The Night Circus in The Sword and Laser

Sep 15, 2011 Jenny (Reading Envy) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: read2011, audiobook, sci-fi-fantasy

This is one book where you can believe the hype. I planned to wait a while before reading it, but when I found it was read by Jim Dale I downloaded the audio version immediately.

You can read my longer review on SFFAudio.com, but I'll share silly little quotes here:

"The Burgess sisters arrive together...Once, they were librarians, but that is a subject they will only discuss if heavily intoxicated."

"He forgets that he was someone's dream once himself." ...more

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Sep 14, 2011 Eric rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, circus, book-club

This book is an intriguing blend -- written in a style evoking Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, with a forbidden circus romance reminiscent of Water for Elephants, a Neil Gaiman-esque system of magic, and stunning visuals that should be adapted to film by someone more imaginative than Tim Burton.

A few specific comments and criticisms:

- This book had one of the strongest opening lines of any piece of fiction I have read in recent memory -- "The circus arrives without warning." -- and there is a gr This book is an intriguing blend -- written in a style evoking Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, with a forbidden circus romance reminiscent of Water for Elephants, a Neil Gaiman-esque system of magic, and stunning visuals that should be adapted to film by someone more imaginative than Tim Burton.

A few specific comments and criticisms:

- This book had one of the strongest opening lines of any piece of fiction I have read in recent memory -- "The circus arrives without warning." -- and there is a great call-back to it at the end.

- One of the most compelling characters -- for good and ill -- is the enigmatic, mysterious circus. The only suitable comparison that comes to my mind is the chocolate factory in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Unfortunately, exponentially more time is spent describing minute details of the circus in favor of developing the other characters.

- The much-hyped romance between the main characters a) doesn't start until two-thirds into the book, and b) lacks chemistry, and hence, believability.

- The resolution of the challenge was a cop-out that was telegraphed from 200 pages prior. Fortunately, the sub-plot involving Bailey had me engaged for the final third of the book.

- Kill the Harry Potter comparisons, please. There is little to no action in this book, and no franchise/sequels to be bled from it. While there is magic, it is not the exciting, wand-pointing kind of magic from Hogwarts. Nor is there a great evil being combated here -- just two old, bored rivals, lacking in compassion for their pupils' well-being, engaged in a chess game with a circus and its members as their board and pieces.

- I loved the Shakespeare/Tempest/Prospero references.

- The short chapters interspersed throughout the book in second-person were unnecessary and distracted from what little drive the plot did have.

Despite my misgivings about the plot and characters (and yes, I realize these are big elements of a book to have complaints about), the author's ability to create such an incredible atmospheric experience, and take the reader to this fantastical circus of dreams, made up for a good deal of the book's various other shortcomings. ...more

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Dec 19, 2011 Angie rated it liked it

This book started out soooooo slow. I really enjoyed the book being about a circus. It is exactly what I would imagine a magic circus would be like. I have to say though I got really confused about the time frame in the book and eventually started to pay attention to the dates at the beginning of the chapters. The love story was good.. but it was odd they were in love with each other from a distance.. but I suppose that is magic. I do think the whole dueling between the magicians was odd.. Somet ...more

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Nov 21, 2011 Jasmine rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy, sword-and-laser

I really liked this. I imagine that if I were in a different mood I'd respond to it really differently. But it was just right for right now: beautifully rendered, just a little bit magical, just a little bit mysterious, not terribly stressful or fast-paced. I didn't love the chapters skipping around in time, and I thought that Bailey's story wasn't the most satisfying, but other than that I just soaked in it for the last couple of weeks. In a nice, leisurely way. ...more

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Nov 18, 2011 Pumpkinberry rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, 2011

Captivating. Mesmerizing. Utterly enchanting.

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Aug 13, 2012 Kimberly rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, first-reads

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book from the First Reads Giveaway program!

I don't really know how to review this novel--and I mean that in the best way possible. It is pure escapism, transporting the reader to a vividly realized fantasy world that feels like our own, but twisted sideways. It is fantastical, with elements of mystery and romance that will appeal not just to fantasy readers, but to anyone who has ever felt a sense of wonder. It is richly descriptive, appealing not only Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book from the First Reads Giveaway program!

