The Night Circus - Book Review
Book Title - The Night Circus
Author - Erin Morganstern
Page Count - 387 pages
Someone needs to tell these tales. When the battles are fought and won and lost, when the pirates find their treasures and the dragons eat their foes for breakfast with a nice cup of Lapsang souchong, someone needs to tell their bits of overlapping narrative. There’s magic in that. It’s in the listener, and for each and every ear it will be different, and it will affect them in ways they can never predict. From the mundane to the profound. You may tell a tale that takes up residence in someone’s soul, becomes their blood and self and purpose. That tale will move them and drive them and who knows what they might do because of it, because of your words.
The Night Circus is about two, arch-nemesis, ancient magicians. Hector Bowen, known to the world as Prospero the enchanter and Alexander H. Both teach a pupil magic for a challenge. Hector Bowen tutors his daughter Celia Bowen. While Alexander coaches an orphan: Marco.
The locale for this magic battle is a mysterious night circus called Le Cirque Des Reves. It shows up unannounced in any corner of the world. Celia and Marco are bound to the challenge by a ring. The obscurity of game rules, throughout the book, on many occasions gets to their head. In consequence, whenever they think to forfeit the challenge, the ring causes them excruciating pain. After many chapters, their masters reveal that for one to win the challenge, the other must die. The ring complicates matters by doing something the ancient magicians do not consider a possibility. It brings Marco and Celia together.
When I read a book, I first notice its writing style. Erin Morgenstern gripped me with it on the first page itself. It felt like I was a part of the audience of the circus. I knew where I was standing, who was beside, and what blinded my vision for few seconds. The writer breaks the fourth wall on regular intervals.
Despite the brilliant writing, the book lacks an enchanting story. It is a lengthy book with slight story development and no character progression. The book promises a duel in the summary, but there is no such duel. It had enormous potential. Enough to become a modern classic, perhaps. All in all, it was a disappointment. I would, nonetheless, recommend this book to people who admire creative writing style.
Facts:
The Night Circus was Erin Morgenstern's debut novel. It is published in more than a dozen languages and won the Locus Award for Best First Novel.
Unlike writers, Erin loves adverbs. Presently, she is working on another novel called "Tarot Deck".