The Night Circus in Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge

Jun 15, 2015 Nadine in NY Jones rated it did not like it

Shelves: authors-i-don-t-ever-want-to-read-a, fantasy-and-sci-fi, audio, did-not-finish, everyone-loved-it-except-me, lotsa-buzz, carnivals-and-circuses

I've been giving this book side eye for quite a long time. On the one hand, I like books set in Victorian England and fantasy and circuses and mystery - I was hoping maybe this would be like the show Carnivale, in England, possibly with flowers (the cover looks sort of flowery. I like flowers.). On the other hand, I do not like magical realism, nor unbounded magic (if magic has no boundaries, the story has no tension, because the characters can overcome anything), nor heavily descriptive prose, ...more

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Dec 07, 2014 Corinne rated it liked it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Oct 03, 2016 Kara rated it it was amazing

Harry Potter, Hunger Games, and Cirque du Soleil. If you love all of these things, you'll love The Night Circus. ...more

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Apr 04, 2016 Loretta rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi-and-fantasy, audiobooks

I have some nitpicks and quibbles. Overall, I do understand why people loved this so much, but some things got in the way for me. I don't mind a long and slow-moving plot; I do object to repetition, and there was a fair bit of that. I did enjoy the lovely world of the circus, and the many characters whose stories were hinted at, but there were some logical leaps and gaps (yeah yeah, it's a book about magic, I'm not griping about that, but even the internal logic didn't always hold together).

But ...more

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Mar 16, 2019 Sarah rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, american-fiction, best-books-ever, nyc, uk, germany

So magical, so beautiful, so good. And an opening line that has become one of the most famous of recent years: "The circus arrives without warning." This book follows a cast of characters - the illusionist, the contortionist, and many others - as they travel (without warning) around the globe performing in a magical circus. The book is filled with gorgeous imagery that would make any reader immediately want to teleport to the Cirque des Rêves, and Morgenstern does a masterful job of creating fan ...more

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