Night Circus

Night Circus is one of my favorite readings so far in the course. I am a sucker for creativity and world building, and Erin Morgenstern did a really nice job at both in this novel. We talked a lot about spirituality and how it is represented in fantasy writing this week in class, and I think this is one of the best books to have chosen for the topic. The spirituality in this book is encompassed wholly in the "competition" between the two characters, Celia and Marco. And I put competition in quotes because, in my opinion, the competition is actually between old and new magic, or A.H. and Prospero. Celia and Marco actually have little desire to compete, and in the end it is their desire to save the circus and their love for each other that really makes the moral dilemma so complex and striking.

I really emjoyed how the situations the characters were put in, although dramatic and fantatical, felt very grounded in a spiritual truth, especially in the ending, where the whole story takes on an entirely new meaning. The ending can be interpreted in many different ways, but I think everyone can agree that it is far from a "traditional happy ending", and that's awesome!

Throughout the novel their are many lessons to be learned about competition, self-sacrifice, love and moral ambiguity, but above all their is a sense of the greater good that drew me into the story so completely. Overall, this book sort of opened a new door for me in terms of fantastical literature, which I originally viewed through a narrow scope of wizards and dragons and knights. There is a big world of fantasy literature out there, with a lot of different moral centers, that I can't wait to read and study.