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18,2701261267 (4.05)3 / 1122
Waging a fierce competition for which they have trained since childhood, circus magicians Celia and Marco unexpectedly fall in love with each other and share a fantastical romance that manifests in fateful ways.
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The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

  1. 7510
    Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke (historycycles, BookshelfMonstrosity)
    BookshelfMonstrosity: Magical rivalries are at the heart of these unconventional Fantasy novels, which play out over decades and against elaborate, atmospheric 19th-century backdrops. Their initially relaxed pacing gains momentum as the various narrative threads dramatically converge.… (more)
  2. 331
    Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury (JGKC)
  3. 250
    The Prestige by Christopher Priest (shelfoflisa, 47degreesnorth)
    shelfoflisa: Another tale of duelling victorian magicians
  4. 4021
    Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (Oryan685)
  5. 173
    Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman (Larkken)
    Larkken: Each detail a dreamlike world overlapping but hidden from the real world to most people.
  6. 2112
    The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (LDVoorberg)
    LDVoorberg: Fantasy with enough reality to make it seem plausible
  7. 179
    The Magicians by Lev Grossman (Anonymous user)
  8. 81
    Little, Big by John Crowley (ktbarnes)
    ktbarnes: Both have magical realism, with a fairytale feel
  9. 60
    Od Magic by Patricia A. McKillip (amysisson)
    amysisson: Both are fantasy about magic and performance, with lovely writing.
  10. 84
    Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin (TomWaitsTables)
  11. 62
    The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly (bluenotebookonline)
  12. 30
    Touch by Alexi Zentner (JessiAdams)
    JessiAdams: Both books have a similiar combination of realism and fantasy with similiar imagery. Wish I could describe it better, but I can't. Both of these books just FEEL the same.
  13. 30
    The Merro Tree by Katie Waitman (amysisson)
    amysisson: Both are about the magic of performance, and have colorful performer characters, although one is science fiction and the other is fantasy.
  14. 20
    Mr. Vertigo by Paul Auster (tandah)
  15. 21
    Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor (LongDogMom)
    LongDogMom: Beautiful type of fairy tale
  16. 21
    Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor (tralliott)
  17. 10
    When the Moon Was Ours by Anna-Marie McLemore (kgriffith)
    kgriffith: Magical realism, beautiful prose, setting as a character/catalyst
  18. 10
    The Gracekeepers by Kirsty Logan (vwinsloe)
    vwinsloe: Everyone loves a fantastical circus.
  19. 10
    Vassa in the Night by Sarah Porter (mzonderm)
  20. 00
    The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón (Kata18)
    Kata18: Both books feel a little like a dream with a touch of magic that's not quite explained.

(see all 28 recommendations)

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» See also 1122 mentions

English (1,242)  Dutch (4)  German (3)  Italian (2)  Spanish (1)  Danish (1)  Greek (1)  Turkish (1)  Finnish (1)  Swedish (1)  Chinese (1)  All languages (1,258)
Showing 1-5 of 1242 (next | show all)
Magic
  BooksInMirror | Feb 19, 2024 |
Wonderful imagery. Interesting plot. What happenes between was okay, but may not ha e been my exact cup of tea. Quite a few people were affected along the way for these 2 to come together. I felt like quite a few of the choices were so selfish, and that just didn't jive with me too well. ( )
  cmpeters | Feb 2, 2024 |
Summary: "The Night Circus" invites you into a world where a mysterious and magical competition unfolds within the confines of a fantastical black-and-white circus. Le Cirque des Rêves appears without warning, bringing with it illusions, wonders, and a rivalry between two talented young magicians, Celia and Marco. As they weave their enchantments, the circus becomes a stage for a game neither fully understands, with stakes higher than the tightrope walkers' ambitions.


Pros:
( )
  pools_of_words | Jan 30, 2024 |
I really wanted to like this book more than I did. I heard a lot of good things about it but it didn't live up to my expectations. ( )
  Megan_Demers | Jan 27, 2024 |
I don't even know where to begin with this one.

