And I don't want to damn with faint praise, but if you go into The Night Circus believing all the hype, you will be disappoint. SUCH IS THE NATURE OF THE HYPE-MACHINE. If you pick it up because it came for you in the mail and you sort of hadn't noticed that it was a book, you will probably dig its jive.
You probably know the plottery gist by now: two attractive young people locked into a magician's duel, which in my mind should involve a bit of this:
and quite a lot of this:
There is, tragically, little of either. It is a very civilized duel (and then on another level, an exceedingly barbaric one, since neither dualant entered voluntarily, either through slapping of faces with gauntlets or otherwise).
The boxing ring (so to speak) is a circus, and it is VIBRANT and MYSTICAL and literally the best part of the book. Because each contributant contributes elements to it in an attempt to out-wizard each other and there ends up being shit like an ice garden (made of ice!) and a floating carousel and it's way more rad than I'm making it sound.
Young, attractive people being what they are, the dualants eventually fall in love which complicates the duel (did I mention they are irrevocably bound? Rough luck, that) and then a pair of red-headed twins (obviously) with magical powers is born into the circus and ALSO there's a boy named Bailey who is Not Magical In Any Way and I am RUNNING OUT OF STEAM for this book.
I'm sorry, The Night Circus. You deserve better than I am giving you, but I take comfort in the fact that you've GOTTEN it. Downgrade your expectations, oh ye readers, and then pick this up when you've forgotten how practically perfect it's supposed to be. Because it's seriously very good.
Eight and a half caterpillars.
Requisite ass-covering: book received from publisher.
Hmm. I usually end up reading books that are over-hyped, but I only get around to them a year or so later. Hence, I just got Room out of the library.
ReplyDeleteAnd I think I will read Night Circus, but only once I have almost forgotten about it.
Excellent post, especially Sword in the Stone!
SWORD IN THE STOOONE
ReplyDelete*flails a bit*
"Downgrade your expectations" indeed. But after that, it's enjoyable and a very nice read. I haven't heard anyone say they thought it out and out sucked.
Excessive hype is the poopy but I had a hard time not spouting about how excellent this is when I reviewed it. I also had the benefit of and advance copy so I had to deal with very little hype outside of my own creation. I'm glad you still managed to like it because that circus is excellent.
ReplyDeleteLoved it (sorry, I gush) and loved your review. Especially the screenshots from one of the only awesome Disney movies.
ReplyDeleteUgh, I agree. It was HOOZAH on the imaginative level and just meh on the execution. The circus was the best part and everything else was just distracting.
ReplyDeleteI was so on the fence about this book. I had been affected by the hype machine (that and the pretty cover are what pushed me to read it in the first place), so my expectations were probably a little too high. It didn't help that I REALLY enjoyed the first 100 pages or so. After that though, I found out I really didn't care about the characters (except the twins), the romance was bland, and I got annoyed by the vagueness of The Duel. But oh how I loved that circus. If only it were real.
ReplyDeleteSo enjoyed reading your review--this book is definitely one i was an early advocate for!
ReplyDeleteIt's still sits on my TBR, getting old like a good Port, waiting until the hype settles and I can enjoy it (or not) for what it is.
ReplyDeleteso funny what you say, BECAUSE- saw Erin speak last week and the book started with a love affair with the Circus. And apparently it took many, many revisions before there was a plot and story line and not just vignettes of the circus. Celia did not exist in the first draft.
ReplyDeleteBut I could literally eat the words when she was talking about the circus itself, oh or the midnight dinners!
This is exactly what I needed to hear. I had pretty much decided to just set this one aside for a few months and get it when the hype had mellowed, but now it's official. If I read it now there's no way it could live up to my expectations.
ReplyDeleteI agree, I thought there was a lot of hype for this book that had me a little disappointed, but it was good nonetheless. The circus seemed like a fantastic place to visit, and I loved the twins. Definitely not as much action as I was expecting though. :/
ReplyDeleteI predict this will pop up as one of my book groups' selections, so I'm not in an all-fired hurry. Hooray for The Sword in the Stone!
ReplyDeleteWhen a book gets this much hype, I ALWAYS wait to read it. And not really because I'm afraid I'll be disappointed. It's like I'm annoyed with the book because of its hype. Which is so totally not its fault, but whoa - enough already.
ReplyDeleteI'll probably read it in a year or so.
I agree with you so much about this book.
ReplyDeleteTHANK YOU!!! I've been avoiding this book despite all the raves because:
ReplyDelete1. The premise didn't grab me to start with
2. Whenever everyone loves a book, I get leery.
I have now decided to wait to read this so I forget about how much I'm supposed to love it.