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Product Description
Product Description
When her cousin is slain by an unknown assassin, Ariel Behn becomes the sole heir to a family legacy: a sinister cache of manuscripts that thrusts her into the deadly center of international intrigue--and an age-old enigma that spans the centuries. Whoever assembles and interprets the cryptic clues of this ancient mystery will possess the power to control the fate of the world.
What strange powers lie hidden within the manuscripts? Splashed against a lavish backdrop that sweeps from the rise of the Roman Empire to the fall of the Berlin Wall, THE MAGIC CIRCLE finds one woman standing at the center of it all: Ariel Behn. As she races across continents to reveal the dark secrets buried in her family's past, she begins to unlock the chilling truth of the coming millennium. . . .
What strange powers lie hidden within the manuscripts? Splashed against a lavish backdrop that sweeps from the rise of the Roman Empire to the fall of the Berlin Wall, THE MAGIC CIRCLE finds one woman standing at the center of it all: Ariel Behn. As she races across continents to reveal the dark secrets buried in her family's past, she begins to unlock the chilling truth of the coming millennium. . . .
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It was just before dusk. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt
It was just before dusk. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I was a big fan of The Eight, so I ordered The Magic Circle as soon as I saw it. I wish I hadn't. Unlike her last novel, A Calculated Risk, which was set in the world of high finance, this book goes back to the style of the Eight. Historical accounts from various periods are interspersed with the modern day trials and tribulations of Ariel, the protaganist.
Unlike Cat, the main character from The Eight, I found Ariel a frustrating character to root for, as she was constantly doing things that made no sense to me, and shouldn't have to her either. After a while, I wanted to knock on her head and ask if anyone was home. Her family is worse. It's endlessly evolving as revelations of incest and falsified parenthood are dropped on her one after another. After a while it was pointless to even try and keep track.
Unfortunately, the weaving of myriad threads from different periods of history that the author accomplished so well in The Eight seems badly strained here, and it seems that no city they visit can even be named without a two page digression into the history of the town and how it's name mystically ties in with the hidden knowledge of the ancients. After a while, it just gets repetitive, and I kept waiting for something important to finally take place. And despite implications of artifacts of great power from ealier ages, and the sweeping changes that are to accompany the turning aeons, nothing really happens. Honestly, if you're new to this author, and this book sounds interesting to you, I'd go back and read The Eight instead.
8 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
It is very hard to believe that this is written by the same person who wrote "The Eight".
The plot wanders in and out of the book. The authors approach seems to be: take a mish-mash of arcane and esoteric references (Hitler, Stalin, Gurdjieff, Joseph of Arimethea) and use these to force along a book that is belaboured at best, hopelessly lost at worst. This book is sprinkled with famous (or infamous) historical figures, but each character is used as a deus ex machina instead of a plot. There seems to have been no effort to stitch all the characters together in a convincing story. Publishers deadline, perhaps?
The main character in this book is the kind of woman that in one scene is fiery and independent, while in another is succumbing to the the villian in a manner that would not be out of place in a Mills and Boon novel. To call her annoying would be putting it mildly.
Save your money and reread "The Eight".
Or buy another book.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
I'm a single mom, full time student, and lifelong reader of good books. I think Katherine Neville's books are some of the most exciting and intriguing books written today, and I read a lot of books. Thanks to "The Eight", I am learning to play chess, and teaching my six year old son, too, and now after just finishing "The Magic Circle", I have all sorts of ideas for my upcoming Archaeology papers. I live in Utah, and thought it quite amazing that she incorporated Salt Lake City into the book. I really look forward to more books of hers, and will spend the time waiting by rereading the ones I have. I always seem to find something new I missed the first few times I read them. They are better than chocolate.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
mix of thrilling and boring
There were parts of this book where I was unable to put it down but large sections that I skim read because it was too longwinded and the plot seemed to get stuck. Read more
Published on 28 Feb 2010 by Samantha J
The worst book I've ever read (and did not finish it)
This is by far the worst book I've ever read. It is such a pity and a waste of talent for the writer.
Published on 12 Dec 2009 by Tsamadou Vasiliki-ino
Brilliantly complex
A fantastic, complex, intelligent book that will leave you spinning! The Magic Circle, although a complex read is fascinating with plenty of modern and historical content that... Read more
Published on 23 Oct 2009 by F. Lawless
Magic Circle
I've never read a worse book. There are certain American authors that fill out a weak plot with meaningless detail, Katherine Neville is their queen. Read more
Published on 12 Oct 2009 by Mr. David R. Foreman
painful
The book is overcomplicated and the ending is not worth waiting for. It seems that the author has done her best to include as much information as possible about as many subjects as... Read more
Published on 31 May 2007 by C. Brookes
The Magic Circle
The Best Book I ever read was The Eight so I was very disappointed with The Magic Circle. I like nothing more than a reading challenge but this wasn't a pleasant one. Read more
Published on 19 July 2005
Entertaining
I have to admit that this is a complicated story, though gorgeously so. It goes to confirm that real life stories are a product of many interwoven strands, and that today's dramas... Read more
Published on 2 Jun 2005 by Peter Jones
Fascinating work for the discriminating reader...
"The Magic Circle" by Katherine Neville is a fascinating work for the truly discriminating reader. Read more
Published on 3 Sep 1999
Finlandia Loves Neville
Katherine Neville is one of the favorite authors in Finland. Unfortunately only her first book has been published here. Read more
Published on 1 Sep 1999
THE BEST BOOK I HAVE READ - LEFT ME SPINNING!
I loved Neville's first two books, but I must say, THE MAGIC CIRCLE dances rings around them. A book that covers 2000 years of history, a dazzling family embroiled in all the... Read more
Published on 1 Sep 1999
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