I feel as if I have awoken from a dream.
Of course, that isn’t unique to this book, any more than other books that completely draw me in, and make the world outside seem dull.
The Night Circus by Eric Morgenstern is amazing (in the not-just-a-positive-adjective sense of the word). It’s one of those books that when you’re reading it, you will rave on and on about it, but otherwise you simply recollect a feeling of thoroughly enjoying it. As you read more, you fall more in love with the characters, the story, and the Le Cirque des Rêves itself.
Eric Morgenstern weaves a tale of love, loss, magic, and other cliché words that hold little meaning due to over use. The Night Circus make you think more than anything else, how real the world actually is, and if what you dismiss as impossible is simple to others who know the process of how to do it. Beyond the philosophical and bittersweet feel of the story, Mr. Morgenstern uses his characters to fully express the range of mystery that the circus provides.
Celia Bowen is a surprisingly honest character. She uses no stage name, does nothing to hide her magic except advertise it as illusion, and when directly confronted with questions, tends to reveal a fair amount of information. From a main character that has as many secrets as she does, Celia never really seems intent on keeping any of them. The magic that Celia weaves is the circus there is no other way to describe it.
Marco Alisdair. Wheew. That man is really something else. He has a great range of emotion, and he develops in character VERY nicely thoughout the book. I enjoy that Marco does not believe himself to truly be better than other enchanters simply because he uses a different technique. That is an individual mindset that I don't see too often in fantasy literature. His relationship with Alexander is very complicated because it is not a simple "I like my father figure" nor is it "I hate my kidnapper" relationship. Because Marco hates him AND loves him which gives a depth to their relationship that many other father figure realtionships don't have.
Herr Friedrick Thiessen is a priceless gem and I’m sorry that he died. Whoo boy his death actually hit me pretty hard, and so I elected to ignore it until I couldn't anymore. Which turned out to be unfortunately soon after...
HIS CLOCKS ARE AMAZING THEY MAKE ME WANT TO BE CLOCKMAKER
The twins- Widget and Poppet are rather unique characters. I appreciate the symbolism of Widget being born before midnight (and being able to see the past), and Poppy being born after (and being able to see the future). They are very good siblings. But then again, most twins seem to be better at not fighting than non-twins. Poppet is my cup of tea. She can tell the future, but she’s not obsessed with doing so. She is taking her time growing up too, for the most part.
THEY TRAIN KITTENS INSTEAD OF BIG CATS LIKE THEIR PARENTS OMG YES.
Bailey- hype for the new ringmaster, am I right? I think he’ll be marvelous running it, and it is always proper and perfect when someone who is continuously awed by magic is in charge of it. Oh! And I ship Bailey and Poppet because they are both so great.
The Rêveurs- I believe that I’ve recently become one :)
-The idea that they are part of the circus, but also apart from it is rather poetic, and fitting. The camaraderie and general friendliness is the defining characteristic of the rêveurs, and it really helps the reader to become one. They create the feeling of belonging on the inside of the story, but outside the circus, just as well as the insert-reader chapters do.
The Competition is a love story. Thought not necessarily between Hector and Alexander. But rather it seems to be “who can make a player that will want to sacrifice themselves second?”
The Circus is a jungle gym that grew into a jungle. Rather unlike how Alexander and Hector planned it. The tents are mostly a collection of love letters from Celia to Marco and back, which is what makes the Circus so beautiful.
Things I didn’t like
-the layout. I have a hard time following books that jump back and forth, but it was very important to have that element to weave the different parts of the story. TBH, I just used the twins’ age to tell when an event was.
-the way that everyone we really came in contact with seemed older than their age in maturity, with speech patterns and such. Of course, the people we met were typically adults, with a few magical/important exceptions (ex: Marco, Celia, Bailey, Widget, and Poppet).
Things I liked:
-how the sides of nature vs. nurture (or natural talent vs. studied talent) came into play during the competition
-the Widget’s and Poppet’s parts in the story
-actually how it ended. I didn't really expect that, but it was better than one of them dying and then the other living in misery.
Favorite quotes:
-Basically all the descriptions of clothes because clothing imagery is a guilty pleasure and Mme. Pavra is wonderful
-“...a grin that has too much wolf in it to be sheepish.”- Celia Bowen
-“’I prefer to remain unenlightened, to better appreciate the dark.’”- Friedrick Thiessen
-“’Do you often give forbidden tours of your employer’s house?’
