"The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern

Title: The Night Circus
Author: Erin Morgenstern
Publisher: Anchor
Year: 2012
Genre(s):historical fiction, historical romance, historical fantasy
Part of a Series: No.
Rating:  

Why I read it: Because it was the big release in Summer 2012.

Summary: I usually try to summarize the books I read on my own, but this time, I’m going to defer to the Goodreads summary:

The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night.

But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway - a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love - a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands.

True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus per­formers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead.

Review: I really looked forward to reading this book. It was like the hit book of 2012 (aside from a certain erotic trilogy that shall remain nameless) and everywhere I went, there was praise for it. I was sorry I didn’t get to read it until 2016 but after starting it, it was a struggle to finish. It honestly took me a little over 2 years to do so and there were a few times I considered abandoning the book but decided to keep pushing on.

I really, really wanted to like. I wanted to love it. Almost everyone I know who has read it loved it. But in the end, I’m just lukewarm to it—at best.

The thing is I really liked the Celia and Marco romance and how that all played out. Whenever we were focused on them, it was intriguing and I was engaged. The side plot with Poppet, Widget and Bailey wasn’t too bad either. However, both felt like they deserved their own books but had been mashed together so both were suffering. Then it got a little too busy with writing about all these side characters…I guess in the end, my main complaint was that there was too much and the story got lost several times for me. While I’m sure there are those who loved all those chapters and see it as a cohesive whole, I just see plot detours and chapters that stop the plot. I think a lot more darlings should’ve been killed in the editing process.

But that’s just me.

I also wished we had stayed more with the circus rather than going to so many other places. Everything was so magical at the circus and it felt so real, like we were actually there. When we weren’t there, everything seemed a bit duller and less boring. So I didn’t see the point in going to other places—except for when we were with Marco and Celia. Then it made sense but as I’ve complained, we were often diverted from their story way too much.

It pains me because there was so much promise in the book for me. I just felt it needed to be tighter—more focused rather than flitting from person to person. Or maybe I just wanted more focus on the romance. It was billed as one but in the end, the romance was rather secondary to nearly everything else in the book. If you tell me I’m reading a romance, there better be a romance front and center!
I think I will wrap this up as it’s starting to get more negative than I like.

Bottom line: A promising story that needed to stay more focused.
Sex: Hinted at.

Moonlight Musing

Have you ever been so excited to read a book and then been disappointed?