Rating: 
Summary: "Feminism is the Radical Notion that Women are People"
Review: "Spellbinder" (also published as "Enchantress") is the third book in L. J. Smith's `Night World' series, concerning the secret world of supernatural creatures that live among normal human beings. Called the Night World, there are several rules imposed upon the witches, vampires, werewolves and shape shifters that inhabit this world, namely that they are to never tell a human being about their secret society, and never to fall in love with one of them.
This is the first book in the series to deal with witches rather than vampires, and concerns the lives of two seventeen year old witch cousins who made their first appearance in "Secret Vampire": Thea and Blaise Harman. The two girls are complete opposites; Thea is fair and quiet, whilst Blaise is black-haired and someone who enjoys playing with the human world for fun - making boys fall in love with her and then discarding them. After a series of expulsions from high schools around the country (the last one having resulted in the school burning down), the cousins are brought to live with their grandmother Edgith Harman - the Crone of All the Witches, a prestigious position within the Circles of Night World witches. In other words, the cousins are on thin ice.
But Blaise doesn't trouble herself with things like this - she's always played her love games and doesn't plan on stopping now. Thea however, is desperate to live a quiet, peaceful life. But then she finds her soul mate: Eric Ross, a human. Their connection is powerful, but Thea knows that should they be discovered, it could result in executions for both of them, or in war among the factions of the Night World. When Blaise finds out about Thea's feelings, she decides the only way in which to act is to separate the two of them: by using her own charms to divert Eric's attention away from Thea...
The blurb would have you believe that Blaise is an out-and-out villain, and the focus of the story is on the two girls fighting over Eric's affections. This however is not so - the main conflict in the story comes from Thea's attempts to protect Eric by summoning up a benevolent spirit. However, when the spell goes wrong, Thea finds that a murderous witch-ghost is on the loose, and perfectly capable of killing. As well as this there are numerous sub-plots, including Edgith's failing health, Blaise's exploits at her new high school, a few spells and meetings with other witches, Thea's various attempts to allure/dispel Eric's affections and an introduction to Eric's family and his radical-feminist little sister.
All this equals a rather slip-shod plot that slides all over the place. It's not that the story isn't interesting, but L. J. Smith doesn't seem quite sure on where it's going, or where the true conflict lies. Instead it comes across as a series of magical events and workings that don't quite have the urgency and suspense of other books in the series - especially the later ones.
Furthermore, many of the plot points and characters in the book were rather familiar - Smith has been recycling her own work, most particularly "The Secret Circle" trilogy. Blaise and Thea are almost identical to Faye and Diana (and both sets were cousins!) whilst things like the vengeful spirit, the death of a school student and the forbidden love affair all have their counterpoints in this previous trilogy. As such, the story has a lack of originality (and the coupling of Thea and Eric doesn`t come across as *that* genuine).
But there are some nice touches throughout: we get another piece of the ever-growing history of the Night World (this time it's the story of Hellewise and Maya), some names of other characters that have either been in previous books or will pop up in later ones (such as Aradia, Ash, Quinn and Thierry) that make the book feel like a small part of a larger whole. Smith also makes good use of folklore and mythology, weaving little bits of `real' legends and practices into what the characters say and do - like the Cup of Lethe or the many allusions to Aphrodite.
All in all, not a bad contribution to the 'Night World' series, though by no means the best: things only get really interesting when we hit book five: "The Chosen".
Rating: 
Summary: Spellbinder,One of L.J.Smith's best works.
Review: ***** + *****
Spellbinder, combines the basic fight between good and evil as well as a great novel about witchcraft, a definite must read for her fans, if you enjoyed this book you should read her series The Secret Circle.
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Summary: Will White or Black magic win?
Review: A Good witch. A Bad witch. Both want the same boy. Whose magic is stronger? If you have read any of L.J. Smith's books read this! if not read it anyway!