Saturday, April 9, 2016
REVIEW! Lady Midnight by: Cassandra Clare
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Lady Midnight is the first book in Cassie’s new series: The Dark Artifices! TDA is about the Shadowhunters of Los Angeles, and their actions, and disregard, for the Cold Peace. The Cold Peace is something that we all kind of knew about, but that we haven’t yet seen. I really love how Cassie works the perspective of faeries and Shadowhunters into this. Plus, she includes Shadowhunters who are gung ho about the Cold Peace and those who really...aren’t.
So it’s been five years since the events of City of Heavenly Fire, and oh what events those were. All of the characters that we know and love have grown a lot, and so have the characters that we met in COHF. Let’s talk about them for a bit.
Emma Carstairs:
Emma is 17, has a parabatai, can kick butt, and wants revenge for her parents who were brutally tortured and then murdered about 5 years ago. Now I know what you’re thinking, gee, 5 years ago? Wasn’t that during the Dark War? Wouldn’t that mean that Sebastian murdered Emma’s parents? Well yes, that usually would, and in fact, that is what the Clave says happened, but Emma and basically the rest of the LA Shadowhunters don't think so.
Sooooo she’s out for revenge. But thankfully the story doesn’t focus on just that! It is a main motivator in what starts the initial investigation, and for continued investigation, but after a certain point, Emma just wants to do this so no one else gets hurt.
Something that I really like about Emma is that she is moderately sassy, but its not a constant “hide behind my sarcasm” deal going. Emma is also super oblivious at some points (ex: when she passes off Julian’s steamy looks *wink for just him glancing at her. I mean seriously read your parabatai) but she really is usually pretty aware of her own surroundings. She is her own character. I know that Cassie has gotten a lot of flack from people who say that she has “cookie cutter characters” but I really have a hard time seeing that with this book. Her writing has certainly improved (as exhibited by TID too), but she deserves to be as popular as she is.
Next up we have Emma’s loving parabatai: Julian Blackthorn.
Julian Blackthorn is also 17, a parent to 4 children (if we don’t include Mark), and (unofficially) runs the Institute. While also being in love with his parabatai, which is so illegal it’s hard to describe.
Oh Jules. *nervous laughter*
You are sooooo in loooove.
I really appreciate that Jules can be an artist, and that he actually has a chance to do his art, while being a parent and a Shadowhunter.
He might want to work a little at the desperately in love with you thing, because when he tells Emma that he loves her.... he’s a little... intense? But that might be a cool thing for some people so.
Blackthorn Babies:
-Drusilla: gurrrrlll. You go! Fight bad guys! Be curvy and a successful Shadowhunter! Give no flying cucumbers.
-Livia: LOVE her style, and I respect her life choices
-Tiberius: Ty has been AMAZING at showing how awesome and capable he is. Especially in going from “can’t really fight w/o headphones” to “holding someone I don't know at knifepoint”
-Octavius: Literal baby. Tavvy does NOT need to become Max (too soon? Too soon) and I’m super happy he didn't
-Helen: we so little of her in this book, BUT CONGRATS ON YOUR MARRIAGE HELEN AND ALINE! We all knew it was going to happen, but it’s nice to see. You are a very supportive and cool (but necessarily distant) bug sis.
-Mark: I am syked about him being back. His backstory is tragic and really helps provide some perspective for what Faerie life is like, because up until now, we haven’t seen much of that. Also, TBH, I LOVE CassJean’s art of him.
And now for our beloved returning characters
-About Tessa and Jem: It is going to be GREAT to see them interact with their descendants more. Tessa honey: WHY OH WHY DID YOU TELL EMMA THAT? YOU KNOW HOW MUCH IT HURT YOU WHEN WILL DID ALL THAT TO YOU, AND NOW YOU JUST TELL OTHERS HOW TO DO IT WHEN THEY’RE ASKING? Honey...
-About Clary and Jace: They are being such adults! And THEY’RE RUNNING THE INSTITUTE.....AHHESHFKDJHJKSHJSAF. They're so cute. Oh! And we get this beautiful beautiful flashback to them in looove.
-About Magnus and Alec: cuties. And we saw Max! and how freaking defensive and wise Magnus still is.
-About Catarina Loss: hehehe. I love her. Catarina is great. Unfortuantely we don't get to see or hear a lot about her.. but I get the feeling that will change.
-About Simon and Isabelle: All we know is that Simon and Clary are parabatai *squee and that SIMON AND ISABELLE ARE ENGAGED YES YESYESYEYYSYYEYESYS
Other Characters:
-Christina: Is a rock your socks off type of awesome. She has her life together, and knows how to kill things. What more could you want from a supporting character?
