"The Night Circus"

by Erin Morgenstern, AF, 2011, 387p, rating=4

The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night.
But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway—a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love—a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands.
True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus per­formers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead. (Goodreads)

This book was full of crisp and vivid display of fantasy and imagery.  This special circus really did feel like "Le Cirque Des Reves", the circus of dreams.  The cast of supporting characters were quirky and intriguing (what comes to mind that sorta compares are the supporting actors in the movie Knotting Hill), fitting for a circus.  But it was their combined stories that made them special and together became the pawn in the game.  The magical game that Celia and Marco were bound to play to the death.  However, the two fell in love so neither wanted to play anymore.  Unfortunately, that was not an option.  So comes in Bailey, the young boy who fell in love with the circus.

At first, the read confused the heck out of me!  The setting see-sawed from one year to another and I kept going back to the beginning of the chapter to orient myself.  I also had to figure out who's who.  I supposed reading this choppily over a week and half didn't help.  But it eventually came together for me and that was nice.  From there I grew to like the sweet love story between Celia and Marco and the love story for the circus in general. 

A great debut novel.  Original, magical, and enchanting.