Monday, May 21, 2012

Enchantment Under the Big Top

The Night Circus 
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The blurb from Goodreads says it all:

"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."

I had heard a lot of buzz about this book, but was reluctant to pick it up. Now I'm kicking myself that I didn't read it sooner. The Night Circus is my favorite book of the year so far. Filled with twists and turns, longing and desire, real and magical worlds, it hooked me from page one. I cannot wait to reread it in a few months. Every chapter is deftly crafted to draw the reader in without revealing too much. The short chapters make it the ideal book to read on a lunch break or when you have snippets of time - just be aware that you will not want to put it down.

View all my reviews

1 comment:

  1. My daughter and I loved THE NIGHT CIRCUS as well. What's not to love, the love triangle, the 2 sets, of twins, the costumes, the midnight dinner parties, the circus performers, the education of Celia & Marco... I'm so glad you wrote about it because I had been meaning to get a review up for months. The author states that she never writes anything but fairy tales and I certainly found this to be a fairy tale of the highest order. I'll be waiting for a new tale from the author!

    ReplyDelete