So it is for me, a travesty that I hadn’t read this before now. This book is a work of art. If I didn’t believe that harming books in any manner is a human sin I would love to wallpaper my room with my favorite pages and scenes from The Night Circus. It is a masterpiece from the very first page to the last page. Every word is a gift bestowed upon the reader.

The Night Circus was written by Erin Morgernstern in 2011. I’m only picking it up now and I’ve been blown away by how beautiful this book is. Every single page is filled with luscious writing and intriguing characters, magic, whimsy and enchanting, romance soft and subtle and so very lovely. The entire volume is just a work of art.

The book follows two enchanters, Celia and Marco since the late 1800’s when they are both just children. They are bound by two enchanters who train them to partake in a magical competition of sorts to test which school of magic is the best. The competition is woven into the enigmatic Circus which travels the world in shades of ebony and ivory, only opening its doors once the sun has set and the stars twinkle in the sky. It’s unlike anything anyone has ever seen, which is apt perhaps because I have never read a book like this.

Erin write so beautifully, every detail is thought out in the circus. The story might take place in the cold, dreary avenues of London or theatres in New York City and Paris, but she has created a world within our own. She has built her own world within ours and that in itself is a monumental task. I want to live in the Circus discovering a new tent every night, from the Cloud Maze to the Pool of Tears to the Wishing Tree. Every tent was given such a dreamlike quality, that while it still felt human the experience felt ethereal. My favorite part of the entire Circus that Moregernstern has constructed is the Wunschtraum Clock. I would pay any amount of money for a clock that could do what Erin describes the Wunschtraum Clock can do. Any words I use to describe the Circus fall short because the only place to read it is in the book itself.

The language is luscious and divine. It’s so simple yet the way every sentence is constructed is so decadent. It flows despite not being written in exactly a linear style. The story jumps from place to place rushing years forward and back again around every character.

Each and every character has a role to play, from the slimy Hector Bowen, to wispy lovestruck Isobel to the enigmatic Tsukiko and eccentric Chandresh. They all had a purpose. It may not have come across when one initially starts reading but it’s so subtle one barely realises how important and integral every character is to how the circus runs. All of them fleshed out into different sorts of people, weird, whimsical, wondrous characters. Some bursting with life and some passing through the story with cold, cynical detachment. I adored Tuskiko, I want her in my life as my best friend. She seems like a riot and she appears in only a few scenes. It’s a toss up between her and Chandresh as my favorite characters.

The romance was barely there until it appears. Celia and Marco make one swoon at how perfect they are together, how they compliment each other with soft, gentle words. And then you realise the romance is always there, they write love letters to each other through the circus, scattered for the other to find, until they finally meet and the connection is almost electric. It was done to perfection. It’s so subtle it’s barely there and yet it is woven into the plot from the time the ring touches Celia’s finger at 6 years of age up till the book comes to a close. And despite both of them having other love interests at times in the book, there seems to be no conflict that Celia and Marco are the ones meant to be together. It’s just… perfect.

I want parts of this book ingrained in my memory, and until it lies woven through my brain so I might turn to it for inspiration and comfort. It is by far the perfect book. It require no change, no editing. no adjustment. Five stars always and forever. I am officially a rêveur, every time I pick up this novel I shall wear black with a splash of red, a rose or a scarf and I shall lose myself in a fantastic story.