The Night Circus

I have conflicting emotions about this book. A part of me wants to rate it 5 stars and another wants to rate it 1 star.
Let us get through the negative points first, shall we?
The story dragged on in numerous places.
I didn't like her revealing the mystery of how the circus came to be because that was exactly the mystery that drew me to this book, and on the other hand she didn't reveal more nagging mysteries. Mysteries that annoy you so much to want answers to. The one that annoyed me the most is her lack of explanation on how Marcus and Celia are so connected to the circus. That part of the plot was very weak and SOO SOO full of cliches. I like the whole magic-y feeling to the circus and I wanted to keep it that way but I don't like the other thing.
The story of them falling in love with each other is so so so unrealistic. I realize there's magic involved, but still, it was so poor and so stupid. I mean, he sees her three times and only talks to her at length once, and suddenly: CELIA OMG I AM IN LOVE WITH YOU I CANT LIVE WITHOUT YOU OMG PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE KISS ME MWAH MWAH MWAH.
I didn't like how a person who was trapped in a house for so so so so long manages to act so confidently in the presence of a female, asks her for a drink, then kisses her while THEY HAD JUST MET. sigh
Herr Thiessen just died and she was crying and all of a sudden THEY FUCKING HAVE SEX. I MEAN WHAT THE FUCK A MAN JUST DIED, A MAN YOU CARE ABOUT. NOT JUST DIED. HE WAS MURDERED. WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?

I don't like how the writing didn't accommodate the era in which the story was supposed to be told. Not in the description, not in conversations, not in anything at all. It is as if the thing happened in 2014. I was expecting a character to jump and say “dude, you ain't have no business being here” anytime. Seriously.

I think there has been a lack of elaboration on a lot of points and over elaboration in many as well. A lot of the descriptions were very very unclear, especially the description of the clocks and the tents.

I don't like how still until the end, the game was not explained properly.

The book was full of cliches, especially when Marco and Celia “fell in love”

I hate Marco. He was an obnoxious character.

The character were not described well, or maybe they were but I wasn't hooked enough to focus on them that I have failed to imagine a lot of characters beyond their hair colour.

I don't like the very redundant switch between the years. It is very very confusing. In her place, I would have dedicated a full blank page with only the year inscribed on it so the reader would register the date better. It was especially hard because I was reading it on kindle and going back was problematic.

I hate the numerous and abrupt switches between points of view. It was very annoying and disturbing.

I hate hate hate, abhor, despise the very redundant usage of the pronouns he/she. It reminds me too much of a book I hate called “the vampire king” and which I rated so low because of this reason among many.
Oh and I wanted a real live duel of the game, but instead everything seemed so vague and ambiguous. You couldn't even pinpoint the competition, the moves of the opponents and when each one of them did something to the other.


Positive points:
I loved loved the plot and how complex it is and how so well interwoven it is. However, I think it could have been written in a much better pattern. I will not criticize the writing style much beyond the points I already mentioned. All in all it flowed smoothly and it was nice, better than a lot of other books I have read. It only needs subtle improvements.
I think the book could have been “arranged” differently , and parts of the story told differently.

I can't bring myself to give this book a 2.5 though a part of me screams for that to happen.

Again, the plot was beautiful. Extremely beautiful... Argh... if only... sigh