I don't really know how to review this novel--and I mean that in the best way possible. It is pure escapism, transporting the reader to a vividly realized fantasy world that feels like our own, but twisted sideways. It is fantastical, with elements of mystery and romance that will appeal not just to fantasy readers, but to anyone who has ever felt a sense of wonder. It is richly descriptive, appealing not only to the senses of sight and sound, but also to scent and taste and touch, and still manages to be a compulsively readable and quick read. At times the writing reminded me of Neil Gaiman, Catherynne Valente, and Susanna Clarke, but if you don't like any of those authors, I would still recommend it. Plus it made just about as hungry as a book has since Francesca Lia Block; I wanted caramel corn and hot chocolate NOW!

The Night Circus is a novel blending together several narratives and different perspectives into a magical whole.* The entire novel is written in the present tense, and a great deal of it in the second person, so that you feel the Circus is being described for you personally, and that it is going on at this very moment. Second person and present tense can both be great authorial risks, in that the immediacy they create seems due to a gimmick rather than the author's own skill. But Morgenstern does such a great job creating this magical world for you that you do, in fact, crave the scent of smoke and caramel, and long to taste the delicious "cinnamon things" the circus children are raving about. In fact, when I first started reading The Night Circus, I was worried that Morgenstern had expended so much effort on the world-building that she might have forgotten about the characters and plot.

She didn't. At the heart of the story, although there are many different perspectives throughout the book, is the tale of Celia and Marco. Celia is the illegitimate daughter of Prospero the Enchanter, mundanely known as Hector Bowen, and Marco is the orphaned protege of the mysterious A. H. A magical duel has been arranged for the two young people by their respective teachers, which makes it that much more difficult when the two fall in love . . . I will admit, if you are the sort of reader who can't stand secrets, either when the characters keep them from each other or when they keep them from you, you may not be The Night Circus' ideal audience. For me it worked because I was made to feel like an audience member, and the heroes were both illusionists; it felt right to be kept a bit in the dark. By putting her reader into the circus audience, and later even the circus aficionados, Morgenstern also helped us relate to one of the major subplots, the story of Bailey, a farmer's son trying to choose between staying on the farm and heading for Harvard. Bailey was for me the easiest character to relate to as well, both because his obsession with the circus was relatable, and because his motivations were clear in a way that other characters' were not.

I will admit that The Night Circus swept me up completely while I was reading it, but left me with some questions after I finished. Given that the outcome of the magical duel was always stated to be death for the loser, why couldn't the participants just quit, I wondered. In part, I think the reason might have to do with the genre of the novel. While set in the Victorian times, and with a darker, almost steampunk feel (because of the clockwork), The Night Circus is a fantasy, and seems to find its precedents in ancient myth. The story of Merlin and Nimue is even retold, reminding us of legends of sorcerer's duels akin to Celia and Marco's. In such legends, the rules are not questioned, but are strictly adhered to, and I think Morgenstern has created a similar world. In sum, I found the novel both intoxicating and enchanting; not without its flaws, but definitely a worthwhile escape.
...more

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Apr 09, 2012 Dave rated it it was ok

Shelves: fantasy

While gorgeously written, I found this much-hyped book tedious. The main characters were flat, the love story extremely forced, and the whole setup unenticing, with a big 'so what?' at the end of it. The only interesting character was the 'muggle' Bailey. Morgenstern spends more time describing a clock and the various amazing attractions of the circus than on the characters, and in a world where magic is real and almost all illusions are possible, it all comes across as dull. ...more

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Nov 19, 2012 Brittany marked it as to-read

Shelves: fantasy

www.omnivoracious.com/2012/11/writers... ...more

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Nov 30, 2012 Raq rated it liked it

Beautiful imagery. Female protag was both flawless and gender-normed: she had no flaws, and her magic was focused on making pretty dresses. So, kind of annoying. The kid who becomes the next leader of the circus was introduced too randomly and too late.

I'd recommend this to female readers but probably not to male readers; the lack of actual masculinity would make it hard for them to connect. ...more

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