imaginaryalchemist's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
The Night Circus is pure magic!
Erin Morgenstern is a master of atmosphere, I felt like I was actually at Le Cirque des Rêves, seeing the fantastical performances for myself. The circus itself felt like a character.
I do wish more time had been spent fleshing out Celia and Marco, but that's a minor nitpick. Ultimately the story was more about the circus and it's inner workings, as well as the hidden competition taking place.
My favorite characters by far were Poppet and Widget, they felt the most alive to me. I enjoyed the scenes with them and Bailey exploring the circus. There was a lot of chemistry between Poppet and Bailey.
Overall, I was enthralled by this book. I was drawn into the circus and the world around it. I suppose you could say I've become a rêveur.
Erin Morgenstern is a master of atmosphere, I felt like I was actually at Le Cirque des Rêves, seeing the fantastical performances for myself. The circus itself felt like a character.
I do wish more time had been spent fleshing out Celia and Marco, but that's a minor nitpick. Ultimately the story was more about the circus and it's inner workings, as well as the hidden competition taking place.
Spoiler
The ending was bittersweet, in my opinion. I'm glad Celia and Marco were together in the end, and that the circus lives on, even if it means they only exist within it. I'm also glad that Bailey reunited with Poppet and Widget.My favorite characters by far were Poppet and Widget, they felt the most alive to me. I enjoyed the scenes with them and Bailey exploring the circus. There was a lot of chemistry between Poppet and Bailey.
Overall, I was enthralled by this book. I was drawn into the circus and the world around it. I suppose you could say I've become a rêveur.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief, Injury/injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Suicide, and Abandonment
Minor: Child abuse and Animal death
Some of what Celia's father, Hector, does can be seen as abusive. At one point he slices open the tips of her fingers repeatedly to get her to practice healing them. There is a brief mention of a dove having its neck snapped. There are mentions of blood and injury. In one scene, Celia stabs her hand with a dagger.Spoiler
Two characters die pretty horrifically. One is hit by a train, the other takes a dagger to the heart. There are mentions of suicide as well, including someone setting herself on fireabookwormspov's review
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Dementia, Suicide, Grief, Gaslighting, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Murder, Mental illness, Confinement, Violence, Toxic relationship, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Death, Torture, Injury/injury detail, and Child abuse
gen_geeks's review against another edition
mysterious
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
I love this book so much. It’s just so whimsical. The prose is excellent and I constantly feel like I am within the story and the circus itself.
There is not really much of a plot, and you don’t learn that much about each of the characters, so if that bothers you, don’t read this book haha. But the environment and atmosphere in this story is some of the best I’ve ever read.
I love that there are multiple perspectives that we get to explore, and I especially love the framing device of the second person chapters before each act. It really exemplifies the circus atmosphere perfectly and makes you feel even more connected to the story.
The romance subplot (?) is not the best developed but I simply don’t care because the ✨VIBES✨
that’s my only thoughts about this book: the writing craft is impeccable, as are the vibes. The whimsy magical circus has a place in my heart 🥰
There is not really much of a plot, and you don’t learn that much about each of the characters, so if that bothers you, don’t read this book haha. But the environment and atmosphere in this story is some of the best I’ve ever read.
I love that there are multiple perspectives that we get to explore, and I especially love the framing device of the second person chapters before each act. It really exemplifies the circus atmosphere perfectly and makes you feel even more connected to the story.
The romance subplot (?) is not the best developed but I simply don’t care because the ✨VIBES✨
that’s my only thoughts about this book: the writing craft is impeccable, as are the vibes. The whimsy magical circus has a place in my heart 🥰
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide
annabeth_winters's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.5
Oh, wow. I had this book on my radar for three years, I believe. I was always so curious about it, just from seeing the cover and hearing about how the circus arrived. It intrigued me, pulled me in with only those two things and that was my first fault.
*cracks knuckles* okay, let’s go.
Too too many things to cover when discussing this book… Where do I even begin?
Let’s go in order of what bothered me the least to most (with the exception of the lines I enjoyed being in a separate section underneath everything else.)
I actually laughed twice! Neither was anything really noteworthy, but among the rest of the mess of this book, any laugh (or joy) is noteworthy. Besides this, though, I enjoyed a few lines of the writing (see the 𝑳𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒔 𝑰 𝑬𝒏𝒋𝒐𝒚𝒆𝒅 section below the review), but that’s the only other thing that I can say I didn’t hate or wasn’t confused or disgusted by.