-Diana: I really like that we got to see more of Diana, because she is an intriguing character, who I feel could be a well-rounded supporting character.
-Diego: He’s new. Very new. We meet him 2/3 of the way through the book? And he’s a cEnTuRiOn. Oo lala. He could be a nice perspective into the Scholomance and the Clave.
-Johnny Rook: He’s so shady and it’s great. But now he’s dead. I appreciate a) his job because that is a cool but dangerous job b) ability to (sort of) successfully raise a child in such a dangerous world c) hide his ancestry AND Kit’s.
-Can we talk about Kit? Kit is cool. And apparently a Shadowhunter. And a Herondale. I’m not entirely sure what is happening here, but he has potential.
Villains
-Malcom Fade: look bro. what you did WASN'T chill. I’m glad you’re dead so you can’t do it again. But I also pity you, and get where you were coming from. Rough life. Especially when you think that all your friends have lied to you when they have, in fact, not.
-Lady Midnight herself: ohhhh dear. is she actually going to be bad? Is it now going to be her getting revenge on her posterity for either a) burying herself alive or b) murdering her love (technically that's emma tho)
Relationships
-Julian and Emma
Parabatai- which as revealed later comes with a curse when you fall into romantic love with your parabatai
I ship them (and all things considering sailing this ship is going to be a bitter sweet hell), but hot diggity darn, most of their interactions, when allowed to be more “eros” than “agape” are so. Sweet. They never seem to fight, or have any stronger argument than “I have to leave you!”
Oh Julian, my poor poor child. He and Tess should commiserate about people who think that they have to carry all the relationship burdens.
WE DIDN’T HAVE TO WAIT TIL THE LAST BOOK IN THE SERIES FOR THEM TO DO THE THING
-Christina and Mark
Hon hon hon. What’s happening here? I think that this relationship might be interesting, but that honestly, it would be better if they were just friends. Mark can help her with her Faerieland research, and she can just be awesome.
-Christina and Diego
I’m actually pretty glad that they ended up reconciling, but I am worried that he’s lying about his good intentions. Knowing Cassie... he will be.
-Kit and Ty
So Cassandra Jean (Cassandra Clare’s artist) totally ships this. I’m inclined to agree... but I don't think that we’ve really seen them interact enough to tell.
-Mark and Kieran:
Ouch
That was an unhealthy relationship from the start. As Christina pointed it out, it seemed to be a relationship based on gratitude and shelter from loneliness, not necessarily love, though I suppose that it grew to be that way.
-Christina and Emma:
Besties 5ever.
I’m very glad that Christina will be there for Emma, to guide her through her stupid mistakes.
-Blackthorn babies with Uncle Arthur:
Ok so Uncle Arthur isn’t a chill dude. I despise how he treats his only living relatives.
Some things I didn’t like
-Concerning the whipping scenes, are they wimps or what? I mean, Jules literally got shot by a poisoned bolt and PULLED IT OUT. But he can't take 1 lashing? Maybe faerie whips are extra painful?
-Whyyyyyyyyyyy would you do that Emma? It’s not an okay thing for you to do because Tessa did NOT mean for you to use that love information THAT WAY.
-And hey Tessa, why don't we share the secrets that Will taught you about how to make others feel unloved. Huh? Its not like you felt worthless and angry when he did that to you? I think we should share.
-Great, another whiny Herondale that we’ll like. He’s not a main character tho. And he’s gay! Or bi (I wont make Emma’s mistakes)
I know that there are some things that will frustrate me about this serious, because I believe that how Germany was treated after WWI was one of the stupidest things that Europe has done, and that is almost 100% the same as how the Faeries were treated after the Dark War. Ugh.
Some other things I liked
-Great! We have another Herondale! Jace isn’t alone :)
CASSIE MENTIONED THE TAROT. SHE MENTIONED THE TAROTTTTTT! Did you see that CassJean?
-We’ve seen a lot about the lives of vampires, werewolves, and warlocks in the other books that Cassie has written, and it is going to be so much fun to be able to explore Faeries and their cultures more.
-WE learn so much more about parabatai. Yesssssssssssssss
Fave quotes
-Julian’s love monologue
-“’I’m a Shadowhunter. Quip fast, die young.’”- Emma Carstairs
-There were a lot
Questions for the author that she probs wont answer
-At the end there: Alec says “Raphael?” and...idk...is that their additional cat? Did they name their child after Alec’s unfortunately deceased younger bro, and their cat after a vampire? What is this?
