The ‘game’ takes places over many years in the Night Circus, which travels around the world and captures the hearts of young and old. It’s a central point of the plot about what happens at the circus so I’ll explain no further.

It was a very pleasant read, with a really lovely tapestry woven to tell the story of the ‘game’, of magic and all the people who become involved with the circus. I especially liked Celia’s character and how she develops. That was the wonderful thing – absolutely loads of women who had various skills and talents. I’d almost say it was 50/50 for gender split. So it easily passes the test with flying colours.

The only thing that annoyed me was that at about three quarters through the book, you have to start really paying attention to the chronology. It alternates between two time periods and the slowly get closer together as the book progresses. But at one point they are a year apart and I had to keep flipping back and forth between chapters to figure out what was happening when. Basically, all the characters are in play, all the major events and plots are in action and you can just really lose track what chapter is happening in which chronology. It ends pretty fast after that and becomes quite clear.

But a good read nonetheless. If you are in the mood for some magic and a turn of the century circus, this is the book for you.