They are n't annoying or pathetic characters
Dose this character nice?
I first learned about this book through the National Novel Writer's Month website -- this book was listed as being written by a NaNoWriMo participant, and the author stated that this book was a product of said event.  Being a NaNoWriMo writer myself, I was heartened to learn that someone had not only published a book produced during the event, but said book had been successful enough to warrant bestseller status and a movie deal.  So I decided to check it out for myself, and see what a fellow NaNoWriMo writer had turned out.In the end, I found myself torn over the book -- I love it to pieces, but at the same time it frustrates me, though not enough to make me want to give it a negative review.The titular "Night Circus" is actually called Cirque de Reves (Circus of Dreams), a uniquely built circus open only at night and with attractions and acts that straddle the line between fantasy and reality, between the fantastic and the outright impossible.  Behind said circus are two magicians -- Marco, assistant to the circus' proprietor and the secret power behind maintaining and organizing said circus, and Celia, daughter of a famous stage magician and serving as the circus' illusionist.  Both are bound to the circus and are pitted against one another in a mysterious contest by their enigmatic instructors... but both end up falling in love, and seek to defy the rules of the game with potentially disastrous consequences for the rest of the circus.  Meanwhile, a farm boy named Bailey becomes entranced with the circus in general -- and with Poppet, the clairvoyant daughter of the big cat trainers, in particular -- and finds his own fate becoming entwined with that of the circus.Let me begin with the one thing about this book that frustrates me -- the main characters, Marco and Celia.  They are some of the flattest, blandest, most cardboard characters I have ever come across in a work of fiction, second only to Bella from the "Twilight" series.  They aren't annoying or pathetic characters, but they are so devoid of personality that it becomes difficult to care about them.  Most of the other characters, even the minor ones, have at least some personality to them, and I found myself more concerned with their fates than with the lovers/competitors who were the story's spotlight.  In particular, I loved Bailey, Poppet, and Poppet's twin brother Widget, and dearly wish they had been the focus of the story instead of Marco and Celia.  I was always heartened to see another Bailey chapter in the book as I read, while the Celia and Marco chapters didn't hold my interest as well, as the characters were too lifeless for me to be emotionally invested in them.That's my only quibble with this book, however -- the rest is one of the most enthralling and beautiful fictional worlds I have ever come across in a work of fiction.The circus is so grandly described, so beautifully built through Morgenstern's wordcraft, that I find myself wishing it existed in real life so I could pay a visit.  She describes not only the sights of the circus, but the evocative smells -- as one character in the book states, the sense of smell is an under-utilized but powerful sense.  And she makes it all seem entirely plausible and real, to the point where I find myself wanting to visit the Paper Menagerie, attend a Midnight Dinner, purchase a chocolate bat and a cocoa and go watch the illusionist or the contortionist at work, or even simply light a candle on the Wishing Tree.Of all the characters in the book, I think my favorite, besides Bailey and the twins, would be Friedrick, a clockmaker who becomes enamored with the circus to the point that he builds what can only be called a fandom around it (much like Trekkies are to Star Trek).  The collective friendship and brotherhood among these reveurs, as they call themselves, reminds me of the same friendship and brotherhood that exists among fellow fans of some of my own geeky interests, and so helped me identify even more with the titular circus.All in all, I love this book so much that I can't give it a negative review -- it's marvelously written and builds a beautiful world that sucks the reader in and makes them never want to leave.  But sadly, the main characters are so flatly written, so bland and uninteresting, that I can't give this five stars.  I do not regret reading this book, though, and despite the unengaging leads I will happily recommend it to those who like light fantasy and marvelous worldbuilding. 