Language is next up on the ranking of what bothered me least to most. It was actually less prevalent throughout the whole book than I was expecting when it started out, almost immediately, with a F bomb. After the 70(ish?)% mark, though, the details of kisses, etc. got way more constant — and worse. I expected this to a degree, but the way that it ended up being, I started questioning if I was mistaken and this book was actually marketed as Adult, but alas, it was definitely marketed to the age 15/16+. Disgusting is the only word I have to describe how learning that information made me feel. I will not give examples, but the descriptions and the (albeit singular) fade-to-black (but incredibly descriptive before it does) scene were just so aggravating for me. This one thing alone probably dropped my entire rating for the book by a whole star, I would say. And that was my least hated section of them all! Here we go!
Next up is magic, actually. I normally would not expect a book like this to bother me as little with the magic as this one did. I have a theory as to why it is so high on the least-to-most bothersome ranking here, though… it wasn’t even there… or, it barely was. For a book that claims that it is both Fantasy and Magical Realism, you would expect it to be simply oozing with magic tricks and manipulations. And, while these things were definitely there, they weren’t really presented to the reader all that often. By this, I mean that I would know that there were tricks and manipulations happening in multiple places at any given time, but simply would only see them (or hear them talked about, whether briefly or not) a handful of times. It definitely still bothered me, but it was so less prevalent (at least to me) than the general confusion I was experiencing that it didn’t seem as bad in comparison with the rest of it. The reason that the language bothered me less than this is the simple fact that the magic is meant to be a part of the plot, and it barely felt like it was, so I feel like that’s a bigger slip up in the grand view of this book than language and descriptions that I personally do not enjoy reading.
And finally, the section of the review that I don’t know how to title! Here I am going to talk about the general plot (or lack thereof) and characters, and the confusion that was constantly surrounding me while reading this book. I never know how to talk about the parts of books that completely confuse me, and even more so with this one, because it was basically the entire book. Simply put, this book was either not explained well to the reader (or, at least to me) or it was not ever developed well – I honestly couldn’t tell you which. Something feels… off while you’re reading this book, and I’m not convinced that it’s only because it is, wholly, an odd plot. The characters weren’t necessarily always confusing, but they were… oddly written, almost like they were only partially developed and then treated throughout the drafting process as if they were fully developed just as they were... Maybe it’s just Morgenstern’s style, but it did not work for me either way. Regardless of the fact that I’m not sure how to properly talk about either the plot (or lack thereof) nor the characters, these things bothered me the most of anything else in the book, and for a good reason I think. You can’t enjoy a book if you’re constantly confused.
This review doesn’t feel perfectly crafted to me, unfortunately, but I can’t help it if I get sick while writing it… I guess the winter season just has the odds stacked up against my immune system. That’s all I have to say, folks! I’m glad there are people out there who love this book, but… couldn’t be me.
———
𝑳𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒔 𝑰 𝑬𝒏𝒋𝒐𝒚𝒆𝒅:
“a ball gown fashioned out of the night sky”
“‘It’s not enough,’ her father says.
‘When will it be enough?’”
“‘I do not see as well without her. I do not hear as well without her. I do not feel as well without her. I would be better off without a hand or a leg than without my sister. Then at least she would be here to mock my appearance and claim to be the pretty one for a change. We have all lost our Tara, but I have lost a part of myself as well.’”
“‘I think it strange we were prepared in drastically different ways for the same challenge,’
‘I suspect that is part of the point. Two schools of thought pitted against each other, working within the same environment.’”
“‘… We are all involved in your game, and it seems we are not as easily repaired as teacups.’”
“‘“I keep looking for answers, for the right thing to do, and nothing’s been clear except for you.’”
———
There’s a point where there’s a dialogue exchange that goes exactly like:
“You ask a lot of questions”
“You don’t answer many of them”
And, I just would like to say that that is what me and this book’s dialogue would look like if it cared to ever speak to me.
*cracks knuckles* okay, let’s go.
Too too many things to cover when discussing this book… Where do I even begin?
Let’s go in order of what bothered me the least to most (with the exception of the lines I enjoyed being in a separate section underneath everything else.)
I actually laughed twice! Neither was anything really noteworthy, but among the rest of the mess of this book, any laugh (or joy) is noteworthy. Besides this, though, I enjoyed a few lines of the writing (see the 𝑳𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒔 𝑰 𝑬𝒏𝒋𝒐𝒚𝒆𝒅 section below the review), but that’s the only other thing that I can say I didn’t hate or wasn’t confused or disgusted by.
