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saradoxical's review
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
It's hard for me to review The Night Circus. The world building is fantastic. I heard someone describe this as a vibes novel and that is a legitimate depiction. I felt at times that I had entered the world, I knew that circus. Which is why it made me super uncomfortable when so much of the world was constantly being manipulated? On top of the entire premise which was chosen by taking two children and willingly dooming them to their fate of playing a game in which there could be no real winner, groomed from youth to compete in a competition for sport by two really weird, really old men? And this was supposed to be a love story? The side characters of Poppet, Widget, and Bailey are fantastic. I want more of Tsukiko's story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse and Child abuse
Minor: Suicide and Death of parent
tays_books's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Alcohol, Murder, and Self harm
Moderate: Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Suicide
Minor: Sexual content, Infidelity, and Death of parent
faithss's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
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
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm and Suicide
ramakn22's review against another edition
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Animal cruelty, Violence, Torture, and Animal death
Moderate: Abandonment, Confinement, and Suicide
vhispas's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Murder, and Suicide
kathrynok's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Abandonment, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Grief
eliasaurus's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
I really wanted to like this book. I've been curious about it for years, but descriptions such as "whimsical" or "all vibes and no plot" put me off. I am here to report that those descriptions are completely accurate. It's not style over substance so much as a case where the style is the substance.
Reading this was a slog from start to finish. The first 2/3 of the book is purely aesthetic, describing the magic (but not well... what actually are the rules of the system?), describing the characters (of which there are rather a lot), and describing the circus in addition to various other settings. Also, I'm aware I'm in the minority here, but I actually didn't care that much for the writing. Pretty, yes, but I felt the dreamlike style the author adopted sacrificed important details.
Things start to pick up around the final quarter, but it's too little too late. As others have mentioned, the love story between the two main characters felt rushed and shoehorned in. The competition, too, was so vague it seemed almost comical because it could have entailed nearly anything, and it seemed like the author just filled parts in when she needed a constraint to move some other aspect along. I wasn't attached to the main characters at all, and I actively disliked Marco. I really only finished this because I read it for Storygraph's first official readalong. On my own, I wouldn't have bothered.
This book was not for me, and I won't be picking up anything else from this author.
Reading this was a slog from start to finish. The first 2/3 of the book is purely aesthetic, describing the magic (but not well... what actually are the rules of the system?), describing the characters (of which there are rather a lot), and describing the circus in addition to various other settings. Also, I'm aware I'm in the minority here, but I actually didn't care that much for the writing. Pretty, yes, but I felt the dreamlike style the author adopted sacrificed important details.
Things start to pick up around the final quarter, but it's too little too late. As others have mentioned, the love story between the two main characters felt rushed and shoehorned in. The competition, too, was so vague it seemed almost comical because it could have entailed nearly anything, and it seemed like the author just filled parts in when she needed a constraint to move some other aspect along. I wasn't attached to the main characters at all, and I actively disliked Marco. I really only finished this because I read it for Storygraph's first official readalong. On my own, I wouldn't have bothered.
This book was not for me, and I won't be picking up anything else from this author.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse
Moderate: Blood
Minor: Suicide and Alcohol
queer_bookwyrm's review
adventurous
mysterious
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? No
5.0
5 ⭐ CW: abuse, self-harm, death, murder, suicide mention
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern is a standalone that is billed as a romance, but it is so much more than that. The romance is really secondary to the story.
We follow Le Cirque des Rêves, a circus that only opens at night and closes at dawn. This is your typical circus with clowns and bright colors. This is done in an elegant and restrained way, using only black, white and grays. We are the story from many different perspectives and jump around the timeline, but instead of it being confusing, each jump makes the puzzle pieces click together. The circus is the venue for an otherworldly "game" between two players that have been bound to each other since they were children, but never met.
This book is so hard to describe. The circus is a dream, and like dreams the story is ethereal and hard to pin down. There is magic, but it isn't heavy handed. It's more like bending reality and making the unbelievable believable. The prose is so beautiful. The descriptions are gorgeous without feeling heavy or unnecessary. We see our competitors creating tents and attractions as love letters to each other, though they don't know who they are competing against.
I loved everything about this. Romance does not do this story justice. You really have to read it in order to understand what I'm talking about. It was like walking into a dream. The clock was one of my favorite descriptions in the book along with some of the more esoteric tent attractions.I also loved the diversity of characters. It was all so subtle, but we did have a few sapphic and Achillean side characters. I feel like I could pick up something new if I read it multiple times. This would make for an incredible TV series.
If all of Morgenstern's books are this, I need to read them immediately.
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern is a standalone that is billed as a romance, but it is so much more than that. The romance is really secondary to the story.
We follow Le Cirque des Rêves, a circus that only opens at night and closes at dawn. This is your typical circus with clowns and bright colors. This is done in an elegant and restrained way, using only black, white and grays. We are the story from many different perspectives and jump around the timeline, but instead of it being confusing, each jump makes the puzzle pieces click together. The circus is the venue for an otherworldly "game" between two players that have been bound to each other since they were children, but never met.
This book is so hard to describe. The circus is a dream, and like dreams the story is ethereal and hard to pin down. There is magic, but it isn't heavy handed. It's more like bending reality and making the unbelievable believable. The prose is so beautiful. The descriptions are gorgeous without feeling heavy or unnecessary. We see our competitors creating tents and attractions as love letters to each other, though they don't know who they are competing against.
I loved everything about this. Romance does not do this story justice. You really have to read it in order to understand what I'm talking about. It was like walking into a dream. The clock was one of my favorite descriptions in the book along with some of the more esoteric tent attractions.I also loved the diversity of characters. It was all so subtle, but we did have a few sapphic and Achillean side characters. I feel like I could pick up something new if I read it multiple times. This would make for an incredible TV series.
If all of Morgenstern's books are this, I need to read them immediately.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder and Death
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Child abuse
Minor: Suicide
merenguita's review against another edition
dark
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? Yes
3.75
I think this book made me realize how much of a character person I am, and I think that's the biggest fault I see in this book. The main characters aren't really explored and the main romance suffers a lot for it, it feels really forced.
Loved the worldbuilding and the mystical ambiance (the narration is absolutley beautiful all the way through), that kept me hooked but I don't think it was enough to make me enjoy the whole story.
Loved the worldbuilding and the mystical ambiance (the narration is absolutley beautiful all the way through), that kept me hooked but I don't think it was enough to make me enjoy the whole story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood, and Alcoholism
Moderate: Child abuse
Minor: Suicide
latida94's review
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
A great story that brings out the wistful in me so strongly. Very evocative in the settings of the circus and does a really good job of making the whole story feel rather dreamlike. Can't help but love and want the best for the characters (besides maybe 2 of them).
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcohol, Child abuse, and Death
Minor: Suicide