Goodreads Mobile | see what your friends are reading

Jan 30, 2012

Lucy rated it:

I disliked this book, which means I ought to rate it one star, but it is not as awful as my one star shelf. One star books have to really repulse me to get that rating. The only redeeming thing about The Night Circus is that I didn't feel the one star compulsion to start a bonfire so I could properly dispose of it, hence two stars, but in this case it does not mean I enjoyed the book at all.

From the Goodreads summary: "But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway—a du More...

114 comments like (258 people liked it)

Sep 19, 2011

Tatiana rated it:

The Night Circus will be a 5-star book for a certain reader. This reader likes a lot of descriptions, doesn't mind a very slow story and has a soft spot for circuses. I am not that reader. I prefer imagery to complement a plot rather than substitute it.

The plot summary of The Night Circus promised many enticing things, but delivered, in my opinion, only on one - lush imagery of a mysterious circus that was a collaborative creation of two rivaling magicians. The book was good 80% desc More...

57 comments like (204 people liked it)

Jan 19, 2012

Jessica rated it:

As a young girl, Celia Bowen is delivered to the father she never knew, a world famous magician whose secret is that his show is genuine magic - not illusions. He teaches Celia to manipulate the world in the same way so that she can compete in a high-stakes game against Marco, an orphan similarly trained by her father's nemesis. The arena for this game is an elaborate, surreal circus. Neither Celia nor Marco knows the extent of the game, nor their opponent, until they have fallen in love with ea More...

12 comments like (50 people liked it)

Jan 29, 2012

Rane rated it:

I remember when I was a kid, my Dad took me to the Circus, a small traveling circus with a few shows and a fewer animals, a circus that was rare even then and not heard of now of days. I remember holding my Dad's hand as we walked through the huge big top tent and feeling something magical and rare falling over me.
One show that I can clearly remember even years after is of a young woman, a Aerial silk performer as she made the silk fabric dance for her with ease and grace a More...

24 comments like (31 people liked it)

Sep 21, 2011

Cait rated it:

Aw hell, I'm going to rate this 4.5 stars. I can't resist this book was so freaking good. I don't normally change my ratings, so don't expect this TOO often.

My feelings are so conflicted about this book. I don't know whether to immortalize it for all eternity in a frame on my wall, or throw it into the fire.

So, how the hell am I supposed to rate this book? A million stars, one star, 837 stars, what? In the end I did some crazy, overly complicated math that really makes More...

53 comments like (128 people liked it)

Feb 08, 2012

Jillian -always aspiring- rated it:

(Actual Rating: 3.5 stars)

Erin Morgenstern's debut novel, The Night Circus, is a book bound to divide book lovers into the "loved it" and "hated it" categories. Some people will adore the prose; others will despise it for being flowery and excessive. Some readers will hate the false promises the blurb on the jacket copy offers; others will still find something magical to love and admire in this novel despite the deception within the blurb. As for me, I was divided More...

3 comments like (16 people liked it)

Nov 01, 2011

Lo rated it:

This review will not recap the story, but below are my general thoughts on the book.

http://welovedystopianromance.blogspot.c...

I really, really wanted to like this book. Everyone and every review (okay maybe not every,) but the majority say that this is the best book in forever. I might be in the unpopular opinion here, but I would have wanted someone to tell me that the book's official summary is misleading. I was lead to believe that this was going to be non-stop act More...

3 comments like (31 people liked it)

Dec 06, 2011

Katie(babs) rated it:

“The circus arrives without warning.” (This may be the most talked about opening line of any book to be published this year.)

The book this opening statement comes from is called The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern and one that amazed me in so many ways. All my emotions were engaged as I read. I was enthralled to the point I wanted to curse Erin because I was utterly obsessed with this fantasy world she has created. Words are poetry where the writer is the artist responsible in creat More...

6 comments like (26 people liked it)

Sep 13, 2011

Cameron rated it:

THE NIGHT CIRCUS is magical realism at its most fun. The major storyline pits two young magicians (and two schools of thought) in a mysterious battle set in a traveling night circus. The circus is both the main and most interesting character. The secondary story line involves a young boy in Massachusetts who visits the circus and returns as a young man. The tertiary story line involves you, the reader, walking through the circus in the present day.

The structure of the book mimics More...

4 comments like (52 people liked it)

Dec 12, 2011

Carol rated it:

Sometimes I want chocolate. And sometimes I want the chocolate experience. I'm as guilty as the next person of the occasional vending machine pick-up for when I need those quick fixes. But then there's the slow anticipation. Take last week, for instance. It had been a few days since the last time. As I waited in line for my latte, my eyes happened to linger on a cute little cupcake, dark velvety goodness. Short, stacked, with a swirl of fluffy milk chocolate frosting. I resisted temptation, b More...

