murder, and Suicide
unicornialism's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
inspiring
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA wish i had more to say but that’s how i feel
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Death of parent
Moderate: Self harm and Suicide
eddiroll's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Suicide, Death, Murder, and Blood
takarakei's review against another edition
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
I know a lot of people love this book but it just wasn't for me. Way too much vibes and not enough plot, it really struggled to keep my attention. Honestly it was like 80% descriptions of the Circus, so if you're into that this is the book for you.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Child abuse
Moderate: Suicide, Emotional abuse, and Blood
Minor: Death of parent
classicsandcatnaps's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
A really creative concept. Very heavy on evoking an atmosphere for you to envision as you read. Writing style and story structure were interesting! Characters were interesting, but not overly compelling for me personally. Story was alright but not resonant. I enjoyed reading it, but I’m also not sure I totally “got” it.
Content Warnings
Minor: Murder, Sexual content, and Suicide
zophronia's review
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Suicide, Fire/Fire injury, and Child abuse
Minor: Animal death
temi1008's review
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse
Moderate: Child abuse and Death
Minor: Death of parent and Suicide
lenelivesloudly's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
This story just didn’t do it for me. Don’t get me wrong I think it’s a good book with an interesting premise and the setting and worldbuilding are absolutely magically wonderful, but sadly that’s just not enough for me when not only the characters didn’t feel engaging enough but also the ending just fell flat in my opinion.
The story is told jumping between different characters over the course of 30 years. While this is good on one hand as it enables us to see how all the different people influence and experience the night circus, it’s also really difficult to get a good sense of what makes our main characters tick. If you are like me and need very fleshed out lovable characters to get into the story this one will not be doing it for you. Celia and Marco are falling in love but because the writing is so distant, to me it just felt like they were suddenly out of nowhere head over heals for each other in the middle of an otherwise very slow paced book. It wasn’t even slow burn. Just no burn while they build these nice magical tents for each other and suddenly a flame. I just couldn’t really get myself to care about them. Other characters like Bailey and his part in the overarching story were a lot more immersing to read about but he also didn’t have a lot of depth. I think part of it is the mysterious aura of the book that would suffer if the characters became too real? On a positive note I still found the balance between the different simultaneously told stories very well done and never wished for a scene to end quicker so I can go on to the other characters as it is often the case for me with this kind of split storytelling.
Then there is the problem with the ending. The magic system in The Night Circus is very soft and for us readers it’s not at all predictable as to what is and isn’t possible. That is good, that is necessary so we can feel this sense of awe and wonder which makes this book so unique, the circus so mysterious. But it also makes finding a satisfying solution to the main challenge of the story very difficult and is in my opinion one of the main reasons to why it failed to do so. Our main characters found themselves in this difficult position of having to play this game they barely understand the rules of and cannot get out of unless they finish it. So while the stakes kept rising the question that kept me reading on was how they would manage to get out of it. And yes I got the answer to that question but oh well. Meh.
I didn’t like the ending for several reasons.
Just for anyone who hasn’t read the book: Celia and Marco are raised since they are like 5 years old by their respective parent figures to play a game to prove who is the better magician and therefore I guess who is the better instructor. The rules are never really explained to them but within the limits of the night circus they have to enhance it magically (for example adding another tent that has some magical attraction within) without interfering with their opponent. At first Celia doesn’t know that Marco is her adversary, then after she finds out they fall in love. They realize at some point that not whoever creates better magical circus additions wins but rather that whoever cannot endure the pressure of all that magic anymore and dies loses. So now the problem is they are both bound to the game and must finish it but are also integrally connected to the circus (because of all the enhancements) and all the people who belong to the circus on such a basic level that if one of them dies the circus will probably die with them. Celia then tries to untangle herself from the circus and make it more self-sufficient before she wants to sacrifice herself so Marco (and the circus) can live. What his plan is is not explained to us but it also doesn’t matter because out of nowhere a character that knows all this decides Celia is taking too long and basically forces/convinces Marco to sacrifice himself first and it has to be now. Her reasoning is that Celia is more important to the functioning of the circus and therefore Marco should die, true but like why now. Why not wait until he is less entangled either it’s not like either of them has any problem with leaving the other to run things. They are both good with dying for their love.
It just feels very forced to get to the showdown. Very convenient for the plot but weirdly sticking out from the slow flow of the first 90% of the book.
Some magical concepts like binding and „becoming free from the physical world“ are well set up and foreshadowed but the way they were used to actually resolve the problem was a bit. I don’t know. Random. Could have been any other set of magical shenanigans. So Celia saves Marco and herself from the explosion that was supposed to kill him and does an advanced version of what her father did and dematerializes them both. Now they have the problem that the circus is in some kind of time standstill and only Bailey a teenager can save them and the circus by binding himself to it. Why any of that is necessary the way it is done and happens is not clear to us. Like I said: very soft magic system, no explanations given. I don’t know how that could have been solved any better. In a way it makes sense because both her specialty physical magic (in this case dematerializing) and his specialty binding are needed and they both and up neither dead nor alive so they could end the game both neither winning nor losing. But it’s kinda whatever. I don’t care enough about the characters to find poetic beauty in them ending up leading tragic half lives in that dematerialized state.
