The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

The Night Circus

512 Pages

Trade Paperback

Fiction

2011

Hurrah, I am finally reading something that isn't Terry Pratchett or Stephen King. What a wonderful book to make the journey with. My wife gave me a copy of this book for Christmas this year. After reading just the first few pages I was drawn in and I quickly read through the rest of the book in about a week. 

The book tells a story through mystery, secrets and revelations. It seems as if we are jumping through time and getting the tale by walking around the outside slowly circling until things become more clear. Between some of the chapters we are giving a first hand account of certain parts of the circus that display the magical inner workings of the circus tents. 

We start with two magicians making a deal. We aren't privy to what the deal really consists of, but realize that it will involve each training an apprentice of sorts and that this is not the first time these two men have played this "game" before. We meet a young boy who is drawn to the circus when it appears in a field near his house. 

The two apprentices soon find themselves a part of the Night Circus and they start to prove there magical worth by creating astounding and beautiful sights that seem to only be possible within the limits of the Circus. The young boy befriends a circus performer and starts to revel in the mystery of the Night Circus. 

It is really difficult to explain fully what the story involves without revealing too much. The reader is invited into the world of the circus and becomes intertwined with all the workings within. 

3 Emotional/Intellectual - I read other reviews that say the two main characters are wooden and "unemotional" I didn't feel that with the books, both of them are extremely reserved because of their unique experience and upbringing. I personally found them and many of the other character to be real and I cared for them.

5 Style/Readabilitty - I really enjoyed Morgenstern's writing. She presented us with this mysterious place with magical happenings, then carefully revealed how it came to be and why it continues to exist.

3 Long Term Impact - The book is a National Bestseller and it is her first novel. I hope this is an indication of other great things to come. More fantastic books like this is what I crave.

11 out of 13. I really enjoyed the book. I think a reader that enjoys magical realism would find this to be well worth your time.

Keep Turning Pages

Under the Dome by Stephen King

1074 pages

Trade Paperback

Fiction

2009

I continue with my Stephen King obsession with a pick from his more recent efforts. I think from the outside I had thought King had jumped the shark a bit and was putting out books that seemed to be rehashes of his older books. I felt it was only fair to give him a chance on some of his newer stuff and so far I have been impressed. 

We start in a small town called Chester's Mill. A new pilot is learning to fly when the plane suddenly strikes an invisible barrier. Soon a few cars run into a barrier that seems to be like a huge invisible wall. It doesn't take people to long to figure out that the barrier completely surrounds the town like an enormous dome. 

The book is a thousand pages and there is a lot of development of characters and there relationships. The efforts of the American government to "help" free the people and the downfall of the social norms. We follow three main Characters and a host of others. Big Jim Rennie is the local politician trying to make his move in "his" town before the outsiders can fix it. Julia Shumway is the local newspaper editor who is trying to expose the political corruption that is vying for power and Dale Barbara. A discharged Captain that is the Army's choice to take over leadership within the Dome. The town keeps things moving along mostly in a normal state, but soon the local children start have seizures and seeing visions of the future. A small group of teenagers appoint themselves the mission of finding the source that is creating the dome and the local Police force starts adding rookies to its ranks to help 'in this time of crisis".

I really got sucked into the book and read the over 1,000 pages in just a few weeks. King made the townspeople very believable except to a certain degree, Big Jim Rennie. It doesn't take to long to see that he is the Bad Guy. It seems at times he goes out of his way to be the bad guy when it really isn't necessary. 

Overall, it is story of town being trapped with itself and how quickly that starts to fall apart.

3 Emotional/Intellectual - Many of the characters on the "good" side are easy to care about and come off as realistic.

4 Style/Readability - King sells millions of books for a reason. He takes fantastic elements and puts them in real situations. He has great aptitude for foreshadowing, creating a problem, adding additional problems, solving earlier ones and then continuing the story. You don't want to stop reading to see what happens next, but then another conflict arises that you want to see solved as well.

3 Long Term Impact - King will surely be read for a hundred years, but this may not be as popular as other earlier books of his, but honestly it still deserves recognition.

10 out of 13. Any King fan should give it a try. I wouldn't suggest it as a first book for him, but I don't think it would be a bad place to start if you did.

Keep Turning Pages