The Night Circus

Storyline: 2 Stars

I read this for my book club, and I’ll be honest, I was pretty disappointed with it. The concept was amazing, and the description of the book was exciting. However, the execution really fell short for me.

My biggest complaint was that I did not feel connection with any of the characters. I had absolutely no emotional attachment to any of them. The characters were all flat. I did not feel that the stakes of high, even though I was told over and over that the stakes were high. The second complaint that I had was the competition itself–the competition was never properly explained. I still don’t entirely know what was the point, what they were supposed to be doing, and how they usually ended.

I think that readers who love long, elegant sentences and long descriptions would enjoy this book. As an accountant, I just appreciate when books get to the point. There was not enough substance in this book for me.

Parental Guidance: 75% Recommend

I would recommend this book 75% of the time. There was one “f” word in the first chapter, but outside of that, the language was mild. There was not much dialogue to begin with, so language was not an issue while reading.

There were no inappropriate scenes, although a romantic scene was implied between the two main characters. There was not much violence, and any of the violence that occurred was not descriptive at all.

Real Book Chat

Spoilers Ahead

Nope. This was a big disappointment.

Who writes a book with a competition without explaining to the reader what the competition even is? I can understand not telling the reader right away, but by the end of the book, a reader should know what the competition was for. I also felt cheated because Celia and Marcus got out of one of them dying, but there was no real tension because I had no idea what usually happened in these competitions. I only know that sometimes one of the competitors sacrificed themselves. But how did they usually end?

I also don’t know why Celia and Marcos complied the whole time. I would not have wanted to be in a competition without knowing what I was doing. If I was Celia with a ghost father without many powers because he’s a ghost father, I would have been out of there.

Also, poor Isobel! She’s just a human being led on for over a decade! And then when Marcos tells her she’s not even that hurt. She lets go of the competition, but she’s not surprised or really that mad at him. If a man had led me on for fourteen years of my life, I would be LIVID.