“The circus arrives without warning.”

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern is a fantasy romance novel that revolves around Celia and Marco Alisdair. Ever since they were children, they have been training for “the game,” a competition of some sort. The setting for this contest is the Night Circus, where Celia and Marco have to continuously produce more and more fantastical, unbelievable spectacles. From a garden made entirely of ice to a room filled with clouds, each feat becomes more impossible than the last. But how exactly does one win the game? Neither Celia nor Marco are told.

The Night Circus is written in a way that reflects its storyline. Reading it made me feel as though I were a visitor to the circus, wandering through the different tents, losing track of time and place. It is definitely a slow-paced book, but I feel that actually adds nicely to the ambience. However, it did make the ending seem a little rushed because everything sort of fell into place at once.

The story was also quite mysterious, and this was emphasized by the switching of perspectives, with alternating chapters from different characters’ points of view. There is also quite a lot of jumping around chronologically, so it feels like even more of an unreal experience.

In general, I really enjoyed the idea behind the book, as well as all the characters! I almost wish there had been more plot involved, but that’s just a personal preference.

I would give it an 8.5/10 and I would highly recommend it to those who liked The Invisible Life of Addie Larue or Caraval!