But all that is not my biggest problem with the story. Throughout the book I was enraged on behalf of Celia and Marco for all the emotional (and sometimes physical) abuse they had to endure. On behalf of everyone connected to that circus really. For being forced to play their roles in this stupid game that exists for no reason, that completely disregards the agency of every single one of them, uses them as „players“ and „extras“, seeing them as expandable. A few characters died for this game. And the instructors who are responsible for this, these age old wizards are just doing this for what really? Funsies? I wanted them to get what they deserve, I wanted them to not be able to repeat these games ever again like they have so many times before. But we didn’t get that. This is just not that kind of story. I think the book is very pointedly letting this happen, ending like this, with Celia and Marco not as losers but also definitely not as winners and there parental instructor figures living on as some kind of indestructible emotionless soulless beings. I get it. I think. But I don’t like it.
Is what I would have said if there wasn’t this nice part at the end where we learn that Marco is grateful because hadn’t it been for his instructor matching him with Celia he wouldn’t have met her. How sweet. And completely fucked up.
The story is told jumping between different characters over the course of 30 years. While this is good on one hand as it enables us to see how all the different people influence and experience the night circus, it’s also really difficult to get a good sense of what makes our main characters tick. If you are like me and need very fleshed out lovable characters to get into the story this one will not be doing it for you. Celia and Marco are falling in love but because the writing is so distant, to me it just felt like they were suddenly out of nowhere head over heals for each other in the middle of an otherwise very slow paced book. It wasn’t even slow burn. Just no burn while they build these nice magical tents for each other and suddenly a flame. I just couldn’t really get myself to care about them. Other characters like Bailey and his part in the overarching story were a lot more immersing to read about but he also didn’t have a lot of depth. I think part of it is the mysterious aura of the book that would suffer if the characters became too real? On a positive note I still found the balance between the different simultaneously told stories very well done and never wished for a scene to end quicker so I can go on to the other characters as it is often the case for me with this kind of split storytelling.
Then there is the problem with the ending. The magic system in The Night Circus is very soft and for us readers it’s not at all predictable as to what is and isn’t possible. That is good, that is necessary so we can feel this sense of awe and wonder which makes this book so unique, the circus so mysterious. But it also makes finding a satisfying solution to the main challenge of the story very difficult and is in my opinion one of the main reasons to why it failed to do so. Our main characters found themselves in this difficult position of having to play this game they barely understand the rules of and cannot get out of unless they finish it. So while the stakes kept rising the question that kept me reading on was how they would manage to get out of it. And yes I got the answer to that question but oh well. Meh.
Just for anyone who hasn’t read the book: Celia and Marco are raised since they are like 5 years old by their respective parent figures to play a game to prove who is the better magician and therefore I guess who is the better instructor. The rules are never really explained to them but within the limits of the night circus they have to enhance it magically (for example adding another tent that has some magical attraction within) without interfering with their opponent. At first Celia doesn’t know that Marco is her adversary, then after she finds out they fall in love. They realize at some point that not whoever creates better magical circus additions wins but rather that whoever cannot endure the pressure of all that magic anymore and dies loses. So now the problem is they are both bound to the game and must finish it but are also integrally connected to the circus (because of all the enhancements) and all the people who belong to the circus on such a basic level that if one of them dies the circus will probably die with them. Celia then tries to untangle herself from the circus and make it more self-sufficient before she wants to sacrifice herself so Marco (and the circus) can live. What his plan is is not explained to us but it also doesn’t matter because out of nowhere a character that knows all this decides Celia is taking too long and basically forces/convinces Marco to sacrifice himself first and it has to be now. Her reasoning is that Celia is more important to the functioning of the circus and therefore Marco should die, true but like why now. Why not wait until he is less entangled either it’s not like either of them has any problem with leaving the other to run things. They are both good with dying for their love.
It just feels very forced to get to the showdown. Very convenient for the plot but weirdly sticking out from the slow flow of the first 90% of the book.
Some magical concepts like binding and „becoming free from the physical world“ are well set up and foreshadowed but the way they were used to actually resolve the problem was a bit. I don’t know. Random. Could have been any other set of magical shenanigans. So Celia saves Marco and herself from the explosion that was supposed to kill him and does an advanced version of what her father did and dematerializes them both. Now they have the problem that the circus is in some kind of time standstill and only Bailey a teenager can save them and the circus by binding himself to it. Why any of that is necessary the way it is done and happens is not clear to us. Like I said: very soft magic system, no explanations given. I don’t know how that could have been solved any better. In a way it makes sense because both her specialty physical magic (in this case dematerializing) and his specialty binding are needed and they both and up neither dead nor alive so they could end the game both neither winning nor losing. But it’s kinda whatever. I don’t care enough about the characters to find poetic beauty in them ending up leading tragic half lives in that dematerialized state.
But all that is not my biggest problem with the story. Throughout the book I was enraged on behalf of Celia and Marco for all the emotional (and sometimes physical) abuse they had to endure. On behalf of everyone connected to that circus really. For being forced to play their roles in this stupid game that exists for no reason, that completely disregards the agency of every single one of them, uses them as „players“ and „extras“, seeing them as expandable. A few characters died for this game. And the instructors who are responsible for this, these age old wizards are just doing this for what really? Funsies? I wanted them to get what they deserve, I wanted them to not be able to repeat these games ever again like they have so many times before. But we didn’t get that. This is just not that kind of story. I think the book is very pointedly letting this happen, ending like this, with Celia and Marco not as losers but also definitely not as winners and there parental instructor figures living on as some kind of indestructible emotionless soulless beings. I get it. I think. But I don’t like it.
Is what I would have said if there wasn’t this nice part at the end where we learn that Marco is grateful because hadn’t it been for his instructor matching him with Celia he wouldn’t have met her. How sweet. And completely fucked up.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse
Moderate: Suicide