Rating: 
Summary: A great case for early discipleship
Review: I am totally impressed by George's research and heart for her subject matter. Much of the early part of the book explains about her family and how she slowly becomes possessed by demons. The reality of her character is brought out when George gives her a flaw: her secretiveness. She doesn't want to explain what is happening to herself, even after she gets married and has a child.
Just as importantly the book explains how difficult early discipleship was. All of Jesus' followers are shunned by their families, and Mary's situation is most difficult: she can't even visit her own daughter, even after her husband dies.
This book does a good job explaining how the disciples gained new members to their community, and how it changed after Jesus was crucified. As the other disciples die, one by one, the remaining ones are revered, almost deified: is this right?
The book suggests questions for modern Christianity as well. The early disciples revealed the power of God through healing power, and Jesus gave this power to all who believed in him. So why is healing and the casting out of demons virtually ignored among Christians today-and throughout the history of Christianity after the first century?
Rating: 
Summary: Too Many Problems With This Disappointing Book
Review: Problem No. 1: The characters,including Mary,are surprisingly flat. In spite of sharing Mary's inner thoughts and feelings,I never felt I really got to know her.
Problem No. 2: Too many important incidents are either downplayed or completely ignored. The raising of Lazarus from the dead is never mentioned,while other incidents,such as Jesus turning the water into wine and the feeding of the multitudes,are dismissed by Mary as having never happened. Worst of all,the miracle of Jesus's divine conception and birth are never mentioned. His mother admits to having had visions of his importance when he was a child, but never once says anything about the visitation from the angel telling her she has been chosen to give birth to the Messiah, the immaculate conception,or any of the miracles and signs at his birth. By it's very ommision,it leads the reader to conclude that Jesus was the biological child of Joseph,not divinely concieved by a virgin mother.
Problem No. 3: Mary seems to be instrumental in far too many places. After Mary and Joanna discover the Garden of Gethsemane,it is Mary who tells Jesus about it when He expresses a desire to find a quiet,peaceful place to meditate. Mary and Joanna also sneak into Herod's palace and disguise themselves as serving women in order to spy on Herod,and thus are there to witness Judas accepting the bribe from Caiphas and Annas to betray Jesus. Once again,it is Mary who tells Jesus of Judas's betrayal, even though in the bible it seems rather clear that Judas's betrayal was foretold to Jesus by God in a divine revelation instead. When Jesus sends the disciples out in pairs, Mary is paired with John.When John attempts to heal a woman and fails,once again it's Mary to the rescue,and not only does she heal the woman,she is also able to cast the demons out of Joanna,while poor, ineffective John stands by. And there are many other places where this type of scenario plays out. Rather than coming across as an every day woman, she seems to be some sort of latter day Wonder Woman, while the rest of the disciples are rather weak and ineffective. It is this biased slant in Mary's favor that makes this book hard to swallow. A more balanced view,letting the other disciples shine, would have been much more believable. While I am glad to see women of the bible and their contributions being made known and applauded, it should not be done by diminishing the men around them, and I felt that this is what this book does,with the exception of Jesus.
All in all this is a very disappointing book. I am quite surprised at this since I read George's Memoirs of Cleopatra,and found it to be rich and vibrant,giving me the feeling I was there and really knew Cleopatra. Sadly,this is not the case here. As long as this book is, I should feel I really know Mary, but instead I come away feeling cheated by a book that has one dimensional characters and a heroine who, far from being an average,everyday woman who finds herself living in an extraordinary time and place, seems instead to be a Super Woman who one ups almost everyone. It is neither realistic or believeable.
Rating: 
Summary: Margaret George has succeeded again!
Review: This novel is a moving, glorious, sweeping tribute to a much maligned and misunderstood woman. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Vivid and compelling portrayal of 1st century Palestine
Review: At last someone has told the truth.Mary of Magdala was not a prostitute. Nor was she married to Jesus. Much as people seem determined to sensationalize and sexualize one of the most interesting disciples of Jesus (and I do wonder what that is all about), Mary of Magdala was simply a woman from a certain place who lived in a certain time. I found that place and time to be masterfully recreated by Margaret George, just as she has done with the life and times of her three previous subjects. If some of those details seem a little dull to denizens of the 21st century, well, the fact is that life *was* dull by today's standards. The human, cultural, and religious problems and questions of that day were not so different than those we face today, however, and I especially appreciated Ms. George's recreation of an early Christian church where many of those problems and questions found answers. A must-read for those with any knowledge of or interest in either the history of 1st-century Palestine or the early church. Those uncomfortable with the strictures of modern hierarchical Christian denominations that do not give sufficient weight to the "work of the people" will also find food for thought here.
