The Night Circus: A very well-written but (exceptionally) slow burn.

The Night Circus starts off mysteriously and pulls you in right away as the enigmatic Prospero the Enchanter and the Man in Gray (aka Mr. A.H.) agree to a contest, testing their magical abilities: each will pick a protégé who will face off in a contest of magic. Their charges, a young girl named Celia and a young boy named Marco, are chosen at a young age to be trained, and while they will eventually know of the contest, they are not supposed to meet each other. The eventual arena of said contest will be the Night Circus, a traveling show, only open at night, featuring the world's best magicians and powered by actual magic.

While the premise is solid, the writing excellent, and the characterizations unique, The Night Circus at times feels bloated, overly long, surprisingly lacking in action, and overindulgent in its descriptions of said circus, its performers, and the attendees. The contest between Celia and Marco is one that their two masters have played out many times over the years; it is a cool concept given nowhere near enough time on the page. Both Celia and Marco often remark about all they do to maintain the circus, all the power and energy they put into its operation, the contest itself, and the toll it takes on them, but when asked specifics, they give only vague answers. Instead, much more page time is given to the supporting characters who helped design and build the circus, along with their elaborate meetings and dinner parties.

I for one, expected more of a climax, a showdown of sorts between Prospero and Mr. A.H., and while something resembling the former happens, the latter never occurs. After a long wait, the reader is left wanting more, even though the novel does pick up in the last quarter of the text.

Erin Morgenstern writes very well, and the novel, which takes place in the late 1800s and early 1900s, shows meticulous research and attention to detail. She crafts interesting characters, and the personal dilemmas and inner struggles of Celia and Marco, the conflict they feel at being pawns in their master's game, especially after eventually (shock!) they start to fall in love, is thick enough to keep the reader moving through the book. But, Morgenstern created some very interesting characters in Prospero and the Man in Grey, and I would have liked much more of them and fewer descriptions of all the cool things that were happening in tents as people walked through them.