The Night Circus

The Night Circus, is essentially a story of two real-magic magicians who are pitied against each other against their will to a battle to the death. What makes the story so intriguing is the circus itself and how the lives of these two characters intertwine with other people in the circus.

My main issue with this story is how the chapters are not written in chronological order. From one aspect, this echos the mysterious feel the circus itself holds. But from another, it adds confusion for the reader. Especially when certain chapters take place years after the time of the chapters surrounding it.

For example, we are introduced to a character named Bailey, whose chapter, is placed between other chapters that take place years before he's even born. At first, I was thrown off, wondering who this Bailey was when he didn't connect with any other characters I'd been introduced to at that point. Then, I started to like Bailey, and I wanted to read more of him. And then chapter after chapter passes without mention of him. We finally do catch up with him in the proper time line. But then why take one chapter and set it so far off? Why not have his whole story fit more chronologically so I'm not thrown off when I first meet him and I get to continue to read about him when I grow attached to him? The placement of that first chapter makes no sense to me.

It's possible the author was trying to create a certain feeling of suspense or foreshadow by mixing up the chronological order of the chapters, but sometimes even this fails. There's several references in the book of a blinding light that will mean something bad for the circus. As we're following a character who is trying to figure out what happened, we are jumped into the past in a chapter that reveals some of what happened or at least gives the reader enough information to guess, all the before the character we are following figures it out. Why ruin the suspense like that?

There are certain readers, I think, who respond well to such a mixed way of telling. But I was thrown off so many times (not just by the order of chapters, but how some chapters begin in such a way that you have no idea what is going on in relation to what you just read), that I didn't care much for it. I think I would have liked this story a lot better if the chapters had been in order according to their time line.

The other thing that really annoyed me was the complete lack of relationship development between the two main characters. They have one meeting full of electric charge between the two of them - a terrible romance clique, even if it is real in the case of these two - and then the narrative jumps three years and they are desperately in love with each other. We don't get to see their love develop at all. We're just supposed to accept it. And I felt cheated for not getting to see the love grow between them.

Now, I did listen to this story on audio CD, and I had a friend point out that the mixed chronology is less jarring in print. However, what really bugs me is I just can't justify why the chronology is mixed. I don't see the reason behind it. And I really can't get over how glossed over the love story was. Even if I did like the print version better, the issues I take with how the story was told and the love story in particular would still probably bring the book to three stars. I did enjoy the characters, and I did enjoy the circus. But the love story is such an important part of the plot and with the story's structure being so mismatched ... I don't feel loving the circus and the characters can make up for that. I'm sure for the right reader, this book would be perfectly enchanting.