The Night Circus

The Night Circus
Erin Morgenstern
Anchor Books
Random House
New York, New York
ISBN: 978-0-307-74443-2
$ 15.00
512 pages
"Anything either of us does has an effect on everyone here, on every person who walks through those gates. Hundreds if not thousands of people. All flies in a spiderweb that was spun when I was six years old and now I can barely move for fear of losing someone else."
How much of our life is truly the choices that we make? Do each of us have a predetermined fate and we are only pawns in this game of life? Are all of us so interwoven together that the choice one person causes effects on everyone else?
The quote above is about the circus and those paying their admission fee as they enter this unusual circus. The tale of The Night Circus is a tightly interwoven story based on the theme that each of our life choices has an effect on the others in our lives.
This story encircles two children, Celia and Marco who are both to be trained as magicians. However these two are destined to compete with true magic at some time in their future, possibly to their death. Who is better trained? What phenomenal magic will win the competition? What if they fall in love?
The setting is in the late 1800s and early 1900s at The Night Circus which mysteriously appears and disappears throughout the world without any prior advertising. This circus has a mysterious enticement with their own followers who recognize the unusual gifts and talents of these performers.
I have mixed feelings about The Night Circus. The story is character driven and a predictable romance, however, several aspects of this story especially the visualization is outstanding. The descriptive passages which support the characters are truly magical and inspirational. These sections were outstanding in this debut novel by Erin Morgenstern. Unfortunately these aspects favor female readers regarding the dresses and the romance.
The Night Circus is a different style in reading with very short chapters centering on only the characters. The strength is definitely how each event and character is so dependent on each other focusing on how everybody’s actions change everyone's effects. Definitely unusual, Erin Morgenstern has utilized her skills as multimedia artist to paint in words visual characters in this debut novel, The Night Circus.