Review: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Synopsis from Amazon:
The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night.


But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway—a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love—a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands.


True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus per­formers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead.


Written in rich, seductive prose, this spell-casting novel is a feast for the senses and the heart.



My Thoughts:

Dark, enchanting, thrilling, and savory. I don't even know where to begin to tell you about this book. I don't think I even want to condense the plot into a few trite words. Nothing I could say would do this justice.

But I can say that how much I loved every character--Celia and Marco. The red haired twins and Bailey. The clock maker and the man who designed the carousel. The fortune teller and the contortionist. I was even mesmerized by the two old wizards who started the challenge with a bet on whose student would be the better illusionist. They were sinister and cold and yet seemed so very real.

The book opens in 2nd person. YOU are the audience in the circus, and as the story unfolds, YOU are in the midst of it. Let me just say, it felt so real.