The Night Circus (Review)

Never have I felt so immersed in a magical world like The Night Circus since reading Harry Potter. 

The Night Circus follows Les Cirque du Reves, a circus that opens at midnight and closes at dawn, appearing one night and gone the next. Amidst the tents are marvels and wonders that awe people around the world, but hidden beneath there is also a lifelong game in which two magicians fight to be the best.

Morgenstern’s curt yet whimsical and elegant writing style suits this story so well and becomes so engaging that it’s easily the star of the show. Its somewhat meandering and self-indulgent nature may be too flowery for some readers, but I found there to be enough substance behind it that it didn’t become overmuch. The only problem with such perfectly poetic prose is that any small incongruencies or mistakes stand out unmistakably so, therefore any repetitions or less-than-ideal word choices become obvious.  

“We lead strange lives, chasing our dreams around from place to place.”

You’ll have to pay attention, however, in order to grasp the small, important details. Every short chapter has a title and a date, and, out of order as they often are, you’ll need to make note of the year in order to make sense of the series of events. This story is not one you can read casually if you want to understand it fully.

In fact, it took me until the very end of the book to realize what it was really about.

“You may tell a tale that takes up residence in someone’s soul, becomes their blood and self and purpose. That tale will move them and drive them and who knows what they might do because of it, because of your words. That is your role, your gift.”

To say this story is about two people playing a game of magic and cunning and secrets would not be a good enough representation of the full story. In the last few chapters I finally realized that the main character was not actually Celia or Marco, or even Bailey, but the circus itself. How it was born, how it grew, and what it became in and of itself and for other people and the world in which it exists…which means that all the other numerous characters, as strange and fascinating as they are, are merely pawns in the life of the Les Cirques des Reves….including ourselves, who are referred to throughout in small third-person-style vignettes scattered amidst the story.

Before realizing this, I might’ve said that the romance lacked detail needed to make readers emotional and that although the characters were full of intrigue and mystery, most failed at feeling real rather than just magic, or smoke and mirrors. As a conventional story about two characters falling in love, or even more generally about two characters working towards a means, this book fails. But as a work of exploration, of total immersion into a world with a touch of experimentation, I believe it succeeds. 

I rated The Night Circus 4 out of 5 stars. It has its flaws, but for its originality, immersiveness and beautiful writing, it is so very worth reading.  Fans of A Winter’s Promise will enjoy this.