Rating: 
Summary: A big disappointment--boring and corny
Review: I liked Margaret George's other books for the way they made history come alive. This time, though, she gets all bogged down in clichés. As the New York Times pointed out, "It's not easy to write a love scene for Jesus." I wish Ms. George hadn't tried; she seems totally earnest, but the book is embarrassingly trite and obvious, like a bad old movie. Please go back to history, ma'am--just give us the facts.
Rating: 
Summary: Slow read
Review: I finished this book yesterday and I found that most of the book is very close to scripture and, unfortunately, nothing there to expand on in an interesting way that would draw us closer to Mary of Magdala. The story begins with Mary as a child. She finds an idol on her way to Jerusalem and from there she is slowly possessed by demons. Her life growing up is not very interesting at all and only becomes more so when she finally has to leave her husband and go into the desert to battle her demons. Only Jesus is able to heal her and from there she becomes his disciple, but follows torn between her loyalty to him and the desire to return to her infant daughter. The story is slow and drags on through most of the history we know from scripture, but it is still readable. Mary struggles with feelings for Jesus which he cannot reciprocate and the apostles grapple with feelings of needing to be Jesus's favorite. Mary is given the power of visions which make her special to Jesus but earns her some animosity among the male apostles. What personally interested me the most was the how the author describes the struggle of all Jesus's disciples to better understand him and his message. Perhaps we would all have felt the same way--trying to understand yet not being able to had we been around then. There is a part where Peter, in exsasperation, asks Jesus why he must always speak in parables and not just straight out. The second half of this book basically deals with how they slowly come to understand Jesus, his true identity and his mission. Unfortunately, since we know so little of Mary of Magdala it is difficult to get a sense of who she was even from author's attempts, albeit well researched. 600 pages of uneventful reading.
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Summary: Beautiful, slightly boring story, but intresting.
Review: You may have thought that being possessed by demons and pagan gods maybe exciting. This book is a slightly boring, but also exceedingly interesting overall with detailed information on how Mary from Magda may had lived in a fictionalized biography. She is a Jew with very strong Jewish traditions, and it is interesting how so much of the ancient culture seemed accurately; food, locations, traditions, etc.,. and how Mary, her family, and the other Jewish tribes interact in their very convincing setting. And you get a perspective from a women in her own time and people. If you read it, do it on your spare time so that you can savor and appreciate the well contrusted setting and life of Magda. This isn't a book to be very excited about, but a nice one to read.
Rating:
Summary: sadly disappointed
Review: I absolutely loved the other Margaret George novels; this however is sadly disappointing. I agree with the reviewer who said is is uninspired. It reads like a young adult Sunday School lesson. Mary's dialogue is so unbelievable; the setting is so "clean" and brings to mind 1950's Hollywood Bible stories. I forced myself to read over half way through thinking it would get better, but it doesn't. Margaret - you can do much better!
Rating:
Summary: Sadly uninspired...
Review: If you were hoping for a juicy tale about the repentent sinner who washed Jesus's feet with her hair, you'll be disappointed by this dull story of poor put-upon Mary of Magdala. And if you want real spiritual insight, stick to the Bible--it's much more profound and to the point than the paint-by-the-numbers portrait here. Miss George did OK with human characters like Cleopatra and she's obviously trying really hard with Our Lord and His Disciples. But it takes more than mundane details and melodramatic dialog to capture the true essence of the Divine.
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Summary: How much more I love Jesus! Read this book.
Review: This book is basically fiction based on alot of fact. It doesn't matter,I understand so much more about the early church. I always felt close to Mary of Magdala, she has made mistakes,she tries to get better and does because Jesus cures her.Mary's family is her worst enemy, they don't understand, so they kick her out. She is full of love, and such a good person and only Jesus sees it. Oh how I wish I could have been there in the beginning. Jesus made life for Mary easier but not easy. The whole book reflects that. Life is tough but never give up. The Kingdom of God is at hand. Praise the Lord.
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