5 comments like (23 people liked it)

Dec 18, 2011

Stephanie rated it:

Ummm. This was amazing. This was magical. This was sometimes confusing, but an awesome ride nonetheless. That's really all guys. Ms. Mogenstern's debut is worth the hype IMO. :-)

ETA:

After thinking about this further, I felt like maybe I should do a little more explaining. But that's just it, I love this book and can't really put my love for it into words accurately. It was all about the experience I had while reading it. It was really quite special. It's all about the ef More...

0 comments like (10 people liked it)

Oct 12, 2011

Anya rated it:

This was fantastic. The imagery is unbelievable, passages I had to read over and over again, not because the language was too wordy but because there was just so much in it and I wanted the whole view. I kept thinking she couldn't top a scenario she had built whether it was aspects of the circus or the dinners or just anything, but the last scene, the culmination was so amazing. It's not boring either; some authors drone on and on with imagery and describing setting, but in this book, the circus More...

1 comment like (17 people liked it)

Sep 11, 2011

Mocha ღ Latte rated it:

More of my reviews at A Cupcake and a Latte:YA Reads, Reviews & More!

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern is wonderfully magical, exciting and surprising. Bundled in a beautiful black hardcover, featuring beautiful cover art that features Les Cirque De Reves, this story takes a life of it's own.

Imagine this:

The circus appears out of no where
You have no idea when and where it came from, but it's there.
The tents are tall and are striped in black and More...

40 comments like (26 people liked it)

Feb 21, 2012

SL rated it:

Edit: Okay I've re-read The Night Circus recently and was absolutely blown away again. I know in my review I initially gave it a 4 stars because of the lack lustre ending but the journey The Night Circus took me on was so intriguing and beautiful that the ending didn't bother me at all.

On a 2nd read, The Night Circus really comes to life as it shines like a beacon in the night sky. There's so much detail that I got to appreciate on my 2nd read, it was as if I had taken an entirely d More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Feb 03, 2012

Jo Anne rated it:

This was such a gem to read. I treasured every word. The writing on the page seemed magical. This book totally enveloped me. I loved the premise of the book and the characters but the best part was the author's writing. Such beautifully, descriptive prose that seemed to capture the essence of magic and its effect on you. .

The most interesting thing about this book was that the magic was real and it was being disguised as illusions. I was expecting the opposite which is typical of mos More...

1 comment like (6 people liked it)

Dec 26, 2011

Inspired Kathy rated it:

Stop by my blog to enter my Book Giveaway for The Night Circus - Ends 12/31/11
http://iamareadernotawriter.blogspot.com...

First off I listened to the audio version of this book. Jim Dale is the narrator and everything came alive as he read this book. I'm not sure if my experience would have been different if I had read the book. It is full of details and descriptions. It seemed like half this book was nothing more than imagery and the characters seemed almost secondary More...

19 comments like (5 people liked it)

Dec 06, 2011

Jason rated it:

5 Stars
This book is not without flaws even though I am giving it full marks. The story does not truly hook you as the reader until the halfway mark of this book. I found that I had little attachment to either the main protagonists, Celia and Marco until their first meeting together. This book does not answer all your questions, nor does it resolve all the plot lines. I agree however, with many of the fabulous reviews here, that this is a magically written, lyrically told fantastical love More...

3 comments like (11 people liked it)

Nov 06, 2011

Misha rated it:

Good but not great. I enjoyed The Night Circus a lot but didn't fall madly in love with it as I expected to, and as many others have.

The Night Circus is one of the most imaginative books I have read. I loved the author's descriptions of the circus. The lush imagery she creates is beautiful; I felt myself transported into the enchanting world of the circus.

On the other hand, I feel a little disappointed that I didn't love the book as much as others have. The problem was I More...

6 comments like (9 people liked it)

Oct 15, 2011

Melki rated it:

The book begins with two creepy illusionists and a challenge. Prospero the Enchanter and the man in the grey suit will play a game and two children will be their pawns. A scant few chapters are devoted to the training of the youngsters who are left knowing there is to be a duel, but uncertain of any of the circumstances that will be involved, who the opponent will be, or where and when the contest will take place.
Suddenly, they are both grown-up and involved with the Night Circus - a be More...

3 comments like (17 people liked it)

Feb 01, 2012

Keith rated it:

For readers with functioning imaginations any descriptive apparitions found only serve to enrich the world created in The Night Circus. Beautifully written and cleverly told, I am hard pressed to find but the most trivial of faults. I hope you enjoy this rare effort as much as I did.

I received this book through a Goodreads First Reads Giveaway.

