Scan barcode
artstitute's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
I'm a fan of Erin Morgenstern, so understand that when I say this I don't say it with any malice: her books are reliably 0% character, 0% plot, and 1,000% Vibes. And I love it.
Are you looking for something character driven, in which the protagonists behave as three-dimensional human beings with fleshed out inner worlds? Skip this. Are you looking for something plot-driven, that ties up every loose string and delivers a fleshed-out hard magic system? Pass. Do you want a story full of love, whimsy, magic, beautiful ekphrasis and vivid phantasmagorical imagery that conjures a world of magic in your mind? Then this is the book for you!
This isn't my first time reading this book, but it is my first time since high school, and I found the ending more satisfying this time around.I think that while before I saw Marco and Celia's ascension (so to speak) as a cop-out, I now see it as them finally freeing themselves from the cycle of abuse perpetuated by Prospero and Mr. A H—. I did still find Tsukiko's role in their ascension a little disappointing, especially how she approached it. I think the twist that she was a former contender needed more room to breathe than it got.
Are you looking for something character driven, in which the protagonists behave as three-dimensional human beings with fleshed out inner worlds? Skip this. Are you looking for something plot-driven, that ties up every loose string and delivers a fleshed-out hard magic system? Pass. Do you want a story full of love, whimsy, magic, beautiful ekphrasis and vivid phantasmagorical imagery that conjures a world of magic in your mind? Then this is the book for you!
This isn't my first time reading this book, but it is my first time since high school, and I found the ending more satisfying this time around.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse
Moderate: Death
Minor: Blood, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
The first solid chunk of this book is just a detailed description of child abuse and neglect.rosenau's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Body horror
moonchild_cos's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, and Alcohol
Moderate: Death and Death of parent
Minor: Sexual content, Suicide, Grief, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting
purplepenning's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.5
"A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world. His punishment? And his reward." —Oscar Wilde, The Critical as Artist
Undeniably beautiful writing in a turn of the century fairytale that is groundedly gritty and soaringly ethereal. I don't care for circuses, but it was the exact right venue for this story. This one didn't knock me off my feet quite as much as The Starless Sea, which I read first and with no expectations. Partly, I think, because I wasn't as enamored with Marco as I maybe was supposed to be and I wasn't as satisfied with the ending here, but mostly because:
"The finest of pleasure are always the unexpected ones."
Definitely recommend for fans of The Starless Sea and Alix Harrow's Ten Thousand Doors of January.
Undeniably beautiful writing in a turn of the century fairytale that is groundedly gritty and soaringly ethereal. I don't care for circuses, but it was the exact right venue for this story. This one didn't knock me off my feet quite as much as The Starless Sea, which I read first and with no expectations. Partly, I think, because I wasn't as enamored with Marco as I maybe was supposed to be and I wasn't as satisfied with the ending here, but mostly because:
"The finest of pleasure are always the unexpected ones."
Definitely recommend for fans of The Starless Sea and Alix Harrow's Ten Thousand Doors of January.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Abandonment and Alcohol
Abuse of magic/violation of personal agency: stealing memories, advancing by magically enhanced charm and lookstomoonarmy's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Addiction, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Alcohol
lilithreads's review against another edition
adventurous
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Child abuse and Emotional abuse
katvou's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Alcoholism, Animal death, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Alcohol
laneys_library's review against another edition
challenging
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
So so beautiful! I can’t even describe how this book makes me feel. I have the extreme desire to experience the circus for myself. Usually I don’t prefer slow paced books but I loved every second of this! The authors writing is so gorgeous I feel as if I’m there, at the magical night circus. This book is so mysterious, mystical, and surreal. I beg you to read it if you haven’t already!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment and Alcohol
Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Pregnancy
itsheyfay's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Death, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Alcohol
Minor: Infidelity, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt
maeverose's review against another edition
dark
inspiring
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.25
This is a bit of an essay…
This review is for my first re read of this book, which I originally gave 4 or 5 stars (can’t remember)
!!!This will have spoilers so skip if you haven’t read the book!!!
This review is for my first re read of this book, which I originally gave 4 or 5 stars (can’t remember)
!!!This will have spoilers so skip if you haven’t read the book!!!
