A review by jomarie
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

adventurous emotional mysterious slow-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

4.5

“The finest of pleasures are always the unexpected ones.” 🎪 

The Night Circus is a book that had been on my radar since it first came out over a decade ago. However, it took until the beginning of this year to get my hands on a copy and months after that to finally read it. 

I thought it was a wonderfully enchanting story that captures the delight and magic of the circus in a way that I don’t think I’ve felt or really understood since I was a kid. It also has super similar vibes to another book I read this year, The Inheritance of Orquidea Divina by Zoraida Solo, which I’ve been recommending a lot. 

The one thing that made it difficult for me to follow was the time jumps following multiple characters. My eyes tend to skip over chapter headers and, honestly, unless it’s relational to a Big Event, I’m terrible with timelines, so I was having to puzzle out what had happened in what order to who while reading. I know that I had the story laid out as far as the plot was concerned, but some nagging part of my brain did get hung up on figuring out the timeline. Before I was halfway done, I was already planning on reading it chronologically my next time through to see if it helps my engagement without hurting the story. 

Also, as much as I love a slow burn, this one was pretty slow. Then, after feelings were confirmed, there was so little romantic interaction after they were that that element of the story felt unbalanced and not as satisfying as I would have hoped. That said, the two leads were exceptionally good at dancing around one another and the banter was honestly top quality. 

I am so glad to have read this book, even if it didn’t top my list of favorites the way I’ve heard others say it has. However, maybe that is only a matter of letting it sit with me and in time I’ll grow to love it even more. It’s just that kind of story.