The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

"Magic," the man in the gray suit repeats, turning the word into a laugh. "This is not magic. This is the way the world is, only very few people take the time to stop and note it. Look around you," he says, waving a hand at the surrounding tables."Not a one of them even has an inkling of the things that are possible in this world, and what's worse is that none of them would listen if you attempted to enlighten them. They want to believe that magic is nothing but clever deception, because to think it real would keep them up at night, afraid of their own existence." [p. 380]

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern has kept me up late in the evenings and well entertained for the past week or so. When I first read about this novel online I thought it interesting, a book I might want to read at some point, but when I saw the brand new hardback copy in our library, I simply had to borrow it! The book with its black-white-red colour scheme was simply so beautiful! I especially love that the edges of all the pages are dyed black. Dramatic and effective.

The Night Circus is a mysterious circus open only at night. It is also the set for a contest between two, young magicians Marco and Celia, or rather Marco and Celia are forced to compete with each other by his teacher and her father, both of whom are magicians or enchanters themselves. What the enchanters did not take into consideration is that Marco and Celia fall in love.

This is a very visual book. Not only as an object, but also the story is full of lovely descriptions of rooms, circus tents, clothes, people. Everything in the circus is black and white with a splash of red and silver, but there are also descriptions of other locales or scenery full of colour. Morgenstern has a way to paint with words and the pictures she creates are lovely. This is a book I would love to see turned into a film.

This is also a book with a great atmosphere. I liked the fact that it was not clear for a long time whether the circus was a good thing or a bad thing. About half way through I became a bit worried about the ending. I enjoyed the story so much that I started to worry whether the end would live up to the rest of the story. Luckily it did.

The Night Circus is undoubtedly one of the most enjoyable books I have read this year. While I was reading it two other novels kept popping into my mind. I kept thinking that anyone who liked Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke, might also like The Night Circus. The Night Circus is set to a later time period (1880s-1900s), but both are books where magic is real. Also, anyone liking Sepulrche by Kate Mosse,  might like The Night Circus, as tarot cards are interstingly weaved into the story in both these novels.

Well, I have loads of interesting novels waiting for their turn at the moment! :) I already started Ash by Malinda Lo, a retelling of Cinderella where the girl falls for the king's huntress instead of the prince. Sounds interesting and the first 50+ pages of the novel have set a very fairytalish, medieval atmosphere, which I find perfect for the story.