Reviews with content warning for Murder - The Night Circus

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.

Content Warnings

theaceofpages's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
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

I'm so happy that got to relive the magic again after so many years. The last time was back in school and I actually did an artwork inspired that striped cover page (well actually two since our end of year project had to incorporate elements of other works we'd done over the year and those stripes were a great way of connecting things!).

I'd definitely forgotten a lot of what happened! While it wasn't quite the same as reading it for the first time, it was still such a great experience. The writing is just as beautiful as I remember it being. I loved the mysterious tranquillity of the circus. And the clock! I love the clock. Being able to explore some of what it contains was definitely my favourite part of this book! I will say that, like last time, I found keeping track of all the characters was a little confusing, although it was better this time around. (also, a side note here. The original adults are terrible! I had forgotten or maybe didn't even realise the first time just how bad they are...

I mean, essentially sacrificing kids, stealing their childhood and actually their whole lives and abusing them for your own pride and entertainment??? No!

It definitely got better when the various plots, prophecies and timelines came together towards the end. I do feel like the action everything built up to was a little rushed, although I can kind of see why Morgenstern did this. That doesn't change that I would have loved this part to have been a little longer though.

I'd love to be able to see some of Bailey's circus to see how it has changed because while it was definitely a dark place for a while, the people who worked there still managed to make it something beautiful. He's definitely one of my favourite characters in this. I can only imagine what it could become when someone who loved the circus for its magic rather than seeing it as a competition field took over and became its caretaker and owner. The ending... That last part was so beautiful. (Now all I have to do is find this mysterious circus...)

I know this book is recommended a lot and I love it, but I can understand why others struggle with it. Be aware that this is a meandering walk through space and time (although in a magic way rather than a scifi one!) full of descriptive writing for most of it. You might enjoy this less if you need a lot of action to keep you engaged. There is action, but it takes quite some time to get there. But if you are the kind of reader who enjoys the journey to the climax, this might be the book for you!

Content Warnings

alli3hl13's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense fast-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

Content Warnings

daisyfont's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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? Yes

3.5

It took me ages to finish this book.
This was the book I read before going to bed. Erin's description of the (probably gigantic) circus is beautiful, but I didn't feel very much for the characters. I didn't really care about the development of the story, the characters or the ending.

I also have her other book, The Starless Sea, on my book shelf. But it will remain there for a while, I think.

Content Warnings