TITLE: The Night Circus
AUTHOR: Erin Morgenstern
PUBLISHED: 2011
CATEGORY: Adult
GENRE: fantasy, romance
PREMISE: In a magical circus a rivalry takes place over several years.
MY REVIEW: Night Circus came onto the book scene with a bang. Everyone was singing it's praises, it got a movie deal before it even hit shelves, and has been a bestseller for a few months now. I will say I do love it, but it isn't completely without faults. I didn't care for the jumping around in time business (but that's a personal peev, and not really something that hinders the book, it's just annoying for me). There were one or two missed typos, the romance was...sweet but a tad bit predictable and thus about the least interesting thing about the book.
For me the biggest draw was the writing. While yes, the style did occasionally get on my nerves (I particularly hated it when the author would have passages that went "so and so went here and then here and then here") and was a tad rough around the edges. But there was some really beautiful writing in there. Particularly when the author went about describing things or would put in a little morsel here and there that became important later. This author does have talent. She just needs to polish it a bit more. Another draw was the atmosphere of the book. I love magical feeling books like this one. I can totally see why this got a movie deal. The plot was also really interesting itself, when one ignored the lackluster romance. Because everything else but that was strong. It felt like a combination of Jonathan Strange and Dr. Norrell (but not as dull as rocks as that book was) and the movie The Illusionist (which I totally rec by the way) with a dash of Tim Burton's Big Fish (by the way filmmakers, if you're smart you will have Tim Burton directing this. This has his name all over it).
So yes, there were a few problems with this but considering this is a first book that was a apparently written during National Write Your Own Novel month, I have to say I'm impressed. I just hope the next one (if there is a next one) answers some more of my lingering questions at the end. Mostly concerning the circus itself.
WHO SHOULD READ: Jonathan Strange and Dr. Norrell fans, The Illusionist fans, circus book fans, anyone inclined to pick it up.
MY RATING: Four and a half out of Five tents
Okay no one else is allowed to review this book until I get my hands on it. And since I'm participating in the TBR Double Dare, no one can post until AFTER April 1st. :))
ReplyDeleteSeriously. Even with the faults you mention everyone LOVES this book!