Rating:
Summary: An Amazing Book
Review: As a Pagan Witch, I found this book both entertaining and fascinating. It is a work of fiction and that shows strongly in the plot with devices such as the bad witch vs. good witch theme and a total disregard for human life. I include this as a warning to other Pagans who may be offended by these themes. Despite the facts above, L.J. Smith actually did her research! If you are Wiccan, you will get a kick out this book if you can ignore the innacuracies of the plot line. You'll find the Rede, mentions of herbs and their associations, a fairly accurate portrayal of the Burning Times and a few mentions of circle casting and spellwork. You'll also find a running theme of Maiden/Mother/Crone. For those Pagans or Witches who are not Wiccan (like me), you might enjoy the overall message/s of the book as well as the fairly accurate Pagan elements. Of course, the first thing that impressed me were the strong female Witch characters. The second was the actual accuracies in the book. Oh yes, and there were male Witches. Pagan fiction isn't exactly readily available, so I'll take what I can get in that department. The plotline is VERY innacurate (includes vampires, a "world" of Witches and a hatred of humans), so be prepared for this. Onto the entertainment value of the book. I devour books. I picked this one up for a quick "fluffy" read. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was really quite good. Her writing will take you into another world and if you love reading, you will likely devour this book in one sitting. The writing is fantastic. Most of the characters are well written and the book flows very well. Very entertaining and satisfying. I have to rate this book with 5 stars as a result of incredible energy rush I received after reading it. Off to ground myself, Enchantress B. RM.
Rating:
Summary: An Amazing Book
Review: As a Pagan Witch, I found this book both entertaining and fascinating. It is a work of fiction and that shows strongly in the plot with devices such as the bad witch vs. good witch theme and a total disregard for human life. I include this as a warning to other Pagans who may be offended by these themes. Despite the facts above, L.J. Smith actually did her research! If you are Wiccan, you will get a kick out this book if you can ignore the innacuracies of the plot line. You'll find the Rede, mentions of herbs and their associations, a fairly accurate portrayal of the Burning Times and a few mentions of circle casting and spellwork. You'll also find a running theme of Maiden/Mother/Crone. For those Pagans or Witches who are not Wiccan (like me), you might enjoy the overall message/s of the book as well as the fairly accurate Pagan elements. Of course, the first thing that impressed me were the strong female Witch characters. The second was the actual accuracies in the book. Oh yes, and there were male Witches. Pagan fiction isn't exactly readily available, so I'll take what I can get in that department. The plotline is VERY innacurate (includes vampires, a "world" of Witches and a hatred of humans), so be prepared for this. Onto the entertainment value of the book. I devour books. I picked this one up for a quick "fluffy" read. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was really quite good. Her writing will take you into another world and if you love reading, you will likely devour this book in one sitting. The writing is fantastic. Most of the characters are well written and the book flows very well. Very entertaining and satisfying. I have to rate this book with 5 stars as a result of incredible energy rush I received after reading it. Off to ground myself, Enchantress B. RM.
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Summary: 2 witches want the same boy
Review: Blaise is willing to go throught any lengths to have Eric for herself. Thea will fight Blaise's Black magic with her own white magic. Who will win? An excellent book!
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Summary: Witchy!!!!
Review: Hey, it's not called Spellbinder here in England, but it is still the best book I have ever read! I thought that Thea was just soooooo groovesome and as for Blaise, well anyone who has read this book will probably know what I mean! I just loved the way they told you specific spells and stuff and I also thought that it was cool how Thea could get into the minds of animals. To anyone who hasn't read this book - Are you crazy or something!!!! I would say that this is definately the best Night World book because it is so different from all of the other ones.If you are interested in the Night World please e-mail me.Mary
Rating:
Summary: Enchantress/Spellbinder
Review: I am a British fan of all the Night World series, but particularily enjoy this one as Thea is a really rounded character who doesn't really want to do wrong, but must protect Eric. It's called Enchantress here, but i think Spellbinder is a better name! Enjoy the whole series, they are a magnificent achievement, and i would reccommend them to everyone!
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Summary: Thanks for the info!!!
Review: I just wanted 2 say that I'm a real bookworm and I loved this book! I also want 2 thank L.J.Smith for putting in the book actual spells.(I'm a witch.) I've been looking for some of those like,forever
Rating: 
Summary: Witches and Vampires
Review: I liked this book a lot. It was well put together and well thought out. But I think it is the porest night world book so far. It seems to me that Smith puts more work into vampire books than she puts into her witch books. There are fewer witch books than Vampire books, and I think there should be the same amount of both. I also think she should make more books with both Vampires AND Witches.
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