TL;DR: It didn’t hold up. I feel very similarly as I did for the starless sea. I love the setting with my whole heart, the writing and the atmosphere. Bailey’s chapters remain my favorite. But I was incredibly disappointed with the romance and the way the plot played out.
The things I loved:
The things I loved:
My favorite thing about this book is the circus itself. I wanna visit it so bad. Just the descriptions of the circus, the different foods, performances and tents. I need it to exist.
I also loved the atmospheric writing, the way she describes scents, sounds, etc makes it so immersive.
Bailey’s storyline is my favorite. I love his friendship with Poppet and Widget and his journey to joining the circus himself.
The things I didn’t like:
The things I didn’t like:
The main romance was so disappointing. For a book that’s marketed as a fantasy romance, I would’ve expected more of a focus on the romance. It’s not even a focus until the last third. They barely interact until then. For an opponents-to-lovers, I wanted tension between them before getting to the romance. What little tension there was came in too late and felt forced. It doesn’t have to be full-on enemies to lovers but it just doesn’t make sense to me that by the time they do finally get together, they get together with no hesitation, knowing they’re opponents. They shouldn’t have been that trusting of each other. I didn’t buy their love for each other. It was very instalove on Marco’s part, and instalove doesn’t work for me for multiple reasons. One being that it’s hard for me to buy his attraction to her when he doesn’t even know her. He fell for her years before they ever really spoke to each other, let alone got to know each other. I can’t buy that, personally. And from Celia’s perspective, she didn’t pay him any attention hardly until the end. It literally says in the book that to her he blended into the background before she found out he was her opponent. She didn’t care about him. It was also somewhat instalove for her after that point. Given that this book takes place over so many years, that would’ve suited a slow burn romance perfectly. Even though it takes years for them to get together, it’s not slow burn. The point of slow burn (imo) is the mutual tension and build up before they finally confess their feelings and get together. They need to interact.
Marco’s relationship with Isobel. He was kinda terrible to her. He fell for Celia the moment he saw her, but didn’t break up with Isobel until 15 years later… like yes Isobel could’ve taken the hint that he didn’t like her anymore but it was really sh*tty of him to not just tell her that it was over. He knew Isobel still loved him, or he wouldn’t have broken up with her at all. He just let that go on for 15 years…… another thing about their relationship that bothered me, is if you pay attention, towards the end Isobel says she was younger than Bailey when she met Marco. Bailey was 15 when Isobel met him, Marco was 19 when he met Isobel. So Isobel had to have been 14 at the oldest…. That makes me uncomfortable.
The competition. I liked that it wasn’t action heavy, but I felt like there was so little focus on the competition that it just felt a bit low stakes. Not even just that but it hardly felt like there was a competition at all.
Marco’s relationship with Isobel. He was kinda terrible to her. He fell for Celia the moment he saw her, but didn’t break up with Isobel until 15 years later… like yes Isobel could’ve taken the hint that he didn’t like her anymore but it was really sh*tty of him to not just tell her that it was over. He knew Isobel still loved him, or he wouldn’t have broken up with her at all. He just let that go on for 15 years…… another thing about their relationship that bothered me, is if you pay attention, towards the end Isobel says she was younger than Bailey when she met Marco. Bailey was 15 when Isobel met him, Marco was 19 when he met Isobel. So Isobel had to have been 14 at the oldest…. That makes me uncomfortable.
The competition. I liked that it wasn’t action heavy, but I felt like there was so little focus on the competition that it just felt a bit low stakes. Not even just that but it hardly felt like there was a competition at all.
———————————
I think I’ll still read future books by Erin Morgenstern, because I love her ideas so much, but so far both her books have been disappointing for me. I wish she would work on creating more fleshed out characters and plots, then she could easily be a favorite author.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Murder, and Alcohol
Moderate: Suicide, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Ableism, Confinement, Cursing, Eating disorder, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexual content, and Death of parent
A sort of magical equivalent of terminal illness, stabbing, depression, an unhealthy romantic relationship (side romance), pedophilic relationship (14 & 19 when they get together, side romance)