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4.5 Stars
A truly entertaining magical piece of fantasy.
All of our readers enjoyed the beautiful descriptive writing of Erin. Some found the beginning a bit difficult to follow with the abrupt changes of time and scene, though others found the whole mystery of it all utterly engrossing.
Basically, there are two ancient magicians who set their two star pupils against each other to find out who is the best. The issues are that the pupils don’t know the rules, or how the winner is declared. The competition arena, is the Night Circus.
There is a great deal that is left to the reader’s imagination as not everything is completely explained, which only adds to the enigmas and magic entwined in everything. This is not an ordinary novel. We first get a full view of the almost playfulness of the magic and later the darker aspects of it are explored. How everyone involved in the circus whether directly or not is caught up in it and pays a price as well as benefits from it.
Walking through the circus is so beautifully written that it feels as if you are there, smelling the caramel popcorn and watching the white flames dancing. The joy of the circus permeates the pages, people who visit the circus leave it ever changed.
The love story between Marco and Celia is restrained, elegant and ultimately otherworldly in its strength and beauty. They ‘write love letters’ to each other through the different tents in the circus. The demonstrations of their affection to each other are so beautiful; so dazzling as to wish that everyone could find such love.
The competition though integral to the story becomes the hardest part to reconcile as the pages flip by and the costs mount up for the magic being used, the balancing that must be maintained. Some of these costs are very heavy, burdensome and even fatal. The darker side of the competition is shown in all it’s sinister aspects and we are left waiting for the ‘other shoe to drop’ so to speak.
To show that this book is not for everyone, half of our readers adored this book and would absolutely recommend it as a must read, and the other half were not at all convinced, conceding only that the descriptive writing was excellent but the plot felt thin.
The 2017 BBC Reith Lectures will be discussing historical fiction and the importance it has in historical and literary worlds.
Why not take some time and listen to the legendary Hilary Mantel discuss ‘The Day is For the Living’, you can listen to the podcast on the BBC website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00729d9
The board game has been developed locally, and within the Dementia Education Strategy, and has been a proven method of raising awareness about dementia in a relaxed setting. Individuals and health care professionals will be able to borrow it for the standard loan period.
The Royal Society celebrates the best books that communicate science to young people through their Young People’s Book Prize. Each year an expert panel of adult judges choose a shortlist of their favourite science books from entries submitted by publishers.
Here is the 2017 shortlist:
The adult judges will hand over the task of picking a winner to groups of young people under 14 across the UK. These groups are from schools, libraries, scouts and brownies, science centres or youth groups. They form their own judging panels, and will read and discuss the books over the summer. Once they’ve made their decisions, they will submit their verdict to the Royal Society – together they decide the winner, who will be announced in November.
Find out more about the shortlisted titles by clicking on the link.
Now on the ‘New Books’ Shelf
Reader Review: 5 Stars
Thoroughly enjoyed this book. Emma is a consummate story teller. Her characters are so real and multi faceted that you cannot help but be completely drawn in. I highly recommend this book.
