✨ A ✨ 's Reviews > The Night Circus

I want to take this book and stuff it in the hands of everyone I know.

“I would have written you, myself, if I could put down in words everything I want to say to you. A sea of ink would not be enough.”

“But you built me dreams instead.”



I actually bought this book a year ago and it's been sitting on my shelf tempting me this entire time. The mixed ratings I've seen made me nervous to read it, but I'm so glad I finally did.

It is the kind of book I wish I could experience all over again for the first time. And as I am writing this review, I miss this world that Erin Morgenstern has created.

As I am known to do: I did not look at any reviews for this book and I basically knew nothing about the plot when I started. I'm so glad I did that. I highly believe that this is the sort of book you should dive into blindly, you'll either love it or you'll hate it.

I suggest doing that but if you want to continue reading this review go ahead. I'll try not to give too much away about the story and leave the mystery of the book for you to find when you read it.

The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not.

I'm sure you've gathered from the title, this is a story about a circus that only opens at night. But this circus —Le Cirque des Rêves— is unlike anything imagined.



Trained from childhood specifically for a purpose, two magicians, Celia and Marco must play the game without being told the rules — only that they have no choice but to play and that the circus is their venue.

This story spans over many years. We follow these magicians through their training to the very conception of the circus and through the years of their magical duel.

But there is a price to pay for their magic and unbeknowest to them, the price could effect everyone and everything they love.

“Like stepping into a fairy tale under a curtain of stars.”


As this book is Adult the plot and writing is slower paced. I personally enjoy slow paced books especially if the writing is good. Morgenstern's writing was phenomenal. I was enchanted and enraptured. Her writing was transportive. You know when a book is described as having a ‘strong sense of place’? This book had that.

There were many characters with POV. And the chapters time-jumped a lot. Once again an unpopular opinion of mine is that I adore chapters that skip back and forth through time. Figuring things out and how all the characters fit into eachothers lives is one of the best things when reading!

This story does revolve around a challenge. Not the kind of challenge or magical duel readers (especially YA readers because let's be real, they are the majority of those reading this book) are used to. There is no blood and gore. In fact for most of the book the participants of this book didn't even know the exact rules of the challenge or who their opponent was or why there's even a challenge in the first place. This was a more subtle kind of duel. More like a show of talent in the arts of magic.

I've heard many great things about the audiobook of TNC and I'll probably listen to it next time I do a reread. But I suggest reading a physical copy (or e-book) when it's your first time. The chapters all start with a date and it can get confusing if you don't track the dates properly (side note: I annotated my copy and by the end there were so many sticky tabs 😂). And as I said before, the multiple POV might be hard to keep track of for some.

At the time I was reading The Night Circus there were some things happening in my personal life and I was not able to sit with this book and gobble it up like I wanted to. But everytime I opened it up I was immediately drawn in, through the pages and into Le Cirque des Rêves.

When I got to the final page I was very upset that The Night Circus is a work of fiction and I can't actually go there *weeps*.



Words cannot express what this book made me feel. The Night Circus filled me with an unnameable feeling. I wish I could experience this book for the first time again.

You think, as you walk away from Le Cirque des Rêves and into the creeping dawn, that you felt more awake within the confines of the circus.
You are no longer quite certain which side of the fence is the dream.

Buddy read with this beautiful person (who was patient with my slow reading 😅).