The Night Circus

I wasn't able to read the Night Circus in time for class Thursday, but this weekend I had the opportunity to read up until the end of Part 1. I'm not sure if I have read far enough to get a really good grasp of the book. It's beautifully written and there are pages of description, but I feel like the actual pacing of the events in the book is slow and confusing. I'm assuming they are time skipping between the events before the creation of the circus and after it's traveled around, but for me it's hard to keep a time frame in mind for the events that occur.

That said, the dark kind of magic that has been introduced in the book is really interesting. While Harry Potter had elements of dark magic, what I have read so far in the Night Circus feels a lot more ominous. I think maybe one of the striking differences so far from what I've read of the first part is the lack of "love". Harry Potter has plenty of dark magic but "love" is what conquers it. In the Night Circus we've got these two children who are instantly pitted against each other- both with a distinct lack of love and affection in their life. Marco is restricted access from the outside world for the majority of his young life and Celia's father crushes her bones and inflicts physical pain in order to train her with magic. Their world seems dark and hopeless- their lives being controlled by puppet masters. It'll be interesting to see how their lives turn out in the next parts. I hope the story gains some consistency as well. It's still to early for me to tell if I'm really into this book yet, but I'll give it the chance and try to get to the next parts this week.