Tag Archives: YA

Book Review | ‘The Night Circus’ by Erin Morgenstern

28 Saturday Jul 2012

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The Night CircusThe Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

“The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not.”

Erin Morgenstern’s tale of magic and illusion follows in the footsteps of many a famous opening line. For the ‘Cirque des Reves’ is no ordinary circus. Its arrival and departure is a phenomena unto itself, as are its infamous opening hours: from sunset to daybreak. The Night Circus therefore is a strange, beautiful place; a place made up of many stalls that seem to cater to the wildest hopes and dreams of each and every one of its loyal patrons, the ‘Reveurs’.

“You think, as you walk away from Le Cirque des Rêves and into the creeping dawn, that you felt more awake within the confines of the circus.You are no longer quite certain which side of the fence is the dream.” 

However the ‘Cirque des Reves’ is far more than just a venue of wonderous entertainment. It serves a darker purpose as the enchanted battleground to a magicians duel. This unmarked chessboard binds the fate of two young students of magic who through chance or otherwise became pawns in a cruel wager in which they can never escape. Prospero and his long-time friend and rival Alexander have for centuries made a game out of pitting their students against each other. Their latest victims are no other than Celia, Prospero’s own daughter and Marco, an orphaned street urchin.

The bets are placed and the children are bound through a ritualistic ring, and so begins their gruelling instruction of the dark arts. However, the fight ahead of them is a blind fight, in which the opponent they face is unknown as well as the rules to the game. As you may imagine, the venue for the dual showcases the amazing abilities of both competitors. Complex attractions such as the ‘Pool of Tears’ and the ‘Ice Garden’ soon become not tools for fighting the opponent, but rather love tokens, as Celia and Marco eventually discover each other and slowly fall in love. Much to the chagrin of their Prospero and Alexander, the circus changes from a battleground to a star-crossed ode to love.

Set at the turn of the 20th century, ‘The Night Circus’ is a heady clash between late Victorian Romanticism and the opposing ideals of the Enlightenment. It is mechanics meets magic and mystery. The story itself is a delicate clockwork whose narrative feeds off a variety of opposites. The action for instance jumps from one side of the Atlantic to another, then all over the world according to the mysterious whims of the circus proprietors. The characters are also an oxymoron of sorts; as society forces real magicians to carry out their art under the guise of illusion.

“That’s the beauty of it. Have you seen the contraptions these magicians build to accomplish the most mundane feats? They are a bunch of fish covered in feathers trying to convince the public they can fly, I am simply a bird in their midst.”

I particularly enjoyed the sense of ‘battle without action’, which Morgenstern evokes with a quiet dexterity. The cast is varied and full of weird and wonderful people, all of whom have a touch of magic about them. My favourite has to be the arrogant Prospero and the exotic female Contortionist who is more than meets the eye. I also very much liked the way magic was conveyed in ‘The Night Circus’, as it is refreshingly different from the Harry Potter style of conjuring that we are all familiar with (apart from the use of a ‘Hogwart’s Express’ kind of transportation for the circus).

I must state that I do not read YA as much as I should. On the whole I think YA fiction reviews tend to be overhyped and that is unfortunately a turn off for me. However I really enjoyed ‘The Night Circus’ and glad I picked it up. I have seen a number of favourable reviews around the internet and wholeheartedly agree with them all. But this does not mean that the story was perfect, and there are parts that could have been ironed out. My small objections are as follows: The story having got off to an amazing start takes us straight into the harrowing relationship of Prospero and his poor daughter Celia. We see both young students grow up and the suffering (both physical and psychological) they both have to endure to become the best. The momentum up to this point is fantastic and I kept hoping Morgenstern could keep it up, but somewhere after circus is formed and Celia and Marco ‘discover’ each other, the story sort of starts to fall apart.

The poetic magic of Morgenstern’s storyline gives away at the seams and the direction of the novel for me was no longer clear. Now I could say that this could pass as a device that reflects the disillusionment of the main characters, but it didn’t FEEL that way. Two-thirds of the way into the novel there is a dilly-dallying that does mar the overall quality of the book, therefore my 4/5 stars. However, it did end on a strong note and the small hiccup did not put me off at all.

