The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Step right up and don’t push… you will all get a chance to enter.  The Night Circus is a mysterious Circus that opens only at night.  It comes with no warning, and leaves the same way… but if you are lucky enough to catch it you are in for the time of your life.  It is called Le Cirque des Rêves.

While attendees rave about the never-ending tents filled with amazing sights to see, what they do not see is the underlining workings of the circus.  Celia, who has been raised with the circus since a child is running the Night Circus as a competition that even she does not quite understand… her opponent… could be anyone, friend or foe… she is unsure…. all Celia does know is that she must continue to work bigger and better in this mysterious game as she will soon find out – the stakes are quite high.

(push play above for a little review theme music)

The Night Circus first came to my attention at BEA this past May during a dinner with bloggers and publishers.  The conversation at my end of the table was centered around a book, this book, that I had never heard of.   “…as big as Harry Potter,” fell on my ears and that was enough of a sell for me.  After all, have I not spent hours and hours of reading and looking for a book, a series, that has touched my life as much as Harry Potter and come up empty?

I searched the Book Expo the next day but the word was out… and all advanced copies of Night Circus were gone.  I left with a promise from the publisher that they would send me a copy and yes, a couple of weeks after the expo, a lovely black and white striped circus wrapped book arrived in my mailbox.  I did not remove the wrapping for the next several months… savoring the anticipation.

I started the book in print… while reading heard about Jim Dale narrating the audio version (Jim Dale also narrated the Harry Potter books) and purchased the audio version from audible.com to finish out the book.

First off know this… Celia is not the main character.  Nor are the twins that are talked about frequently throughout the story – Widget and Poppet.  No.  The main character is indeed the circus itself.  If ever life was breathed into a place, an object… this is it.  The circus lives and breathes just as much as I do as I write this review. 

The beauty of this book that I think could align it with the Potter books is the immense detail… carousels do not only go round and round… but beyond.  Tea pots come to a boil on cue and tea is poured free hand from them.  Celia wears a dress that changes color to compliment whatever the person she is talking to is wearing…a particular visual I loved were the trees that have poems running down the trunks.

At times story lines may appear unrelated…. but just wait as this is the real magic of the novel…. when it does come together there is a bit of magic to it all for the reader… I referred to it as a party for my mind. 

While the book at first may appear to be all cotton candy and caramel apples…. you will quickly discover it is indeed a tightrope walk of event after event… each carefully placed to make the circus function as it does and one misstep…

could bring it all down.

Did it touch me as much as the Harry Potter books?  No… but I have a lot of history with Harry.  I have heard the buzz that the Movie rights have been purchased and that does excite me as I believe this read would make a visual feast.  I will certainly be in line early to get my ticket. 

 

Leslie from Under My Apple Tree has two copies of this book to give away!

Amazon Rating

Good Reads Review

The 2011 WHERE Are You Reading Map has been updated to include Night Circus

I received my print copy from the publisher

I purchased my audio copy from audible