Lady Midnight is the first book in Cassie’s new series: The Dark Artifices! TDA is about the Shadowhunters of Los Angeles, and their actions, and disregard, for the Cold Peace. The Cold Peace is something that we all kind of knew about, but that we haven’t yet seen. I really love how Cassie works the perspective of faeries and Shadowhunters into this. Plus, she includes Shadowhunters who are gung ho about the Cold Peace and those who really...aren’t.
So it’s been five years since the events of City of Heavenly Fire, and oh what events those were. All of the characters that we know and love have grown a lot, and so have the characters that we met in COHF. Let’s talk about them for a bit.
Emma Carstairs:
Emma is 17, has a parabatai, can kick butt, and wants revenge for her parents who were brutally tortured and then murdered about 5 years ago. Now I know what you’re thinking, gee, 5 years ago? Wasn’t that during the Dark War? Wouldn’t that mean that Sebastian murdered Emma’s parents? Well yes, that usually would, and in fact, that is what the Clave says happened, but Emma and basically the rest of the LA Shadowhunters don't think so.
Sooooo she’s out for revenge. But thankfully the story doesn’t focus on just that! It is a main motivator in what starts the initial investigation, and for continued investigation, but after a certain point, Emma just wants to do this so no one else gets hurt.
Something that I really like about Emma is that she is moderately sassy, but its not a constant “hide behind my sarcasm” deal going. Emma is also super oblivious at some points (ex: when she passes off Julian’s steamy looks *wink for just him glancing at her. I mean seriously read your parabatai) but she really is usually pretty aware of her own surroundings. She is her own character. I know that Cassie has gotten a lot of flack from people who say that she has “cookie cutter characters” but I really have a hard time seeing that with this book. Her writing has certainly improved (as exhibited by TID too), but she deserves to be as popular as she is.
Next up we have Emma’s loving parabatai: Julian Blackthorn.
Julian Blackthorn is also 17, a parent to 4 children (if we don’t include Mark), and (unofficially) runs the Institute. While also being in love with his parabatai, which is so illegal it’s hard to describe.
Oh Jules. *nervous laughter*
You are sooooo in loooove.
I really appreciate that Jules can be an artist, and that he actually has a chance to do his art, while being a parent and a Shadowhunter.
He might want to work a little at the desperately in love with you thing, because when he tells Emma that he loves her.... he’s a little... intense? But that might be a cool thing for some people so.
Blackthorn Babies:
-Drusilla: gurrrrlll. You go! Fight bad guys! Be curvy and a successful Shadowhunter! Give no flying cucumbers.
-Livia: LOVE her style, and I respect her life choices
-Tiberius: Ty has been AMAZING at showing how awesome and capable he is. Especially in going from “can’t really fight w/o headphones” to “holding someone I don't know at knifepoint”
-Octavius: Literal baby. Tavvy does NOT need to become Max (too soon? Too soon) and I’m super happy he didn't
-Helen: we so little of her in this book, BUT CONGRATS ON YOUR MARRIAGE HELEN AND ALINE! We all knew it was going to happen, but it’s nice to see. You are a very supportive and cool (but necessarily distant) bug sis.
-Mark: I am syked about him being back. His backstory is tragic and really helps provide some perspective for what Faerie life is like, because up until now, we haven’t seen much of that. Also, TBH, I LOVE CassJean’s art of him.
And now for our beloved returning characters
-About Tessa and Jem: It is going to be GREAT to see them interact with their descendants more. Tessa honey: WHY OH WHY DID YOU TELL EMMA THAT? YOU KNOW HOW MUCH IT HURT YOU WHEN WILL DID ALL THAT TO YOU, AND NOW YOU JUST TELL OTHERS HOW TO DO IT WHEN THEY’RE ASKING? Honey...
-About Clary and Jace: They are being such adults! And THEY’RE RUNNING THE INSTITUTE.....AHHESHFKDJHJKSHJSAF. They're so cute. Oh! And we get this beautiful beautiful flashback to them in looove.
-About Magnus and Alec: cuties. And we saw Max! and how freaking defensive and wise Magnus still is.
-About Catarina Loss: hehehe. I love her. Catarina is great. Unfortuantely we don't get to see or hear a lot about her.. but I get the feeling that will change.
-About Simon and Isabelle: All we know is that Simon and Clary are parabatai *squee and that SIMON AND ISABELLE ARE ENGAGED YES YESYESYEYYSYYEYESYS
Other Characters:
-Christina: Is a rock your socks off type of awesome. She has her life together, and knows how to kill things. What more could you want from a supporting character?
