The Magic Circle by Katherine Neville Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Magic Circle
Book Review: A little more work, but true Katherine Neville style
Summary: 3 Stars
I have to admit I cheated - I read the reviews already posted here before buying this book. However, having faith in Ms. Neville, I bought the book even with mixed reviews. Being forwarned, I made a concious effort during reading the novel to keep up with a family tree - this helped considerably with following the modern-day story line. In fact, doing this, I had no trouble associating the needed links to the plot. I would give this book 4 stars if you do a little work.The historical timeline was harder to keep up with - too many different ages and characters. But, I feel the needed associations to the plot can be gathered even if you're a little lost on this part. Unfortunately, we are unable to get inside Ms. Neville's head with this novel - I cannot be completely sure what she was trying to relate with some of the historical passages. But the modern timeline was definitely enough to keep me interested, and I was still rivited until the last page. If you're a Neville fan, I say read it. I'm going to reread it soon - maybe in my urgency to read to the end I missed something! I enjoyed it.
Book Review: A mystery that just... fizzles out
Summary: 3 Stars
The summary of the plot at the back of the book, drew me like a beacon. A family secret spanning eons, goes back to the time of Christ and his last days. A riddle that whomever should solve it, would have power over the world. A millennium book with historical mysteries. Just my thing!!! As the book progressed, it all went downhill. I admire what the author had set out to do, but unfortunatelly she never accomplished it. The protagonist's family is so mingled and confusing (they were even related to Hitler at some point) that it bordered on fantasy. The world is not THAT small! Lots of historical mysteries (even something to do with the Gordian knot, but never really explained), too much actually, since they confused the reader more than enlightened him/her.
Everything builds to the big climax, which never arrives (at least I didn't see it) and if it did, it was very dull and severelly disappointing. The riddle, when finally deciphered, was a load of clap-trap. It would have been such a great book if the author didn't pile miles and miles of stuff on top of it, just to make it complex. (...)
Book Review: A thoroughly satisfying and challenging read.
Summary: 5 Stars
This book is truly a work of art. Because art takes us by the hand and makes us discover things that are outside ourselves and yet are part of us. In The Magic Circle it is Katherine Neville who takes our hand and leads us to that place deep within us, where we are allowed to believe that light overcomes dark and good overcomes evil. She makes you think about our history, filosophy and science, without seeming to. Because this whole package comes to you in a totally absorbing thriller, that is unputdownable. The style of writing is fluent and compulsive. The vulnerable and feisty heroine Ariel tells her own hairraising story, which would be enough on its own for a very good thriller. But Ariel has ties that connect her to other people who all have their own hairraising stories, and they all are bound by and in search of a manuscript that goes back to the beginning of our history. So as a reader you are confronted with a many layered novel. A novel that raises questions about ourselves. Of who we really are, where we come from and where we are going to. At least that was my experience. And the big bonus is, that you get all of this in a book that you can read on the beach, lazing in the sun. Imagine, by buying this book, you get a good, satisfying thriller that includes a romance and a dose of philosophy too, without the difficult language, without the trying and intellectual style. I really loved this book. And I can not understand this crusade against The Magic Circle unless the person who initiated this, is threatened by the truths it conveys.Book Review: A thriller for the imagination and reality
Summary: 5 Stars
This book, like Ms. Neville's other works, is not for the mindless. The research is complex and intricate, which gives The Magic Circle a beautifully complex and intricate plot. The historical and fictional lines are seamlessly drawn, leaving the reader wondering where one ends and the other begins. The twists and turns are not only excellent, but they jostle us to delve deeper into historical events as predecessors to the future. As we end this millennium, the Circle comes around again. I can't wait to read The Magic Circle again.Book Review: A unique message is not easy to hear....
Summary: 5 Stars
As a physician who uses diagnostic methods considered unorthodox by many of my colleagues, I am very familiar with the plight of Ms. Neville, as so very well described by Dr. Pribram in an earlier review.I would like to share what I think is particularly valuable about this book, as I think a key point is escaping the notice of the many readers who are taking all the family connections and references to new-age mysteries so seriously.
In our era, we are always looking for solutions outside of our "self." Most of my patients want magic bullet pills to cure everything so they can continue to lead alarming and debilitating life styles.
I think Ms. Neville has achieved something special in writing a rich, sprawling allegory about the search for "self", and what better genre than a mystery/international thriller? The problem is not confined to one gender, race, or nation. It has become universal.
Everyone looks for something they can steal or buy to make them whole. Some people think it might be a kind of lost inheritance. Others think it might consist of magical articles or manuscripts buried by mysterious people at the beginning of history.
While we pursue these frantic searches and treasure hunts, we ignore the basic truth of time and space, which is in our own bodies. We wake up and go back to sleep with the greatest of mysteries, the human body, which we take for granted while we cast real wealth aside, looking for fool's gold.
Katherine Neville has spent years, obviously, crafting a story with great care, deep thought, able art, admirable scholarship. What is she trying to tell us? It is a secret that can be given away without spoiling the story: the "power points" of legend, the spears and tables and powers of the ancients, are all reborn with each of us when we leave our mother's womb. If we ignore that basic truth, all the other wisdom and secret lore is wasted on us.
That is what the other reviewers of Neville's book seem to miss. She has restored mystery to its proper place, which is the space between the knees and the skull where true creativity, true treasure, can be found. The ancient symbol of skull and crossbones marks the the treasure.
But it is your skull, and your own thigh bones, that are the markers, and your own wisdom gained through sacrafice and devotion, that is the treasure. It is that simple, that elusive, and Neville is profligate with her talent in teasing it out of a richly patterned narrative.
It doesn't take a genius to enjoy the fantastic trip. Just an open mind, and a love of "good stories, well told...."