The Night Circus

I read this book in December and discussed in January in my book club. We had a great discussion and overall everyone liked it. Here's the review I posted on the book club's blog.

"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."

And so begins the story about two men who pit their apprentices against each in a challenge that ends with only one winner. Filled with mystery, romance, and magic, this book was, at times, mesmerizing and made me want to go to the Night Circus. This circus is like no ordinary circus where customers sit and be entertained by various performers. No, it's meant to be explored. And for someone who loves to explore new things at her own pace, it was a perfect book.

I felt like this book had a lot of strengths sprinkled with some weaknesses. I absolutely loved the author's descriptions of the various tents inside the circus. Each tent is magical in its own right, filled with impossible but incredible feats. Some chapters allow you, the reader, to take a slight break from the story and make you feel like you're the one exploring the circus. I also liked the puzzle of the two apprentices trying to figure out who they were competing against. The typesetting and design of the book was fantastic! And overall, the feeling of the book fit the story--dreamlike, ethereal, and magical.

I go back and forth when books are written in the present tense. Sometimes the author pulls it off really well, while other times not so much. This book did all right. There were a few times where I felt like it didn't work, but for the most part it didn't bother me.

One weakness that the book club members pointed out was the lack of conflict and unclear boundaries of the magic used in the book. 

Here we have two men who use different methods of magic, both feeling like his method is better than the other. One leaned toward raw talent, the natural magic inside his apprentice--in this case, his daughter. The other leaned toward studying and practicing of magic from books. He takes an orphan boy to train him. Neither master is particularly close to their apprentices. Neither are really to be rooted for. And as for the apprentices, both are likeable enough, so it's hard to choose a favorite. And since readers know that only one apprentice will survive the challenge, it becomes frustrating when neither master tells the apprentices that important fact. The masters hardly say anything about the rules, really. So just when you think this is going to be about the masters, it turns into a story about the players.  In the end, this ebb and flow of wondering where the story goes makes the conflict disappear and reappear in a different shape. It can get ambiguous--and I lost interest a bit. 

Although magic appears in the book frequently, it's never quite defined. What kind of magic is it? Or how does it work really? Those aren't ever answered. It's as if magic has always been there and we the readers should just accept it as it is. This aspect leads to revelations in the book that made me wonder if the author had a clear plan for the dramatic end or if she just made it up as she wrote. And that bothered me a little. Don't get me wrong: the ending was pretty awesome how she wrapped it up, but some aspects of how the author used magic to get to that ending seemed like cheating, somehow. But it is her story and her world . . .

I gave the book 4 stars on Goodreads. It definitely was enjoyable to read!