The Night Circus

(This is book 5 for Once Upon A Time)

The Night Circus by Erin Mogenstern.

Hardcover: 400 pages
Publisher: Doubleday; (September 13, 2011)
ISBN-10: 0385534639

Book Description

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.

Before I begin I will admit to you all… I am in the minority about this book.

I was feeling like it was taking me forever to read the book.  With each chapter I would tell myself “this is where it grabs me”.  But it never did.

Where in everyone who has written reviews simple love this book, I do not. I guess it’s one of those books where you either love it or dislike it.

I found it long. Dragged out. (very dragged out) and boring.

The two young magicians involved you really knew very little about. One a daughter of a magician the other an adopted boy by another magician. I never felt I knew either of them through the entire book.  You don’t even know what the competition really is about until near the end of the book.  I found I never got excited “wanting to know what it was really about or who would win”… I learned little of all the other side characters.  Probably the only character I even came close to feeling anything about is Bailey.

But as I said: I am definitely in the minority on this so if you think you are interested please read other reviews before making up your mind.

I find I actually dislike when I either love a book or dislike it because how “I” feel about it may well be way different than someone else.