The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

The Night Circus

by Erin Morgenstern

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I can't even think of how to describe what happens in this book so I'll just start with the Goodreads synopsis:

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.

So what are the rules of this Night Circus competition? I don't know, it's fine though because neither do the competitors. There is so little information given about the actual competition that the only way to know it is the main plot of the book is to read the synopsis. There was very little context and a whole lot of filler. We are never informed of what is supposed to be happening within the competition. Instead we get one of the competitors making a move every so often by building an exhibit, some of which they even work together on. The competition is anything but fierce and is dragged out way longer than it needs to be. The competition is slowly dragged out over the course of years, there are actually children born into the circus when it started and they grow up during the competition.

As for the two competitors falling in love, there were a number of ways that it could have been written differently and been so much better. I hated this romance and the way it was developed. The characters were just okay. They weren't memorable or likable. They were just simply flat and boring.

I heard so many good things about this book and I couldn't wait to read it. Unfortunately, I ended up being seriously disappointed with it. I gave this book 2 stars instead of 1 because the beginning was well done. It was set up to be an interesting read and it just went downhill after the first couple chapters. This book was definitely not for me.