The Magic Circle by Katherine Neville Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Magic Circle
Book Review: A classic example of any strength in excess becomes ineffect
Summary: 3 Stars
I had not read Neville previously. Reading the reviews it would appear that I should have purchased "The Eight".I found the attempt to integrate religion, history, Roman Mythology, and present day issues much to laborious and blurry to value.
Use of "flasback techniques" can be effective. However, if it is used in excess it makes the reader work to hard to understand just what is the connectivity. The best example is when Neville try ies to use "geography" of the world and the power of specific locations and relics as reference points that the reader must comprehend.
Neville's gift for richness is overshadowed by excessive complexity. Time to rexamine the recipe.
Book Review: A definite keeper. Highly recommended book!
Summary: 5 Stars
At Chrismas there was a waiting list of 75 people at our local bookstore trying to get The Magic Circle in hardback. They said the paperback was about to come out, so I decided not to wait, and ordered the hardback from here instead so I would be sure to get one. Am I glad I did. I've now read the book twice and it's definitely a keeper. I'd highly recommend this book.Book Review: A delightfully erudite adventure
Summary: 5 Stars
A gorgeously complicated tale! In my own work for government, academe, and an international consulting firm, I've found over the years that real life is a product of many interwoven strands, and this tale is a wonderful tapestry. None of my own strands has been quite this dramatic (thank goddess), but there is plenty of evidence that life contains drama. I've had the good fortune to know some fascinating folks and witness some incredible farce, so I was not put off by the tangle of bright and dark threads. On the contrary, I hated to see this book end. I'm a history buff, too, and was pleased to see some obscure persons and ideas turn up. Do it again, KN!Book Review: A fan for life.
Summary: 5 Stars
I discoved "The Eight" when it first hit paperback and enjoyed it as much as anything that I had ever read - I must have recommended to over 100 people and bought twenty-some-odd copies as gifts.I also enjoyed "A Calculated Risk" - but, in no way as much. If that was all that I had read of hers, I would have considered it successful but "TheEight" set a standard that was much higher. I feel that "Magic Circle" returns to that standard. Neville manages to pull some difficult things off because of skill and a very good plot. The "Joe is really your father" and "Mary, a long lost sister" type of thing became tedious and predicable in other mysteries where some character who no one knew was the same person who left town 20 years ago with his mother when she became pregnant by the town banker - but Neville interweaves it so well in the same family that it fits nicely. In short, I enjoyed it tremendously. I hope she keeps them coming
Book Review: A helluva good read!
Summary: 5 Stars
I love all of Katherine Neville's books, but this one is my favorite. Somebody wrote that it was a real tour de force, and I would sort of agree with that. But to be honest, I would just call it a helluva good read!