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Asiza Tait (139 KP) rated The Night Circus in Books

Feb 1, 2018

The Night Circus

Erin Morgenstern | 2015 | Fiction & Poetry

8.1

(106 Ratings)

Book Rating

A truly entertaining magical piece of fantasy.

All of our readers enjoyed the beautiful descriptive writing of Erin. Some found the beginning a bit difficult to follow with the abrupt changes of time and scene, though others found the whole mystery of it all utterly engrossing.

Basically, there are two ancient magicians who set their two star pupils against each other to find out who is the best. The issues are that the pupils don't know the rules, or how the winner is declared. The competition arena, is the Night Circus.

There is a great deal that is left to the reader's imagination as not everything is completely explained, which only adds to the enigmas and magic entwined in everything. This is not an ordinary novel. We first get a full view of the almost playfulness of the magic and later the darker aspects of it are explored. How everyone involved in the circus whether directly or not is caught up in it and pays a price as well as benefits from it.

Walking through the circus is so beautifully written that it feels as if you are there, smelling the caramel popcorn and watching the white flames dancing. The joy of the circus permeates the pages, people who visit the circus leave it ever changed.

The love story between Marco and Celia is restrained, elegant and ultimately otherworldly in its strength and beauty. They 'write love letters' to each other through the different tents in the circus. The demonstrations of their affection to each other are so beautiful; so dazzling as to wish that everyone could find such love.

The competition though integral to the story becomes the hardest part to reconcile as the pages flip by and the costs mount up for the magic being used, the balancing that must be maintained. Some of these costs are very heavy, burdensome and even fatal. The darker side of the competition is shown in all it's sinister aspects and we are left waiting for the 'other shoe to drop' so to speak.

To show that this book is not for everyone, half of our readers adored this book and would absolutely recommend it as a must read, and the other half were not at all convinced, conceding only that the descriptive writing was excellent but the plot felt thin.

Kudos

Sarah (7798 KP) rated The Night Circus in Books

Sep 18, 2018

The Night Circus

Erin Morgenstern | 2015 | Fiction & Poetry

8.1

(106 Ratings)

Book Rating

Beautifully written

I read this a few years ago and really enjoyed it, and have read it again this week as I'm going to a charity ball themed around the book at the weekend and felt the need to refresh my memory.

This book is even better than I remembered. The description and detail that have gone into the writing are superb. The circus itself is the main character in this and the depth of writing is truly wonderful and magical, it really makes you feel like you're in a circus and definitely makes you wish you could visit a similar one in real life! Whilst the characters themselves take a back seat to the actual circus, they're still well written and aside from a few, are all endearing characters. The plot itself is not quite what you'd expect and I feel like the only issues with this book are the slightly lacklustre ending and the constant jump in time periods that can get a little confusing. Aside from this though, I could not put this book down. It's hugely enjoyable and entertaining, and definitely worth a read.

Kudos

Paper Dolls (Dark Carousel #2)

Anya Allyn

6.0 (1 Ratings) Rate It

Book

Once you've ventured into the underground dollhouse, the spirits there will never release you. ...

supernatural ghosts Dark Carousel Gothic

Rachel (4 KP) rated The Greatest Showman (2017) in Movies

Apr 9, 2018

Love It

Even though I hate the circus, I LOVE this movie! I found myself singing along to the songs. The cast is amazing. However, there were a couple things in the movie I didn’t like, but I can see why they were used for the plot. I could watch this over and over again!