“I am tired of trying to hold things together that cannot be held. Trying to control what cannot be controlled. I am tired of denying myself what I want for fear of breaking things I cannot fix. They will break no matter what we do.” 

For those wanting a good summer read I recommend ‘The Night Circus’ as it really is a wonderful tale with a bit of everything thrown in. It’s one of those stories that you can totally let yourself be enveloped in and not worry about a thing. It reminded me a lot of ‘Howl’s Moving Castle‘ and ‘The Prestige‘, so if you like fantasy books with duelling magician’s then this is definitely one you shouldn’t miss.

Make sure you snap up a copy in the airport lounge before boarding your plane!

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Book Review | ‘Lost Souls’ by Poppy Z. Brite

24 Monday Oct 2011

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Lost SoulsLost Souls by Poppy Z. Brite

My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I think I’m 13 years too late for this novel. Looking back, it’s one of the ones that ‘got away’, fell off my book-dar when I was a moody, goth-chick with raging hormones and a healthy, morbid curiosity. Back in the days I liked my books dark, with seductive, raven-haired vampires. ‘Lost Souls’ would have been perfect for me then. But not anymore. I am happy to report that my reading preferences have changed dramatically, that I have outgrown the dark phase of ‘nobody understands me’ *mope-mope*. And thank god I did.

Because despite it being hailed as a ‘cult vampire classic’, the plot was completely lost on me. In fact, I think there isn’t really a plot at all. ‘Lost Souls’ is a story with a handful of characters whose paths collide with one another on a random basis. A bit like a car crash, or a hit-and-run accident. Reading this was a bit like me looking back through the years at my pre-pubescent self, and wondering how I ever evolved into the person I am now. Even though I read lots of novels like this back in the day, I discovered I could no longer relate to them. It felt like a very specific window to my previous ‘self’ was forever lost to me. And that’s a bit saddening, because it not only makes you feel old, but also (somehow) narrow-minded as well.

The novel hinges on events based in New Orleans and one Mardi Gras night a young girl strolls into a bar looking for ‘the vampires’. The bartender (one 400 year old vampire by the name of Christian *snickers*) tries to discourage said girl, but suddenly in barge three vamps (nasty ones) who immediately order bottles and bottles of Chartreuse (they drink copious amounts of the stuff throughout the novel) and begin mucking around. Girl sees vampires, goes over to them, offers herself up to pretty blonde vampire. Christian uncharacteristically again tries to do the decent thing but in the end gets seduced by the pretty blonde vampire too. In the end, despite all good intentions, all five end up have a massive orgy anyway…

Had enough yet? No, wait there’s more. The three bad vampires sling their hook as soon as the dirty deed is over and the girl later finds out she is pregnant. Great eh? No, not really. Because the stupid girl is going to die. All mothers of vampires apparently die during childbirth. Christian takes pity upon her and agrees to help her until she gives birth. However Christian doesn’t really know what to do with a screaming baby boy, so he names it ‘Nothing’ and leaves it outside a house hoping some humans can take care of it instead.

Everything up until that point actually makes sense, believe it or not. There is something taking shape and I was made to believe it would actually go somewhere. But it didn’t. Instead the plot becomes a muddy pool of mindless drugs, sex, gore, incest and road trips. Endless road trips. Everybody apparently is going ‘somewhere’ but no one ever reaches it. And all these characters meet up at some point or another on the road or when they are hitch-hiking.

Now in all honesty, I couldn’t even bring myself to finish this one. It was dull and boring. Credibility is an important factor of story-telling, even if it’s a supernatural/ fantasy novel, it has to make sense to the reader. There were moments when I believed Brite really didn’t know where her narrative was going. The novel reads like a glorified, teenage vampire fan fiction, which are mostly written purely for personal gratification with little regard for the readers’ needs. True, it has it’s moments. For instance there is some real elegance in her landscape descriptions, but it seems she had an obsession with Chartreuse, as it’s all the characters ever drink, and a fondness for making nearly all her characters sexually ambiguous.

For those who like their YA vampire fiction to be LGBT and over-the-top in the sex department, then you must read this. Unfortunately incestuous vampires are not my thing. But, if you are well over twenty and thinking about re-visiting some of the crazier books you read as a teenager (and this was one of them) then, not so great. Avoid like the plague. Or better, go get you some Anne Rice. She does it so much better.

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