The Magic Circle

Rating:
Summary: Avoid this one
Review: Katherine Neville's other two books are loads of fun - The Eight is a fantastic book, and A Calculated Risk is really entertaining, even if it doesn't hold together as well. But I was really disappointed with this book. The plot falls apart early in the book, and it goes downhill from there. I didn't care at all about the characters, and the whole book feels like the author is simply trying too hard. Read Neville's other two books and stop there.

Rating:
Summary: Parts were good, but disappointing overall
Review: Like some other reviewers, I am a big fan of Katherine Neville. The Eight, which I read for the first time about 10 years ago, is my favorite book of all time, and I have read it so many times, I've practically memorized it! I enjoyed A Calculated Risk as well, although not as much. I was so excited to discover that she had written another book incorporating historical characters and background with a modern-day story, that I bought it immediately even though there were some negative reviews.

Much of the history was very interesting and her take on how it might have been was thought-provoking. She is also extremely talented in descriptive narrative and it is easy to visualize what she is writing about. However, after plodding through the confusing twists and jumps from one subject to the next (and I am normally a big fan of plot twists and turns) I believe she went a little overboard with trying to connect everything with everybody, and ended up with a story that didn't make much sense, and an ending that was totally anticlimactic and didn't seem to really fit with the rest of the book.

The jumps in this book between history and modern-day are difficult to connect, she tries to incorporate so many things that it's hard to keep up with what you've read before.

I am still a Neville fan, and would like to give this book a second read and try to actually diagram Ariel's family tree (I'm not sure it can be done!). But it will take a while before I'm ready to plunge into it again.

But keep writing Katherine! As they say, two out of three (so far) ain't bad!

Rating:
Summary: This book is a great feminist read!
Review: Out of curiosity I happened to read the reviews of Katherine Neville's The Magic Circle, and I was shocked to find that many of them seemed cranky, almost hostile toward the author. I wondered--why? I read the book on a coast-to-coast flight last spring, and I don't think I even raised my eyes the whole time it was such a satisfying experience. Neville is such a good writer, the plot was a puzzle of course (her speciality), and her characters zany, interesting women. Ah. Is that it? The women are truly Characters, all of them, but especially the heroine, Aphra Behn, is a free-wheeling, liberated, unnattached, cool, autonomous female at the center of a murder mystery involving world governments and reincarnational events. And Neville herself is such a brainy, funny, polished writer--a woman with eccentricities and a mind like the net woven by Spider Woman. Sure, I couldn't keep all the details in my head either (one of the main complaints of the reader reviews), but so what? It's a mystery for heaven's sake. It's a novel. It's for relaxing, and in the meantime you get to find out fascinating details about the Cumaean Sybil, the Goddess and her dying god, corruption in the nuclear power industry, Native American initiation ceremonies, and SO MUCH MORE! Maybe Neville's books will have to start carrying a warning label: NOT FOR ANYONE WITH A SHORT ATTENTION SPAN; or maybe better yet, FOR BRAINY WOMEN ONLY (& the men who love them).

Rating:
Summary: endless piffle
Review: pee yew! This one is a stinker. I realize you must suspend belief when reading fiction. But for 550 never ending pages? Give this one a miss. Read The Eight instead.

Rating:
Summary: A fascinating adventure, over 2000 years
Review: The Magic Circle is a wonderful, fascinating adventure novel. After her cousin's violent death (or so we think), Ariel Behn, a nuclear security expert in Idaho, finds herself heir to a mysterious collection of manuscripts which contain the key to an ancient and powerful secret. In addition to Ariel's story, which is set in 1989, The Magic Circle contains many historical elements; as she travels across Europe, where her boss has sent her, Ariel discovers many secrets about her extremely complex family, all of whom were involved in the search for the secret in the manuscripts. There is also a parallel plot set in ancient Rome, Jerusalem, and Britain, involving many historical figures. Katherine Neville's knowledge of history is amazing! I learned so much from reading this book, just as I did from reading her novel The Eight. I didn't think it was quite as good as The Eight, but that's not saying much, since The Eight is my favorite novel of all time. In particular, I thought the ending was a bit anticlimactic, and some of the revelations about Ariel's family were a little hard to take. But these are only minor complaints. I still consider The Magic Circle one of my favorite books.

Rating:
Summary: ABSOLUTELY ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS YOU COULD READ
Review: This book was bought by my sister, who immediately bought copies for all seven women in our family. It is a wonderful story, not escapist at all. When you put this down, you will want to pick up the next Katherine Neville book immediately, because no one else is writing stories like this today. I have always been interested in the role women play in history, and this book well tell you things you will love to hear. It is about time someone figured these things out and had the courage to share them with the world. The heroine is one of my favorite characters. I just wish I could meet her in person. I am going to buy seven copies of the book and give them away, that's how much I love the Magic Circle.