Erin Morgenstern's Night Circus is a complex historical fantasy about the seduction of magic, forbidden love, and perseverance. Taking place over the course of 30 years, the plot of the story follows Celia Bowen and Marcus Alistair as they are trained in the arts of magic and illusion with the intent of competing against one another at the dispose of their "fathers," illusionists and magicians who placed a better as to which child is better.


Night Circus intertwines complex moral issues and spiritual challenges within a false world that parallels ours, mimicking struggles of everyday teens but adding a fantastical twist that leaves
For example, Celia Bowen is left at her father's, Prospero, doorstep after the loss of her mother, where he proceeds to groom her and use her to gain more money. He shows her off during his shows and actually enters her into a competition with a rival that could very well possibly leave her dead. The situation with her opponent, Marco Alistair, is not any better. Adopted at age seven, Marco was adopted by "The Man in a Gray Suit", Marco never learns his adoptive father's real name and is given no parental affection of any sort. He is taught magic and homeschooled as The Man in a Gray Suit prepares him for the competition. This shows the lack of emotion between children and their fathers, an issue that touches a lot of teens today.

​The main spiritual issue is the main characters trying to find themselves and their purpose in the world on their own. Their parental guardians were constantly telling them what their purpose is and what they must do but the truth is that this is something they need to figure that out on their own.