A review by strawb3rrysugar
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

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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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, and Murder

Minor: Misogyny, Sexual content, and Animal cruelty

There's a very brief, nondescriptive sex scene between Marco and Celia. By no means spicy.

While growing up with Hector, Celia is subjected to various forms of violence, like having her fingertips cut open and her bones broken. He sort of haunts her as an adult (hard to explain), and slut-shames her at one point. Hector snaps a bird's neck, expecting Celia to heal it. A cat in one of the circus acts falls to the ground, but it's assumed that the cat is fine.

Two characters in the narrative die. One is run over by a train. It's very brief and not graphic. One is mistakenly stabbed by a flying dagger, and they spend some time describing the scene of the murder. Blood is about as bad as it gets, but it's quite sad.