The Magic Circle

As Salieri suggested of Mozart to Leopold in AMEDEUS, "too many notes." Fascinating, good intrigue although a tad juvenile. Spent forever looking up geographic references, historical data, etc. when cited in story. Philosophically challenging, but oh my, the "coincidences" and complexity in the history of man and religion. Neville's novels are finely woven. Sorry she only wrote three.

I managed to finish this one, but just barely and I'm not entirely sure it was worth that effort. Promising little tidbits involving historical events that interweave in a too complicated and incomprehensible pattern, if one can even call it a pattern, combined with multiple disturbing incestuous relationships (does anyone in that family ever look for love with someone NOT related to them???), I was immensely disappointed when nothing really seemed to go anywhere! I absolutely loved Katherine Neville's "The Eight", but could hardly stand this silly, convoluted mess!

What happens when you mix Native Americans, Hitler, Gypsies, nuclear weapons, human sacrifice, Mongols, the Cold War, the Roman Empire, the early Christian church, Druids, the Knights Templar, sex, and Greek gods together? A whirlwind, globe-trotting adventure that spans the centuries. Though not as engrossing as her earlier novel, The Eight, this story still has quite a bit to offer. The year is 1989. We meet Ariel Behn, your average nuclear engineer whose world is turned upside down with the sudden death of her beloved cousin Sam. Suddenly everyone from the family she's spent her life trying to avoid is interested in her inheritance, which is a set of ancient manuscripts. Ariel spends much of the book trying to figure out how the show more various players are interconnected while attempting to stay alive long enough to learn why people are so willing to kill or be killed for these documents. There are plenty of twists, turns, and surprises in store for her on her journey that takes her from the remote mountains of Idaho to deepest Soviet Russia and beyond.This is not a light read. The story pauses several times to give first-hand accounts of events in the years following the death of Christ, both of those who knew him and those who wanted to destroy him. I unfortunately read three other books while reading this one, and I admit I was still a little lost by the end of it. I do not understand how everything tied together, or why exactly the manuscripts were so important. All the same, I enjoyed the characters and felt myself cheering Ariel on as she untangled the web of lies that had ensnared her family for so many years. Not as good as The Eight, but if you're interested in historical fiction mixed with New Age spirituality, it's worth a read. show less

A puppet-heroine cracks codes, falls for a suspicious man and discovers family secrets that could out-soap a soap opera. All this plus pages of history, myths and tales that should make a whole of some kind, but are really just exhausting to get through. Didn't like, but couldn't leave unfinished.

Katherine Neville really blew me away with her book The Eight, so I went into reading The Magic Circle with a lot of expectations. While Magic Circle has a similar cross-story between "present" and "past" as The Eight, she seemed to lose a little bit of the clarity that she had. I feel as if there were a few too many characters and just too many "coincidences" between all of them. There were so many cross-connections between all the characters that were supposed to lead you to conclusions, that you end up reeling a bit. That said, I still enjoyed this book. Not as much as The Eight by far, but even though this one had too many characters, I really LIKE her characters and get a real sense of who they are. So be prepared to put a lot of show more thought and time into connecting the dots in this one. But don't go into it expecting a repeat of The Eight. show less

Even after a second reading, this book entertains to the nth degree. Ms. Neville delivers a fun-filled quest to find the meaning of a coded manuscript that could change the future.
Ariel Behn has a job with the government and a cozy life until her cousin, Sam, dies. She inherits part of manuscripts believed to have come from her grandmother, Pandora. So why is the rest of the family and strangers after what she has?
Ariel is forced to travel to Europe to find the secret of these papers and her famousinfamous family. Fun,fast-paced and a place should be saved on a bookshelf!

Overall an entertaining book, despite some unsavory plot twists (incest, amongst other things). At times the situations and characters are a bit too unbelievable even for fiction, but the compulsion to figure out what happens next helps one move past the rough bits.