First off I want to say that Erin Morgenstern has a way with words that painted such an elaborate set you felt like you were actually there, in the book, seeing and touching and smelling and tasting what she was describing in the book. So with such a rave review beginning why did it only get two stars you might ask? Well, her structure and execution of the book was flawed beyond what her beautiful writing could repair. 
 Goodreads reviewer J (https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/2...) Said it perfectly: The Night Circus is a wedding cake with fondant that goes nearly all the way down. It is an exceptionally pretty cake -- captivating, intensely visual, ornate and delicately constructed, with unruly swirls of back and white and surprising splashes of vivid red. But what is underneath? Oh, there it is... a little bit of cake, way down at the bottom. It's pretty good, too. Light, airy, a hint of chocolate and smoke. But all that sculpted icing has lodged in your throat, and it's kind of hard to swallow. 
 To add to what J said, the time jumping was confusing. The head hopping was annoying because you never got to really connect with any one two or even three character. I had no idea what Bailey had to do with anything up until the end and so every time his sections came up I wanted to skip it. Because it is written in third person present I already had a hard time connecting with the characters but add to that that there is so very little dialogue, close to no actual emotion, everything is described to within an inch of its life, this whole book is an overly descriptive tour guide instead of a play. Like J said, lots of fondant and not nearly enough cake. 
 The only reason I finished this book was because my sister is in love with it and I wanted to see if it got better. It didn't really. 
 Jim Dale as a narrator was good. Not fantastic but good. If I had sat down to actually read this book I would never have gotten even half way through so that says something for him.