At first I found it slow and the shifting timeline really got on my nerves but at the same time the descriptions of the circus were so wonderful that I kept going. Eventually I started to become a little uncomfortable with the sinister undertone and annoyed that I couldn't really understand the details of the competition. It bugged me that I was never quite sure who was good and who was bad.

But then something changed and I was completely sucked into the whole thing. I couldn't put the book down and I've been constantly thinking about it since I finished.

I'm still not sure that I liked the book, but I'm quite sure that it was worth reading and that I'd like to attend this circus someday.

I'm not totally happy with how things ended. Some of that seemed out of left field but overall quite an amazing novel. ( )
  hmonkeyreads | Jan 25, 2024 |
Showing 1-5 of 1242 (next | show all)
Morgenstern’s wonderful novel is made all the more enchanting by top-notch narration from the incomparable Jim Dale.
 
I am a reader who should have hated this novel; yet I found it enchanting, and affecting, too, in spite of its sentimental ending. Morgenstern's patient, lucid construction of her circus – of its creators and performers and followers – makes for a world of illusion more real than that of many a realist fiction. There is a matter-of-factness about the magicians' magic, a consistency about the parameters of the circus world, that succeeds both in itself and as a comment upon the need for and nature of illusion in general. While the novel's occasional philosophical gestures seem glib ("You are no longer quite certain which side of the fence is the dream"), the book enacts its worldview more satisfyingly than could any summary or statement. Rather than forcing its readers to be prisoners in someone else's imagination, Morgenstern's imaginary circus invites readers to join in an exploration of the possible.
 
Underneath the icy polish of her prose, Morgenstern well understands what makes The Night Circus tick: that Marco and Celia, whether in competition or in love, are part of a wider world they must engage with but also transcend. It’s a world whose mystique and enigma is hard to shake off, and that invites multiple visits.
 
The Night Circus is one of those books. One of those rare, wonderful, transcendent books that, upon finishing, you want to immediately start again.
 
The book itself looks beautiful but creaky plotting and lifeless characters leave The Night Circus less than enchanting
added by ncgraham | editThe Observer, Olivia Laing (Sep 11, 2011)
 

» Add other authors (9 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Morgenstern, Erinprimary authorall editionsconfirmed
Dale, JimNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Fontana, JohnCover designersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Forrester, KateCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Jakobeit, BrigitteTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Koay, Pei LoiDesignersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Magrì, MarinellaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Musselwhite, HelenCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed

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Epigraph
A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world.
--Oscar Wilde, 1888
Dedication
First words
The circus arrives without warning.
Quotations
“The finest of pleasures are always the unexpected ones.”
“People see what they wish to see. And in most cases, what they are told that they see.”
“Secrets have power. And that power diminishes when they are shared, so they are best kept and kept well. Sharing secrets, real secrets, important ones, with even one other person, will change them."
“Life takes us to unexpected places sometimes. The future is never set in stone, remember that.”
“You're in the right place at the right time, and you care enough to do what needs to be done. Sometimes that's enough.”
Last words
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
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Wikipedia in English (2)

Waging a fierce competition for which they have trained since childhood, circus magicians Celia and Marco unexpectedly fall in love with each other and share a fantastical romance that manifests in fateful ways.

No library descriptions found.

Book description
A circus known as Le Cirque des Reves features two illusionists, Celia and Marco, who are unknowingly competing in a game to which they have been irrevocably bound by their mercurial masters, and as the two fall deeply and passionately in love with each other, their masters intervene with dangerous consequences.
Haiku summary
Magicians in love
Forced to duel at the circus
Put on a great show.
(yoyogod)
Where a boy bears lovers' dreams
with a seer of stars
and night goes on forever.
(blueviolent)
A light and airy
feast for the senses. But wait,
darkness lurks beneath.
(passion4reading)

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