CBR4 #8 The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern

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.

February Book Club Selection

At first I had a hard time following the book as each chapter goes forward or backward in time.  I think the book would have flowed fine if the chapters would have been chronologically ordered.  Also it seems like the magic part of the book was the main focus on the plot, but the more that you kept reading the more the magic was present in little ways.

I definitely enjoyed the Marco & Celia interactions and how they fought against the preconceived notions by their "puppetmasters" in order to be together in the end.  The story of Bailey & Poppet was very cute as well.  It was interesting to "explore" the circus with Bailey or Herr Thierson or the unknown narrator of the "present-day" circus.

There was a good sense of mystery surrounding all the characters.  I found myself taking my time reading this book and savoring the story as I didn't want the book to end.