The Night Circus

This book had the unenviable position of being the one I read after The Charioteer, which blew my mind. I can see why people love this book, and why it gets compared to Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, and Harry Potter, and Neil Gaiman. I think it's just not for me. The anachronisms bothered me the most - she should not have set this in any particular time period, in my opinion. It ended up feeling like a lot of choices she made were aesthetic ones, and as a result it felt too surfacey for me. That's something Jonathan Strange (which I adore) really excelled at - placing the story very firmly in its historical setting.

And like other readers, I felt like some of the characters were very cardboard - particularly Marco, Bailey, Tsukiko, and Hector. I needed to see their motivations more.

This book succeeds as a beautiful aesthetic experience, but I wanted more beneath the surface. ( )

I don’t want to expend much effort on The Night Circus, because I know that with thousands of reviews, dozens of which have hundreds of likes, my lukewarm thoughts will be buried in no time. So I’ll keep it relatively brief.

What I liked? The color, or lack thereof. The setting and scenery of this novel are, in my opinion, its very best qualities. The circus, with its black and white tents and dashes of red, is stunning. The various shows are worth the price of admission. It’s perhaps too easy a comparison to make, but I doubt any fan of Tim Burton’s movies can read this novel without thinking of his style of moviemaking. Also, I liked the bones of this story. It’s an interesting premise and, as an outline, it works great.

What I didn’t like? Despite having a great premise, the story itself is so incredibly dry. This is a great example of a plot-driven novel. Events happen, then more events, but there’s little to no reflection or character development. People eat this style up, and I know I’m in the minority, but I find it boring. Even though it’s focused on plot, The Night Circus fails by telling far too many of the details without showing them: pivotal scenes are surmised by conversations between characters. Likewise, the romance is artificial. The only reason we know the two leads are in love is because the reader is told they are. No spark is evident between them.

Recommended for fans of adventure-based epics with more show than substance. ( )

I enjoyed the Night Circus but I thought it was slow and a little convoluted. I’m glad I stuck with it to the end though. The magical, mysterious Circus was fascinating and the intertwined stories and characters kept my interest but I did find myself wishing it would move along faster. There’s a lot of unnecessary diversions from the main plot, which itself is sort of nebulous and remains undetermined even until the end. A decent read but not my favorite book I read this year. 3.5/5 stars ⭐️ ( )

While this book got off to a bit of a slow start, it really pays off. I love the description of the circus, and many of the secondary characters were great. In fact, I liked the secondary characters including Poppet, Bailey, Chandresh, and Herr Thiessen more than I liked the main characters. ( )

This is creativity at it's finest and is an ideal read for those with a visual imagination who will be transported to magical settings beyond what a cinematic screen can portray.

Personally, I'm more of an emotional reader than a visual one, so the fantastical imagery is only part of the formula for what I need to Love a book. At times this book delivered on all fronts and I was enraptured, but other times (more so early on) I wasn't even sure whether I liked the book. The story itself has many layers which sometimes caused confusion, particularly when bouncing around time frames and having scenes from minor characters' POV's. The love story that drives the plot is moving, especially Marco's sentiments, and yet it doesn't read like 'a book about a love story', which is interesting. The poetic writing style was different than what I normally read, and it was beautiful. I suppose I'm more impressed with this book than anything.

The lasting impression has me torn hovering around a 3.5 rating. However, the physical hardback (UK edition) is the most beautiful contemporary book I've ever purchased which easily adds enough weight for me to give this 4 stars. ( )