The Night Circus in Around the World in 80 Books

Jun 27, 2012 Micha rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: magic-books, through-the-glass-darkly, must-read-audiobooks, mystery-discover-and-adventure, pretty-floofy-thing

This review is for the audio book version of The Night Circus, read by the wonderful Jim Dale. This review is also part of the "readers advisory for all" group read & review discussion panel.

This is a book where the main character is a dream sequence rather than a person. The author attempted to give us a premise to work with, but really could have gotten away with 300 pages of circus descriptions and probably should have just written a bunch of short stories concerning the people who are affect ...more

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Nov 02, 2016 T.ScottReviews rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: passed-on, rating-0-stars-fin, read-2017, eoy-hated, 500-pages-and-over, g-fantasy, circus-themed, authors-female, f-n-fiction, age-young-adult

0 Stars

My worst read of 2017

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Aug 02, 2013 Rebekah rated it liked it

Shelves: genre-historical-fiction, genre-book-club, genre-fantasy, genre-young-adult, genre-adult, genre-adult-fiction, genre-magical-realism, genre-romance, genre-fantasy-paranormal, genre-fantasy-magic

I'm not sure what to write about this book.

The vast majority of the time I was reading it, I was annoyed.

Oh great, here's another 1000 pages describing the Goth circus....yippee

Every time I picked it up, I fell asleep! Seriously started to wonder if the "magic" of the book was not in its ability to put me straight to sleep, faster than a lullaby.

It took me forever to read, and nothing really happens. But it is beautiful writing and imagery and I stuck with it, even through the dreamlike stu ...more

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Jul 10, 2012 Jenifer rated it did not like it

Shelves: paranormal, fantasy, england

I looked forward to reading this book. Everyone seemed to be talking about it. It has even received a movie deal. The storyline sounded so interesting, full of a sort of mystical realism. I didn’t want to wait to get it from the library so I purchased the e-book for full price thinking it would be worth the money.

I hated it. There were so many times over the past few days that I was “this close” to giving up on the book and move onto a new book but I didn’t. I kept thinking that if so many peop ...more

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Oct 05, 2020 Chantal rated it it was amazing

In this fanciful and breathtaking novel, two young people are drawn into a dangerous game by their caretakers. Both have been trained in the arts of real magic, not illusory magic, and have been brought up to fight a magical duel.

Marco is an orphan and Celia has a cruel, misguided father. Their challenge will take place at the traveling circus which shows up unannounced at various cities throughout the world.

The Night circus, which has no clowns and elephants, focuses on the unusual and the sen In this fanciful and breathtaking novel, two young people are drawn into a dangerous game by their caretakers. Both have been trained in the arts of real magic, not illusory magic, and have been brought up to fight a magical duel.

Marco is an orphan and Celia has a cruel, misguided father. Their challenge will take place at the traveling circus which shows up unannounced at various cities throughout the world.

The Night circus, which has no clowns and elephants, focuses on the unusual and the sensual. Visitors enter tents to see acrobatics, an ice garden, smell concoctions, or have their fortunes told.
Celia is the circus's illusionist who uses magical arts to impress her audience.

Though the Marco and Celia realize they are opponents, neither know when or how the challenge will take place.

Marco, who is based in London, uses the magical bonfire at the circus to refuel his energy. The bonfire also has protective properties which keeps the circus performers from aging.
Though it was not a pact they entered willing, Celia and Marco have ignored the challenge's effects on others.

Lanie makes this clear to Celia, "I am tired of everyone keeping their secrets so well that they get other people killed. We are all involved in your game, and it seems we are not as easily repaired as teacups."

The two masterminds, Hector and Alexander, have more to answer for. Fittingly, in the end, Alexander seems to realize the harm his game has caused: "It is one thing to put two competitors alone in a ring and wait for one to hit the ground. It is another to see how they fare when there are other factors in the ring along with them. When there are repercussions with every action taken."

The love story and denouement of this novel are particularly impressive. The conclusion is bittersweet but satisfying.

Marco and Celia find a way to thwart the game. Uncertain and lost, Bailey finds a mission. Widget, who perhaps possesses the most powerful magic of all, wins the circus with his story telling abilities.

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Jan 04, 2013 Rachel N. rated it it was amazing

Celia and Marco are attached to each other in a game when they are children. Once they become adults they must play out the game in a special circus, the circus of dreams. It took me awhile to get into this book but by the end I was totally in love with it. I want to become a memebr of Le Cirque des Reves. A great love story and a magical book.

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