eilonwyhan

A fantastical circus hosts a decades-long contest of magical skills. There is a price for all this magic, affecting everyone at the circus.

When they were children, Marco and Celia were chosen to participate in a future contest of magical skill. The contest begins when they are adults, and have received the necessary training to compete. The venue: a fantastic traveling circus that only opens from dusk to dawn. The circus starts out as a wondrous place full of the best performers, but through the skill of the competing magicians, it becomes a wonderland of fantastic delights. Morgenstern weaves a tale of longing and loneliness, for though the circus family is expansive, the magicians remain distant out of necessity. There is a price to be paid for all this magic.

Morgenstern builds a palpable world at the circus, full of light and shadow and the smells of caramel and popcorn. The performers are amazingly skilled and interesting curiosities, but never seem to be exploited. The story flips back and forth through time, and we see the circus from many points of view. Herr Thiessen is its best-known customer, and we get to read bits of his travelogues about the circus. The patrons of the circus who planned everything down to the last delightful detail have trouble letting go of their project once it is out in the world. And a young boy's love for the circus is what ultimately saves it.

I enjoyed the book, but like the contestants in the game, I was frustrated by not understanding the rules of the contest or the point of it. When there was an explanation, it fell a little flat for me by that point. I didn't know if I was supposed to root for one person over the other, which was a little odd. I liked the depictions of the cast of characters and enjoyed their company for the duration, so that compensated for my confusion.