Carol

A wonderful, beautiful book and one that I loved every minute of and hated to see end. As beautifully written as any book I've read in years and, unlike other beautifully written books (like "The Orphan's Tale") the Night Circus wasn't just lovely, it was a book about real people whose lives I cared about. A number of reviewers have complained about the present tense, which usually bothers me too, but, in this book, it worked and fit perfectly. Jim Dale's reading was perfect, as always, and even the accents were spot on. I can't recommend this book highly enough and hope that this is the first in a long series of wonderful books but a remarkable new talent.

I've really enjoyed the Robin Hobb books and have been devouring them. I think I'd like this one but the reader is, I'm sorry to say, just awful. She has this weird way of stretching out words, even in fairly straightforward descriptive sections and her efforts to be dramatic just grate. I think I'll give up on the audio version and buy a paper copy of the book and see if I (probably) will like it as much as I have the rest of Hobb's books.

I've read this book several times and wasn't sure it was the best investment in the world to listen to something I was this familiar with. Well, I was wrong. The audio version of this witty, funny book was even better than reading it. If you're looking for an escape to a comedy of manners embedded in speculative fiction, I recommend this book (and, really, anything by Willis) highly. I was sad when it ended.

I rarely write a negative review but I truly hated this book. It's ugly in it's sadism and ugly in it's treatment of Jung, without any historical evidence. I actually listened to this all the way through because we were on a long trip with nothing else to listen to. But I wish I hadn't, pop music would have been better. It's not even a good mystery. You could figure out who the criminal is in about 100 pages and the rest is just an unpleasant story told poorly.

This book is a delight. It's a wonderful combination of wit, sentiment, fantasy, and a reference back to the great literature of the past. A truly adult fantasy where "adult" means literary merit and intelligence, not sexuality. I read it some years ago and liked it but decided to listen to it again. I found the listening experience even better than reading it. A great narrator and a fine, fine book. I also recommend Clarke's "The Ladies of Grace Adieu", set in the same world as "Strange and Norell". I just wish she'd write another book soon, I can't wait.

Burke's rage at what was done, and is being done, to the wonderful city of New Orleans rings true and clear. Wrapped up in his usual tight and gripping story is his pain and grief for the city he loves and the city that all of us here in the South love deeply. Read it and weep for a beautiful piece of America abandoned by those with the power to save her.

Somehow I managed to get to middle age without having read this "classic". Now I'm sorry I ever went back and wasted my time. Instead of a great romance, I found an absolute jerk who abused and battered every helpless creature he could find. Ugly people behaving badly, I'm so disappointed.

These are wonderful stories, maybe even better than her long novel "Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell" which I read first and enjoyed very much. Smart, entertaining, witty, I recommend this very highly.

You just can't do better than Gaiman. Delightful, witty stories, good narration, just plain fun!

A wonderful book. Romantic, smart, challenging. I recommend it highly. Not at all what I expected which was a retread H.G. Wells. This was a much more modern, and more intriguing book, than I expected. Exploring themes of time, love, destiny, predestination, it was as intellectually challenging as it was a compelling story. One of the pleasures of the book is that I didn't even have to always like the characters, I still cared greatly what happened to them, even to the "minor" characters. By the end, and what an end, I was teary and joyful at the same time.

I initially didn't like the male narrator and, even by the end, wasn't sure how much I liked him. But, by then, he was really the protagonist and I felt he was truthful to the character. When I didn't like the narrator, it was really the character that I both cared about and was frustrated by. Rather like the wife of the title, I guess.

I recommend this book highly to anyone who is bored by the same old, same old in SciFi and Fantasy and wants to hear a true and original work of speculative fiction that will both grip you and leave you deeply moved. A real keeper of a book.