Danelle B. (danelleb) reviewed on 10/9/2013 + 19 more book reviews

"The circus arrives without warning.

No announcements precede it, no paper notices on downtown posts and billboards, no mentions or advertisements in local newspapers. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not."

Inside the black and white maze of tents known as 'Le Cirque des Reves', is a world that is exhilarating and mysterious and intoxicating all at once. The circus is only open at night; it contains only the colors black and white; and, it is a place full of magic. But all that goes on at the night circus is not known to everyone. Two magicians, Marco and Celia, are competing in a duel. Trained from a very young age to take part in this magical duel to the death, the two end up falling in love. They learn that their actions have severe consequences for the circus.

Erin Morgenstern has written a fairytale of sorts for adults and has stayed true to that fairytale form - for all the light and magic, there is also darkness. The story of the mystical circus that arrives unannounced and opens only at sunset, is both complex and beautiful. The story is told in the same way the new tents appear in the night circus, popping up here and there amongst already established ones and becoming a part of the whole circus seamlessly - here is a part, now here is another one...

Morgenstern has written the story explaining the magical without giving the magic away.

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