0 comments like (7 people liked it)

Dec 08, 2011

Mackenzie rated it:

I feel bad only bothering to write a review for a book that I didn't like, but it must be done. I had positive expectations going into this book because of the blurbs on the back, particularly Audrey Niffenegger's and Tea Obreht's (she's only put out one book, definitely better than this one, though you can still tell it's a first book) and because I had heard it was longlisted for the Guardian First Book Prize. While the idea of this book is good and she certainly has an imagination, the execut More...

7 comments like (18 people liked it)

Dec 12, 2011

Melissa rated it:

Let it be known: I have mixed feeling about this book. I have also recently become far more stingy with my star allotment on Goodreads.com and that fact indirectly affects this review.

Okay, anyway. "The Night Circus" was beautiful. Really, really beautiful. It was a fantastic novel with fantastic characters and managed to produce more heart strings than I could have imagined capable of being pulled.

This novel features a contortionist who has the tragedies/ More...

1 comment like (5 people liked it)

Dec 03, 2011

Michele rated it:

The Night Circus is the highly (overly) hyped debut novel from Erin Morgenstern that revolves around a magical circus. Labeled a love story, for the two protagonists do indeed fall in love, I never really felt the love or the magic of the circus draw me into the novel. Instead, I spent most of my time waiting for the "really good part." It never really came until the last 50 pages which contained some lovely poetic insight into human nature (magic or no).

The Night Circus i More...

2 comments like (6 people liked it)

Aug 26, 2011

Teresa rated it:

"The circus arrives without warning.

No announcements precede it, no paper notices on downtown posts and billboards, no mentions or advertisements in local newspapers. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not."

So our story begins – the circus just appearing out of the ether as did my advance review copy of this debut novel, much to my delight. The UK edition looks stunning with black edged paper and end papers illustrated with a pattern of bowlers and top More...

6 comments like (13 people liked it)

Jul 25, 2011

Doubleday rated it:

We couldn't be more enchanted by Erin Morgenstern's captivating le Cirque des Reves. A treat for the senses! Find exclusive content for the book at http://www.facebook.com/erinmorgensternb...

0 comments like (12 people liked it)

Jan 27, 2012

Kristin rated it:

What a magical book. I fell in love with Le Cirque des Rêves. The novel took me quite awhile to read because I've been so busy (4 whole days!), and I really looked forward to the stolen moments when I could escape to the circus of black and white. The contents of every tent were meaningful and beautiful, not just entertaining. I could smell the caramel in the air. The bonfire and the clock of dreams were enchanting and fascinating. The characters were mysterious and compelling (though less engag More...

2 comments like (6 people liked it)

Dec 13, 2011

± Colleen of the Crawling Chaos ± rated it:

3.75

This is another one of those hard ones for me to review.

Overall, I really liked the story - the idea of the Night Circus, the whole dream-like quality of it, and how it effected the lives of those involved in it, both for good and ill. I liked the characters - Celia and Marco, yes, but also Poppet and Widget and Bailey and Mr. Thiessen and mysterious Tsukiko... because it's more about the Circus than it is about the challenge, even if the challenge sort of creates th More...

4 comments like (16 people liked it)

Feb 11, 2012

Shruti rated it:

What an amazing book; full of metaphor and circus magic. Truly one of the best books that I read this year - and definitely on the best reads of my life list. I suspect this is going to be a love it or hate it book for most people, depending on how much they are bothered by the fact that the characters aren't as well-developed as one usually expects from a book. It must be read with an open mind, and I certainly suppressed my more cynical tendencies just as I do when attending a magic show.
More...

2 comments like (4 people liked it)

Nov 23, 2011

Antof9 rated it:

Wow. What to call this? Fantasy? Yes. A love story? Absolutely, complete with star-crossed lovers. What else? A little bit of sci-fi maybe? Certainly the alchemistic nature of the book lends itself that way a bit (although maybe that's just what Fantasy is?). It's also fairly literary -- not as much as, say, The Elegance of the Hedgehog, but in that vein.

Certainly Ms. Morgenstern carries a soft spot in her heart for Shakespeare. Only as far into the book as page 10, I was stu More...

16 comments like (5 people liked it)

Nov 03, 2011

Edna Lyn rated it:

The Night Circus is a tale of two young magicians, Celia and Marco, bound by their very different instructors to participate in a battle of skill and creativity using their own unique methods. A richly beautiful night circus called Le Cirque des Rêves (The Circus of Dreams) is created as the venue for their challenge where only one can be the victor. Consequences may be inevitable as their competition doesn’t only impact them but their fellow circus performers and associates as well. The delicat More...

0 comments like (6 people liked it)