The Night Circus

Title: The Night Circus

Author: Erin Morgenstern

Rating: 5 stars

Genre: Historical, Fantasy

Number of Pages: 490

Publisher: Vintage Books

Publication Date: 2011

Summary: The Circus arrives without warning

No announcement proceeds 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, and it's 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.

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.

In part one of The Night Circus we meet the main characters of the story over the expanse of several years. We get brief glances of our main characters from the age of 5 in 1873 till their late teens 1886. The story starts off with introducing lots of intriguing ideas and establishes much of the story. Usually these long wind up stories will bore me and I give up but this book has such an enchanting feel to it, that even if there was no plot line for the entire book I probably would have kept reading. Never have I read a book that the writing and story dazzle in perfect synchronicity.

In is in part two that we are introduced to the Circus...and what a Circus it is. The entire circus is a work or art and incredible imagination. Le Cirque des Reves, the Circus of Dreams,  is only open at night and is entirely decked out in black and white and the best performers. But this is no ordinary circus, hiding in plain site , the circus is the platform of extraordinary magic not the illusions that the audience believes it is seeing. Marco and Celia are pitted in a game where they don't know the rules or how to win, all they know is that they must out do each other in feats of breathtaking imagination.

But as the years go by Celia and Marco find that they no longer compete against each other but instead build their magical creations for each other. But the competition must come to an end and Celia and Marco must find a way to end the competition without the drastic consequences that threaten the circus and their love.

But Celia and Marco aren't the only characters to tell a story, born under the strange and unique circumstances of the circus' magical opening night, the Murray twins, Poppet and Widget are two key players in the survival of the circus with their unique abilities and the help of a farm boy, Bailey with big dreams.

In short, I loved this book! It was magical and enchanting and was a world that I would love to see come to life. The book doesn't have the most compelling story line but it is written beautifully and I couldn't put it down.