The Night Circus

A Novel

By: Erin Morgenstern

Narrated by: Jim Dale

Length: 13 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's summary

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.

Written in rich, seductive prose, this spell-casting novel is a feast for the senses and the heart.

©2011 Erin Morgenstern (P)2011 Random House

Critic reviews

" The Night Circus made me happy. Playful and intensely imaginative, Erin Morgenstern has created the circus I have always longed for, and she has populated it with dueling love-struck magicians, precocious kittens, hyper-elegant displays of beauty, and complicated clocks. This is a marvelous book." (Audrey Niffenegger, author of The Time Traveler's Wife)

"Self-assured, entertaining debut that blends genres and crosses continents in quest of magic…. Generous in its vision and fun to read. Likely to be a big book—and, soon, a big movie, with all the franchise trimmings." ( Kirkus Reviews)

"Debut author Morgenstern doesn't miss a beat in this smashing tale of greed, fate, and love... a giant, magical story destined for bestsellerdom. This is an electric debut on par with Special Topics in Calamity Physics." ( Publishers Weekly)

Delightful story well told

Would you consider the audio edition of The Night Circus to be better than the print version?

I have not ready the print version

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Night Circus?

Each time we see how Celia and Marco create things in the circus for one-another.

Which character – as performed by Jim Dale – was your favorite?

I really enjoyed Celia - I loved her natural ability and grace and identified with her insecurities.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Very much - I'd turn the story on even if I only had a few minutes to listen, and it distracted me from things I should have been doing.

Any additional comments?

A well crafted story with interesting characters. I felt like a Muggle getting a hint that true magic might actually exist, even if I am not aware of it in my daily life. Delightful!

good not great

good not great. Performance wise I like when the reader drastically changes his voice. it helps keep the characters strait. this guy didn't do nearly enough.

Great story and reading

Loved it. The narrator did a great job with the characters and voices.

The story is one of my favorites, easy to get lost in the world of la cirque de reves.

Very unique story.

This story was very unique and I can't even think of any other books to relate to the story. At times it got a little confusing moving back and forth through time but toward the end it all seems to work out. Jim Dale was really able to bring the story to life. I really don't think I would have enjoyed it very much without the the life that Jim Dale puts into this story.

The Night Circus is so much more then just a romance story it is a supernatural, sci-fi and suspense story. You have all of the elements that make this story really unique. There is a lot packed into this story so you need to listen carefully to take it all in and understand how all the different characters tie in and how all to sub-plots become interrelated to the story as a whole.

When was it going to go anywhere?????

Any additional comments?

I think you have to have patience to listen to this book. After hours of waiting for something to happen I decided hitting "pause" was the most exciting part of the experience.

They broke nothing, though the room was filled with many fragile things

This book was fabulous. I don't mean that it was great, it was actually kinda boring but everything in it was fabulous—in a one-dimensional way. The costumes, the performances, the food, were all so perfect that the author just couldn't possibly describe, so we were just told it was so. An instructive quote may be when two of the protagonists—I don't really know if there were any antagonists but certainly neither of these—were competing in a wizards duel, "They broke nothing, though the room was filled with many fragile things." The book had a magic system, but didn't seem to hold it to any rules so it was always more and better without any cost.

Beautiful Story

A wonderful tale that is like a woven tapestry that is told strand by strand. You will not fully understand the story until you have finished it. This mirrors the way the main characters learn and grow as well. Wonderfully written and narrated as well. Worth the credit and the time. I plan on listening to it at least twice more to fully understand it.

Love this story

I first read this book in 2012 and have read it several times since then. When I discovered that Jim Dale narrates the audiobook, I just about died of enjoyment and immediately purchased it. He makes the story comes alive even more!

In a word: “enchanting”

I can see people loving or hating this book. The plot is a little loose, and for a while I wasn’t even able to determine much about the central conflict, if I’m honest. But I was so enthralled with the concept and imagery of the circus and the characters within it, that I was totally content to just exist in their world for the first portion of the book until plot progression started to kick up. It’s got that mystical, hard-to-explain, Harry Potter vibe that lights my imagination on fire and makes the reader feel like they’re floating in a world of dreams and possibility.

Much of the description is indirect and things are often not explained the first or second time you encounter them. As a result everything is very mysterious and I think that lends it the dreamlike quality that many report. The narrator also has a rhythm that very much enhances that feeling, with a slow, plodding pace. Almost like we’re sitting down together next to a fire with a cup of coffee and a thick blanket while the grizzled narrator spins you a yarn of half-fact-half-fiction. Only the line between the two is blurred and you honestly don’t want to know where it lies.

TLDR; this book is about atmosphere and imagination. I would recommend it to those who have a strong inner romantic or to those who’d like to re-awaken their inner romantic whom they thought long-dead. I admit I am a member of the latter group and thus enjoyed the book immensely. It is a certainly a “good” book, but, if it hits you just right, it might become your favorite.

very mysterious and adventurous

I love this book because it circles around multiple characters breaks down the story for the reader to fully understand.

if you like magic and mystery this is a great recommendation it's a love story with a Twist great job