Rating: 
Summary: BORING!
Review: What a waste of money... At the end I was angry and absolutely tired of all those boring relationships and strange members of Ariels family. The beginning was rather interesting but then... actually I would get my money back from Mrs. Neville for such boring nonsense...
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing!
Review: Anticipating another book of the quality of "The Eight", I was giddy with delight upon finding "The Magic Circle". The synopsis got me even more excited - then I started reading...It just went on forever with yet another member of the heroine's improbably family changing characterizations -first they're a bad guy - no, now a good guy - no, you were right the first time. Also, the historical references were ridiculous and never tied in satisfactorily with what was happening in the present day. This makes me very sad because I know this author can do so much better!
Rating:
Summary: This book is terrible!
Review: I hated this book as much as I loved "The Eight." I felt that the author was more interested in showing off her vast knowledge and extensive research than in telling a good story. The "tales" in her book did little to advance the story line, and there wasn't much to the story line to begin with. The relationships between the family members was confusing and difficult to keep straight. If you haven't read "The Eight," find a copy of that and skip this one altogether. I wish I had.
Rating: 
Summary: Just OK for Neville, but outstanding for any other writer
Review: I loved The Eight! I liked A Calculated Risk awfully well. I wanted The Magic Circle to be equally good, but it just ... wasn't. Yes, it was enjoyable, but it wasn't up to her normally exceptional level. I consider The Eight one of the best books I've ever read, and probably one of the best-written novels of the decade. If I could write, I'd write like that. I think The Magic Circle just got out of control. Two story lines were superbly interwoven in The Eight. Three were intricately crafted in A Calculated Risk. Between Indian reservations and Austrian Schlosses and the Last Supper and Caligula and Salt Lake City and ski slopes... Mozart pulled off a muddle like that in The Marriage of Figaro -- 20 voices all going at once. The Magic Circle, though, became a cacaphony. I will credit Katherine Neville with being an exceptional researcher and a wonderful writer. And I enjoyed The Magic Circle, it was entertaining and a good read and hard to put down. Fo! r any other writer, this would have been a magnificent achievement. For Neville, I'll just read The Eight again and wait for the next one. She's always worth a read.
Rating:
Summary: Overwhelms the reader with a critical mass of information.
Review: As historical fiction, this book fails absolutely. However, for the information junkies among us - and especially those who are interested in the hidden side of things' - this book is an absolute treasure! The story is nil at best. The protagonist, a proverbial 'tabula rasa' seems to exist solely to 'learn' things for the reader. Indeed, she self-styles herself as a 'nuke'. And indeed she is, or at least a null cipher in the greater scheme of things. Nonetheless, Ms Neville's forays into geomancy, runes, axes, the life of Christ, biblical history, life in ancient times, confluences, etmologies notably 'wolves' and 'gifts' is absolutely astounding and most certainly fascinating. This writer could only wish that Ms Neville had applied her very excellent writing skills (the book reads very easily) into producing both a more interesting protagonist and a more substantial story while at the same time incorporating the vertitable 'critical mass' of material into it. This writ! er's suggestion is that perhaps if Ms Neville had situated herself at the confluence of the Norns along the River Danube in Germany/Austria which she so beautifully describes that perhaps a fuller and more enjoyable story would have emerged from her writing device.
Rating:
Summary: Very Confusing!!!
Review: As much as I enjoyed reading this authors' "The Eight", I looked forward to reading "The Magic Circle". But this new book gave me a headache and it is not fun to read. Most of the book was spent trying to connect the unconnectables of mythology, religion and history. Very drawn out for a work of fiction, and much too complex. Next time, KISS (keep it simple for us stupids!).
Rating:
Summary: Interesting
Review: I must say, I enjoyed her previous 2 books more. I liked the parts about Ariel "the girl-nuke" and her weird family. I could have done without all the religious stuff, which was a bit too detailed for me. I hurried through these parts to get back to Ariel and her adventure.
Rating:
Summary: Ambitious historical mystery-thriller which fails
Review: In this new historical thriller, Neville attempts to duplicate the success of her superb novel, "The Eight." She fails miserably. At the heart of the story is Ariel Behn, a beautiful, brilliant young atomic waste expert whose life is turned upside down when she inherits a group of ancient manuscripts from her mysterious cousin, Sam, who was apparently murdered for them. Ariel sets out on a whirlwind journey around the world to discover the meaning of these ancient texts and how the manuscripts have shaped the tangled history of her family. In her previous novel,Neville managed to weave history, philosophy, physics and poetry seamlessly with an exciting contemporary treasure hunt. In this new novel, Neville loses control of her material, stopping the action abruptly to interject awkward history lessons which bury the reader in useless minutae. The result is a muddled, incomprehensible plot. Her heroine, Ariel, is an appealing character, demonstrating courage and ingenuity. But Ariel's complicated family history becomes a fiendish puzzle in which each new revelation is more outrageous than the last leaving the reader numb and bewildered. Neville seems to be trying to distract the reader from the fact that the manuscripts which are the object of all this frenetic activity have nothing earth-shattering to reveal.
Rating:
Summary: Compared to "The Eight", this one is about a 4.
Review: Slightly disappointed with Ms. Neville's recent endeavor. Was totally engrossed by "The Eight" and went in to "The Magic Circle" with high expectations. (I guess too high.) At times this book captures some of the compelling plot twists as did "The Eight", but this story is not as exciting, mysterious, too melancholic, meandering, and some of the historical events mentioned in the beginning are not re-addressed or tied back into the overall story later. If you liked "The Eight", you may like this one; but you probably won't re-read it.
Rating:
Summary: The Magic Circle is an olympic exercise in memory retention
Review: I am very glad I have read all these reviews on the Magic Circle. I just finished reading the book this week and was getting ready to make an appointment with a good neurologist. For the first time in my life my almost photographic memory failed me. Now I know I was not alone when I was taking notes and drawing a Behn family tree at the back of the book. The Magic Circle is a magnificent lesson in history, astronomy, religion, and mythology, and Ms Neville has produced another seamless combination of fiction and facts. However, I agree with those who say that this time she overreached. The dissapointing ending left me in the dark. I asked myself, two weeks of exciting/cerebral reading for THIS? The only answer I could come up with is that Ms Neville got trapped in her very own complicated maze and that not even she was able to figure it out. Still and all I must say the book is fascinating reading and that it has its merits. It motivated me to do a lot of research. I found myselft reading the Bible for the first time since I left college, and I surfed the internet for hours reading more about the Roman Empire, and about Hitler and his obsession with the occult. I had been a fan of Ms Neville since I read The Eight years ago, and still remain so. I will give her another chance, but I truly hope she is better focused the next time.
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