Dreamers

          "The Night Circus," is a cunningly crafted blend of many famous and successful works of past fiction with a new spin on them; borrowing from all kinds of fantasy and romance novels, and even Shakespeare. While I thought that this was a fairly decent novel, I would not agree with some critical reviews online in saying that it rivals the likes of "Harry Potter," but I can easily see it catching on with the general public consciousness. "The Night Circus" promises truly imaginative scenes of magic as many of the meta scenes in this story revolve around illusionary spells that literally fuel imagination, coupled with a wondrous circus appeal and its a truly interesting blend of ideology and scenarios.

               This novel contains aspects of lovers overcoming and bringing together rivals similar to the famous Shakespearean tale of "Romeo and Juliet," and this plot is one of the major things driving the two main characters Celia Bowen and Marco Alistair towards conflict. The two meet each other in the circus, each wondering the other with their illusionary magical talent as they perform for the general "reveurs," or "dreamer" audiences. It isn't long into the tale before the two fall strongly in love, however, just like in "Romeo and Juliet," the two are forbidden to be romantically involved as a rivalry between their masters forbids any public/direct relationship between them; save performing in the circus. While this plot had been done thousands of times in the past and I frankly believe modern culture has an over saturation with "love stories," I did find the circus background and magical undertones made the "enchanting" language and actions between the two lovers much more appropriate, they were in a scenario where such passion and extreme emotion made sense to display.

           The novel also contains within it many aspects about personal pride and allusions to grandeous leaders forgetting about the perils of the common people. Although the book only takes place in a (albeit magical) circus, two of the books main characters Prospero and Mr. A.H, have much of the circus crew and performers unwillingly tethered to their own rivalry. The unwavering foolish pride that each of these characters has dooms the circus performers along with the main love duo, Celia Bowen and Marco Alistair, to be eternally anchored to the circus; even in death. The idea of leaders using those beneath them to advance their own goals, especially in a potentially senseless fashion is a fear that much of modern society shares; looking upon past wars and conflicts as overall meaningless or being solved via much simpler means. 

         While the novel is not necessarily the most original in terms of conceptions or even story and characters, the new scenarios and ways that they explore the impacts of conflicting ideology in the story makes for an compelling read. There are many ways that people can interpret the actions of characters in this book and, based on their own upbringings, can easily read the events with different opinions than others reading the same text. The open ended-ness of this tale is what I believe helps make it so popular, allowing all who read it their own version of this fantastical circus world.