The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
Genre: Fantasy, Fiction, Romance
Rating: ★★☆☆☆
Summary: A mysterious circus comes and goes as it pleases, always without a warning. It holds magic and mystery and many deep secrets. The circus is home to an intense competition undergone by two very talented magicians, Celia and Marco. Neither understands just how complex and intertwined their lives are, and they begin to fall for one another. But no matter the love they feel, the show must go on. The competition must be one. And the loser will face the consequences.
Review:
The concept of a mystery competition in a circus seemed really intriguing until I actually started to read the book and I realized how insignificant? or poorly written? the actual competition is. I feel like the mystery behind it is good, but eventually that secrecy becomes a front for not actually knowing what to write about. Also the “Romance” tag threw me off, as well. I feel that there was hardly any romance at all, and what little there was, it was too quick, too late in the book, and not emotional enough. Their relationship seemed incredibly forced and boring.
I also have a very strong opinion about fantasy that I will share with you all even if you don’t really care: You can have a book with a mediocre plot/setting and it still be successful if the characters are good. You cannot have a book with a solid setting without the characters to go with the world. I just felt like I couldn’t really connect to the characters (or at least the main characters) because they didn’t really have much of a personality.
This book gave off similar vibes to The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin (review here) which I really loved, but in the end it just can’t compare. Sorry but booktok did me dirty with this pick.