Book Review-The Night Circus

In addition to liking books with unreliable narrators, I also like books that have Victorian Magicians as main characters.  Not sleight-of-hand masters, but real magic magicians. I had seen The Night Circus on the bestseller lists and had read a blog recommending it so I thought I'd give it a try.  It was wonderful! It takes place in the late 1800's in The United Kingdom, Germany, and the US.  We meet a magician, Hector,  who wows audiences, and we learn that he practices real magic.  He and a competitor (Alexander) have had a rivalry going on for some time, involving their students.  They each think that their own way of teaching is superior to the other's, so they pit their students against each other...to the death.  Hector trains his daughter, Celia and Alexander picks an orphan, Marco to train.  The two older magicians do not tell their students the scope of the challenge.  They manipulate a theater producer to create a venue for the competition...in this case a circus.  Celia works in the circus as a magician, but Marco works for the producer.  Hector and Alexander don't count on Celia and Marco working together to make the circus, or fall in love.  Meanwhile, the circus itself enchants the people who attend.  It is only open at night and everything in the circus is colored black or white.  Only Celia, Marcus, Hector, Alexander, and one other person know that the circus is magic. I found the writing to be enchanting.  I really felt like I was in the 1800's while reading the book.  I also liked the characters very much (well, not so much Hector and Alexander!)  It was not a fast paced book, but the late 1800's weren't exactly fast paced either.  I missed the setting and characters when I finished the book.

The Night Circus By Morgenstern, Erin 2011-09 - Doubleday Books 9780385534635 Check Our Catalog 2012 Alex Award Winner To enter the black-and-white-striped tents of Le Cirque des Reves is to enter a world where objects really do turn into birds and people really do disappear. Even though visitors believe the performances are all illusion, they are obsessively drawn to this extraordinary night circus. Those who run and perform in the circus are its lifeblood. Marco Alisdair runs the operation from London as assistant to the eccentric proprietor. Celia Bowen holds it all together from her role as illusionist. As magicians, Marco and Celia are bound to each other in a deadly competition of powers, creating ever more fantastical venues for circus goers to marvel at. But falling in love was never part of the game, and the players struggle to extricate themselves from this contest while keeping the circus afloat. …More

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