Sunday 10 July 2016

Review: The Night Circus

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My Rating.

Review.
“The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not.” 

This circus is nothing like what you have in mind. It is not any ordinary circus, where there are tricks to entertain people; this one is real and will change the way you imagine a circus to be. Magic is not just a thing here, it is as alive as any human being. Everyone in this story is somehow bound to the magic.

This is probably one of the most unique and fascinating books I've read this year. The imagination and creativity of the author knows no bounds. I loved the concept of The Night Circus, and more than that, the way it is presented. A circus, which is open only at night, entertains the audience with their lively performance and illusions, and also has many secrets of its own. The circus is also a platform for a competition between two players-when it will end? No one knows. The only thing that has been told to the players is that they have to keep performing in order to win. No rules. Nothing. There's also more: there are different tents for the people performing in the circus, and each one of them is better than the previous one. I mean, an ice garden, a Labyrinth, a wishing tree, and many more mesmerizing places.
^ This is what I loved in the book, and for people who are wishing to read it.



But, having said all that, this book didn't fully live up to the hype.
So it's clear from the beginning that Marco and Celia are the players of the competition. But their identities are hidden from each other so they have no idea who their opponent is. They are advised to focus on their performance only. The game is like chess, but not exactly. And new elements are being added every time. The thing that put me off was while reading this 500+ pages book, I never came across an 'actual' competition. They just kept talking about it whole time, and after a point it seemed like no one even cared what happened to the competition. It just kept dragging.

The other issue I have with this book is its pace. It was so slow that it felt like forever had passed when I finished it. I don't mind reading slow paced books as long as they are keeping me interesting, but nothing extraordinary happens for most of the part and it just exhausted me at the end. And to be honest, the description of circus and competition could only hold my interesting for a small time.

And the twist( if I can call it that) is that the two players fall in love Yes, that's the twist. I don't usually mind reading romance between main characters, even the cheesy romance in some cases, but in this book? A big NO. While I loved the circus, there was nothing in the book that would tell me about the personalities of the characters and that was the reason I couldn't connect to any of them. And the romance? Oh, god! I don't know how those scenes were supposed to be romantic. Because honestly, I actually laughed out loud when in one scene where Marco and Celia kisses, the room trembles. I mean, thunder of clouds or rain would have been nice, but their kiss resulted into trembling of room? I can't even.

The book started to get interesting for me after 80%, when many things are revealed and the story becomes more intense, and I have to say that it was the best part of the book. The ending really surprised me, because didn't see that coming and was really shocking. I might not have loved the book, but I really liked how it was wrapped up at the end. It is a brilliant concept with some great imaginative ideas.

There were both +ve and -ve in this book, so I'd suggest you to read this book if you are curious about it. It just didn't work out for me, but I did like some parts of it and I am glad that I read it!

6 comments:

  1. Woah. Here in the Philippines I've never heard a bad review about The Night Circus. It's good to know this insight (I haven't read it yet). Awesome review! :)

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    1. Haha, even I haven't come across many negative resviews for this one, but it wasn't for me! I hope you like it when you read it. Thanks! :)

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  2. Awesome review, as always!! =)

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  3. Weird, I've never heard about this book ! The story sounds fascinating, too bad for the romance though !
    Lovely review ^^

    "Book Addict"

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    1. It's one of the most hyped books, so I'd suggest you to check it out! You might like it if Fantasy is your genre :) Thanks! :)

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