Hunger Games meets The Prestige and makes for a magical experience.
Summary:
Two magicians are locked in a mysterious duel of skill, strength, and endurance. But instead of a Coliseum, they are tasked with putting feats of magic as tents in an elegant circus that is only open at night. Many people are tied to the circus and as the competition (and the competitors’ feelings) heat up, they threaten to run down everything they’ve built and all of the people around them.
Verdict: 9/10
From the very first sentences, this novel had me entranced. Morgenstern’s imagery is comparable to other literary masters like Markus Zusak (author of my favorite book, The Book Thief).
Her prose and narrative are absolute poetry and sensory in every way that a book can be. Even separate from the plot, the descriptions of this fantastical world of the circus is worth reading in itself. That being said, the plot was also engaging.
Picture Hunger Games meets The Prestige and you have a small inkling of what this book comprises.
I thought that this would be a regular Romeo + Juliet storyline, but it was much more, namely because of the other characters. Marco and Celia lead very different lives throughout the whole first half, rarely intersecting and rarely outside of the competition. But that means that their acquaintances are separate and distinct.
This added a layer that many stories have to leave out. People in a couple are not automatically a pair. They have their own lives, tastes, friends, and histories. And in this novel, the reader sees this fully play out. Marco is involved with Isobel, the fortuneteller. Celia is driven by the competition and finds enjoyment in befriending other performers. But once the game starts to infringe on these outside relationships, you see the effect on more than just the competitors but on everyone that has become connected with the circus and them. I thought this was the most intriguing part of the book as the consequences of a choice the characters didn’t make starts to take its toll and you see how each person reacts differently. Thus, the relationships between everyone change alongside that. It added so much more depth to a story that could have been two-dimensional.
But with this much complexity and imagery, Morgenstern absolutely makes her story 4D.
There were a few draw backs being that there were so many characters and dates to keep track of. It takes place over decades. In one way, this gives the reader a broad scope to see everything and watch every decision and move take effect in the short and long-term. I did end up writing out my own timeline for the story though to give myself an anchor. I had to keep checking dates to figure out what was happening when, which things were flashbacks or flash forwards or whatnot. (If you need the timeline, I'd be happy to send it to you, but it does contain spoilers.) This confusion could be in part because it took me a while to get into this read as I kept starting and stopping and outside distractions.
But once I hit the second half of the book, I couldn’t put it down, staying up late to finish the book in one sitting. I haven’t done that in a while. Or felt as many heart-wrenching emotions since quite a few novels ago.
I will say that the ending was a bit too on-the-nose for me as it was all done with a nice little bow, but I was still happy with how it was done.
There were countless advanced theme that I think I could have hour-long discussion on: background characters being aware of their temporary and sideline usefullness, learned/nurtured skill versus innate talent, color coordination, ethics of others, etc. And I think the whole scattered timeline really played in well with the theme of fortune telling, prophecy, and the future. Again, it was harder to keep track of with all the breaks in my reading, but if I read through it with more focus, I think I could fully grasp these intricacies better. And Morgenstern is anything but simple.
It felt like every sentence and graphic and formatting and theme and image was there for a reason.
The author takes every little detail, from the time stamps to the star-illustrations into account. There are some books that you can tell the editor just threw something in to add effect, and there are others that are artfully crafted and there for a purpose. The Night Circus is one of the latter.
It’s evident that Morgenstern took the time to really be intentional with every choice. And it pays off in a magical novel that had me entertained to the last. Great read.
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