Night Circus Book Review

Evan Sale

Mr Davidson

Contemp Lit

12-1-15

AMDG

The Night Circus Book Review

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern is a fantasy novel about a competition between two magicians who eventually end up falling in love. The book's story line follows Marco Alisdair and Celia Bowen, who are the most important two characters of the book. These two people are put into a contest through the circus where they have to compete against each other with magic, and the best magician will prevail. Marco and Celia  are competing students of the circus whose teachers are The Man in Grey and Hector Bowen.  These two young students start off the contest against each other, but they end up falling in love. Marco and Celia have to figure out how to end the contest without causing harm to themselves and others in the circus.

One of the main reasons that I did not like the book is because of the fact that I do not like fantasy books in general. Fantasy especially in this book seems to be very stupid and unrealistic. For example, the circus is kind of crazy because certain members who are in it have some sort of magical power. Also, some of the objects within the circus are silly. For example, the bonfire is a spiritual tool that controls the circus. Marco explains, “Think of the circus as a machine… The bonfire is one of the things that powers it”(480). The fact that a bonfire is the center of the circus leaves readers confused because in real life bonfires cannot be a battery of an entire opperation like a circus.  Really all of this stuff is very impractical in reality because most of the people in real life are not magic. Most people need to find real solutions instead of the magic solutions. It makes people question the credibility in the novel because everything in it has to do with things that don't happen in the real world. The readers continue to question things that go on in the novel, which makes for an enjoyable reading experience, because people  get distracted with negative thoughts throughout. Due to the fact that the novel has magical people and powers the credibility is lost, making for an enjoyable reading experience.

Another reason I did not like the book is because it had a very unrealistic love story.There are  two people, Marco and Celia, who are in a competition that  end up falling in love with each other. Another thing is that neither person wants to lose or win, which I also found weird because people who are in a competition generally want to win, especially if they are getting something from it.  Lastly, the weird love story is interesting because Marco and Celia just end up falling in love with each other. There is no story about how they fell in love; it just kind of happened instantly in the middle of the book. Celia says, “I am tired of trying to hold things together that cannot be held”(391). Celia and Marco are talking about the circus and the competition. Later in the novel, “The familiar passion that always accompanies the touch of his skin against hers washes over Celia and she can no longer resist it, no longer wants to” (391). Celia and Marco end up falling in love, leading to them sleeping together. The story did not have enough background or build up, it just happened.Their love seems random in the middle of the book. It is unbelievable to instantly fall in love like that without previous romantic interactions. This love story did not fit in with the rest of the plot. It was not really developed. It was supposed to be a love story but did not have enough of the relationship to satisfy readers.

The only positive thing in this book is that it had good storytelling. Bailey is in one storyline in the early 1900s, and then Marco and Celia are in another storyline in the past leading up to the moment they connect with Bailey. This storytelling is cool because it gives the readers two storylines for the readers to compare and to see where things are going and where they have been.  Also, throughout the book we don't know who the narrator is, but then we find out it is Widget. The  first line in the novel is also the last line, which is very interesting because the book does a full 360. The Man in Grey says Widget’s stories are magical because “that tale will move them and drive them and who knows what they might do because of it, because of your words...There are many kinds of magic, after all”(505). Widget being the narrator is a cool feature because readers never knew who the narrator was until the end. Widget is a minor character throughout the novel, and he ends up being very important at the end. Some chapters are vague and confusing, but then readers realize what is happening and get more information by reading further. Overall, the storyline  keeps you turning the pages to find out what happens next, which is good.

Overall I would not recommend this book to anyone. The book frankly was poor because the magic is not cool and the love story is sporadic. Overall I did not like this book because it had too much maic and not enough reality. The relationship between Marco and Celia was weird, and it jumped out at the readers. The only part of the book I enjoyed was that the storytelling because it was cool the way it was organized for the readers. This is why I would not recommend the book.