Language is next up on the ranking of what bothered me least to most. It was actually less prevalent throughout the whole book than I was expecting when it started out, almost immediately, with a F bomb. After the 70(ish?)% mark, though, the details of kisses, etc. got way more constant — and worse. I expected this to a degree, but the way that it ended up being, I started questioning if I was mistaken and this book was actually marketed as Adult, but alas, it was definitely marketed to the age 15/16+. Disgusting is the only word I have to describe how learning that information made me feel. I will not give examples, but the descriptions and the (albeit singular) fade-to-black (but incredibly descriptive before it does) scene were just so aggravating for me. This one thing alone probably dropped my entire rating for the book by a whole star, I would say. And that was my least hated section of them all! Here we go!
Next up is magic, actually. I normally would not expect a book like this to bother me as little with the magic as this one did. I have a theory as to why it is so high on the least-to-most bothersome ranking here, though… it wasn’t even there… or, it barely was. For a book that claims that it is both Fantasy and Magical Realism, you would expect it to be simply oozing with magic tricks and manipulations. And, while these things were definitely there, they weren’t really presented to the reader all that often. By this, I mean that I would know that there were tricks and manipulations happening in multiple places at any given time, but simply would only see them (or hear them talked about, whether briefly or not) a handful of times. It definitely still bothered me, but it was so less prevalent (at least to me) than the general confusion I was experiencing that it didn’t seem as bad in comparison with the rest of it. The reason that the language bothered me less than this is the simple fact that the magic is meant to be a part of the plot, and it barely felt like it was, so I feel like that’s a bigger slip up in the grand view of this book than language and descriptions that I personally do not enjoy reading.
And finally, the section of the review that I don’t know how to title! Here I am going to talk about the general plot (or lack thereof) and characters, and the confusion that was constantly surrounding me while reading this book. I never know how to talk about the parts of books that completely confuse me, and even more so with this one, because it was basically the entire book. Simply put, this book was either not explained well to the reader (or, at least to me) or it was not ever developed well – I honestly couldn’t tell you which. Something feels… off while you’re reading this book, and I’m not convinced that it’s only because it is, wholly, an odd plot. The characters weren’t necessarily always confusing, but they were… oddly written, almost like they were only partially developed and then treated throughout the drafting process as if they were fully developed just as they were... Maybe it’s just Morgenstern’s style, but it did not work for me either way. Regardless of the fact that I’m not sure how to properly talk about either the plot (or lack thereof) nor the characters, these things bothered me the most of anything else in the book, and for a good reason I think. You can’t enjoy a book if you’re constantly confused.
This review doesn’t feel perfectly crafted to me, unfortunately, but I can’t help it if I get sick while writing it… I guess the winter season just has the odds stacked up against my immune system. That’s all I have to say, folks! I’m glad there are people out there who love this book, but… couldn’t be me.
———
𝑳𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒔 𝑰 𝑬𝒏𝒋𝒐𝒚𝒆𝒅:
“a ball gown fashioned out of the night sky”
“‘It’s not enough,’ her father says.
‘When will it be enough?’”
“‘I do not see as well without her. I do not hear as well without her. I do not feel as well without her. I would be better off without a hand or a leg than without my sister. Then at least she would be here to mock my appearance and claim to be the pretty one for a change. We have all lost our Tara, but I have lost a part of myself as well.’”
“‘I think it strange we were prepared in drastically different ways for the same challenge,’
‘I suspect that is part of the point. Two schools of thought pitted against each other, working within the same environment.’”
“‘… We are all involved in your game, and it seems we are not as easily repaired as teacups.’”
“‘“I keep looking for answers, for the right thing to do, and nothing’s been clear except for you.’”
———
There’s a point where there’s a dialogue exchange that goes exactly like:
“You ask a lot of questions”
“You don’t answer many of them”
And, I just would like to say that that is what me and this book’s dialogue would look like if it cared to ever speak to me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse
Moderate: Suicide, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts
tomoonarmy's review
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: Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Murder, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Blood, Grief, Addiction, Alcohol, Body horror, Panic attacks/disorders, Child abuse, and Death
annasbooks00's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
4.75
10/10 reading experience
Content Warnings
Moderate: Injury/injury detail, Murder, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Grief
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, Murder, Alcohol, Blood, Gaslighting, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Infidelity, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt
etherealaide's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Murder, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Sexual content
talonsontypewriters's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Animal death, Murder, Violence, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Grief, Injury/injury detail, Death, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, and Self harm
Minor: Sexism, Suicide, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Misogyny, and Suicidal thoughts
writewithapendragon's review
adventurous
mysterious
slow-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
Intensely atmospheric, enchanting language and setting. I didn’t buy into the main romance but I don’t know that it took away from my enjoyment of the book overall.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Suicide, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Death, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Alcohol, Blood, Confinement, Sexual content, Bullying, Death, Death of parent, and Emotional abuse
Romance/sexual content is all G rated/alluded to, no sexual content on the page though there is kissing.