-Diana: I really like that we got to see more of Diana, because she is an intriguing character, who I feel could be a well-rounded supporting character.
-Diego: He’s new. Very new. We meet him 2/3 of the way through the book? And he’s a cEnTuRiOn. Oo lala. He could be a nice perspective into the Scholomance and the Clave.
-Johnny Rook: He’s so shady and it’s great. But now he’s dead. I appreciate a) his job because that is a cool but dangerous job b) ability to (sort of) successfully raise a child in such a dangerous world c) hide his ancestry AND Kit’s.
-Can we talk about Kit? Kit is cool. And apparently a Shadowhunter. And a Herondale. I’m not entirely sure what is happening here, but he has potential.
Villains
-Malcom Fade: look bro. what you did WASN'T chill. I’m glad you’re dead so you can’t do it again. But I also pity you, and get where you were coming from. Rough life. Especially when you think that all your friends have lied to you when they have, in fact, not.
-Lady Midnight herself: ohhhh dear. is she actually going to be bad? Is it now going to be her getting revenge on her posterity for either a) burying herself alive or b) murdering her love (technically that's emma tho)
Relationships
-Julian and Emma
Parabatai- which as revealed later comes with a curse when you fall into romantic love with your parabatai
I ship them (and all things considering sailing this ship is going to be a bitter sweet hell), but hot diggity darn, most of their interactions, when allowed to be more “eros” than “agape” are so. Sweet. They never seem to fight, or have any stronger argument than “I have to leave you!”
Oh Julian, my poor poor child. He and Tess should commiserate about people who think that they have to carry all the relationship burdens.
WE DIDN’T HAVE TO WAIT TIL THE LAST BOOK IN THE SERIES FOR THEM TO DO THE THING
-Christina and Mark
Hon hon hon. What’s happening here? I think that this relationship might be interesting, but that honestly, it would be better if they were just friends. Mark can help her with her Faerieland research, and she can just be awesome.
-Christina and Diego
I’m actually pretty glad that they ended up reconciling, but I am worried that he’s lying about his good intentions. Knowing Cassie... he will be.
-Kit and Ty
So Cassandra Jean (Cassandra Clare’s artist) totally ships this. I’m inclined to agree... but I don't think that we’ve really seen them interact enough to tell.
-Mark and Kieran:
Ouch
That was an unhealthy relationship from the start. As Christina pointed it out, it seemed to be a relationship based on gratitude and shelter from loneliness, not necessarily love, though I suppose that it grew to be that way.
-Christina and Emma:
Besties 5ever.
I’m very glad that Christina will be there for Emma, to guide her through her stupid mistakes.
-Blackthorn babies with Uncle Arthur:
Ok so Uncle Arthur isn’t a chill dude. I despise how he treats his only living relatives.
Some things I didn’t like
-Concerning the whipping scenes, are they wimps or what? I mean, Jules literally got shot by a poisoned bolt and PULLED IT OUT. But he can't take 1 lashing? Maybe faerie whips are extra painful?
-Whyyyyyyyyyyy would you do that Emma? It’s not an okay thing for you to do because Tessa did NOT mean for you to use that love information THAT WAY.
-And hey Tessa, why don't we share the secrets that Will taught you about how to make others feel unloved. Huh? Its not like you felt worthless and angry when he did that to you? I think we should share.
-Great, another whiny Herondale that we’ll like. He’s not a main character tho. And he’s gay! Or bi (I wont make Emma’s mistakes)
I know that there are some things that will frustrate me about this serious, because I believe that how Germany was treated after WWI was one of the stupidest things that Europe has done, and that is almost 100% the same as how the Faeries were treated after the Dark War. Ugh.
Some other things I liked
-Great! We have another Herondale! Jace isn’t alone :)
CASSIE MENTIONED THE TAROT. SHE MENTIONED THE TAROTTTTTT! Did you see that CassJean?
-We’ve seen a lot about the lives of vampires, werewolves, and warlocks in the other books that Cassie has written, and it is going to be so much fun to be able to explore Faeries and their cultures more.
-WE learn so much more about parabatai. Yesssssssssssssss
Fave quotes
-Julian’s love monologue
-“’I’m a Shadowhunter. Quip fast, die young.’”- Emma Carstairs
-There were a lot
Questions for the author that she probs wont answer
-At the end there: Alec says “Raphael?” and...idk...is that their additional cat? Did they name their child after Alec’s unfortunately deceased younger bro, and their cat after a vampire? What is this?
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