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A review by book_concierge
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
4.0
Audio book performed by Jim Dale
The circus arrives without notice. Clad entirely in black and white, the tents materialize overnight. While it is in the vicinity patrons flock to its gates, open only from nightfall to dawn. Yet this strange colorless world within the iron fence is vibrant and alive. The public is enchanted and awed by the spectacle of acrobats, fortune tellers, an ice garden and the beautiful illusionist. What the public doesn’t know is that the circus is but a venue for a decades-long competition pitting two fledgling magicians against one another. And the competitors, Celia and Marco, are themselves the puppets of two senior magicians, Hector and Alexander.
Morgenstern has created a unique world, and a love story that is infused with magic. To her credit she doesn’t overly explain the wonder, but allows the reader to experience the spectacle and fantasy on her own. It is a product of her imagination that fuels the reader’s own imagination. I didn’t think she really explored the love story very well; Celia and Marco have few scenes together and there is a palpable magnetism between them, but not very much basis for love. But this is a fantasy, a dream, a wish, an illusion. And while I agree with the character who warns “dreams can become nightmares,” I sure enjoyed living in this dream for a while.
Jim Dale is spectacular performing the audio book. My only complaint is that virtually everyone has a British accent (except for the Scottish twins and the German Mr Thiessen). Celia was raised in New York, and Bailey in Massachusetts, so their voices should have been more “American.” But that’s really a small complaint. I was skeptical going into the book. It’s not the genre I usually gravitate to and I was expecting that it would not live up to the hype. But Dale’s performance captured me at the outset and I happily followed his voice through this magical novel.
Oh, and while it has nothing at all to do with what is inside the covers, I just have to say that the publisher did a wonderful job of packaging this novel. The cover art is wonderful, the end papers and section separators add to the feeling that the reader has fallen into this world.
The circus arrives without notice. Clad entirely in black and white, the tents materialize overnight. While it is in the vicinity patrons flock to its gates, open only from nightfall to dawn. Yet this strange colorless world within the iron fence is vibrant and alive. The public is enchanted and awed by the spectacle of acrobats, fortune tellers, an ice garden and the beautiful illusionist. What the public doesn’t know is that the circus is but a venue for a decades-long competition pitting two fledgling magicians against one another. And the competitors, Celia and Marco, are themselves the puppets of two senior magicians, Hector and Alexander.
Morgenstern has created a unique world, and a love story that is infused with magic. To her credit she doesn’t overly explain the wonder, but allows the reader to experience the spectacle and fantasy on her own. It is a product of her imagination that fuels the reader’s own imagination. I didn’t think she really explored the love story very well; Celia and Marco have few scenes together and there is a palpable magnetism between them, but not very much basis for love. But this is a fantasy, a dream, a wish, an illusion. And while I agree with the character who warns “dreams can become nightmares,” I sure enjoyed living in this dream for a while.
Jim Dale is spectacular performing the audio book. My only complaint is that virtually everyone has a British accent (except for the Scottish twins and the German Mr Thiessen). Celia was raised in New York, and Bailey in Massachusetts, so their voices should have been more “American.” But that’s really a small complaint. I was skeptical going into the book. It’s not the genre I usually gravitate to and I was expecting that it would not live up to the hype. But Dale’s performance captured me at the outset and I happily followed his voice through this magical novel.
Oh, and while it has nothing at all to do with what is inside the covers, I just have to say that the publisher did a wonderful job of packaging this novel. The cover art is wonderful, the end papers and section separators add to the feeling that the reader has fallen into this world.