Honest Reviews- The Night Circus

Firstly, the nitty-gritty:

Pages: 516 (pretty girthy)

Genre: Fantasy, Magic, Magical realism, Romance, Teen

You might be asking: aren't you about 10 years late to the hype? Yup.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern was published in late 2011, but really blew up as a teen favorite in the twenty-teens. The book incited a cult following (sans the red scarves) of dedicated readers swept away by the storytelling and intrigue of Morgenstern's writing, here's why:

The Night Circus follows a murky magical competition, which takes place in a traveling circus fueled by the collective will, love, and magic of its inhabitants. The competitors in this competition are as skilled as they are mysterious. The fantasy magical realism is heightened by romance and companionship, found families just as significant as ones born into.

The collective love and wonder that shapes every phrase and passage in this book cements its position as a love letter to the genre.

Is it any good?

The Night Circus has its highs: the tone, the magical realism, the lush fantasy element, and a unique and explosive cast of characters; but, it also has its lows: slow pacing, confusing timelines, an obscenely large cast of characters, and quite a bit of narrative meandering.

A note about the slow pacing: many readers love it. Something that served as a con for me is the main source of joy for many readers, so, to each their own. In fact, I would argue that it's one of the reasons that The Night Circus achieved the level of adoration that it did. The pacing allows for lush detailing: not a stone is left unturned without it first being intimately described. Morgenstern's descriptive skills are prominently on display and the book certainly can't be criticized for not being fully fleshed out. Every i is dotted and every T is crossed.

Reading The Night Circus can sometimes feel like you're in your first college creative writing class and you're reading a classmate's work that spiraled far out of control of the prompt. The narrative sprawls over as much territory as it can cover and its method in doing so is chaotic. That being said, it adds to the mystical mood of the book.

Without any *spoilers* I must also admit that I wasn't very convinced by the romantic plot. It felt at best tepid and at worst manipulative. I think there's much more to gain in reading this relationship as it is rather than labeling it as 'good' or as 'bad', but it's definitely something to be on the lookout for while reading.

My rating:

This book took me a grand total of four months to finish. Which may not be saying much because I do read quite a few books at once and some are bound to get stuck on the back burner once in a while.

It was given to me, annotated, as a gift. Despite the density of the plot, I felt like I was always able to come back to it with minimal difficulty after breaks that sometimes spanned entire weeks.

I gave this book 3.5/5 stars... but in a good way!

The thing is: I think this truly is a wonderful addition to the magical realism genre, but it's not my cup of tea. My biggest bone to pick was with the pacing issues (as I've already blabbed on about), but I adored its descriptive style and bold magic system, which were truly enchanting.

Overall, The Night Circus was a pleasant read and a magical escape.

Readers who've read Cinder, Six of Crows, or Ninth House may enjoy The Night Circus.

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