The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night.
But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway: a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them both, this is a game in which only one can be left standing.
Despite the high stakes, Celia and Marco soon tumble headfirst into love, setting off a domino effect of dangerous consequences, and leaving the lives of everyone, from the performers to the patrons, hanging in the balance.
Maybe I’ve become more jaded over the years. Maybe my sense of childhood wonder has died, but brother, I was not buying the magic nor the chemistry in this book.
I must start off with saying that the blurb of this book is a lie. “Fierce duel” my actual posterior. The only thing this book lives up to is its theme of selling dreams. I’ll get to it so bare with me, there’s a lot of characters and a lot of (no) plot to get through. It’s a shame because I was actually excited to read this one. From the moment Prospero the Enchanter slices his own five year old daughter’s fingertips and watches her magically put them back together, I knew I was in for a ride. I just didn’t know it would be the slowest, almost directionless ride of my life.
The first part of the book is all pretty words and vibes and I was sort of roped in, until I realised this was going to drag om for ages. I see a lot of reviews discuss how immersive atmospheric this book is, and while I agree, the novelty wears off after 200+ chapters of close to nothing happening.
It seems nobody knows exactly what is going on in this book. Not me, not you, not the characters competing and most likely not the author either. All I can really tell you is that our protagonist, Celia, gets, what I can only call, abused by her dad (re: slicing her fingers), and that Marco, our other main protagonist doesn’t have it better. His caretaker, Prospero’s arch nemesis , Mr. A adopts him only to neglect him. All this is done to prepare them for what the blurb tries to gaslight me into believing is a thrilling competitive battle between two great magicians.
Dear reader, it is none of that. At best Celia and Marco are using their ambiguous powers to send love notes to each other in the form of new circus attractions. At worst, they are just doing their jobs to keep the circus running. To rub lemon juice to an open wound, we barely even dwell on them as protagonists, In fact Celia does not even know who her competitor is or what he looks like until like halfway into the book (and then also you want me to believe they fall in love just like that. Truly a fantasy this book). Instead we bounce around a ragtag number of characters who might be interesting but I cannot bring myself to fully care about in earnest. Don’t get me started on how the beginning of each chapter is a different location or date – not even in chronological order – told from the point of view from this ensemble cast.
A the end of the day, nothing except the scenery and settings are truly ever explained. How is the winner of this purported fierce battle determined? Details you shouldn’t concern yourself with. What is this competition even trying to prove? Hardly convinced even the ones who set it know? Chabwino, how does the magic work? Vibes bro. Man, the story and plot of this book are held together by actual strings – and these strings remain loose til the very end. Truly the most magical thing about it is that it simultaneously has so much going on and yet nothing at all. 2.5 stars/ 5
