Katherine Neville, bestselling author of The Eight, combines gripping historical fiction with a modern-day thriller to create The Magic Circle--an ...
read full description
reviews
Dec 20, 2007
LJ
rated it: 
The Magic Circle - NR
Kathleen Neville - 3rd book
Snake River, Idaho, 1989--Ariel Behn, a toxic materials expert at a remote nuclear site, finds her well-ordered life shattered when her cousin is slain by an unknown assassin. His shocking death leaves Ariel sole heir to a family legacy: a sinister cache of manuscripts that sweeps her into the deadly center of international intrigue--and a mystery that spans the centuries. . . .
Jerusalem, 32 AD--During the last week i More...
Kathleen Neville - 3rd book
Snake River, Idaho, 1989--Ariel Behn, a toxic materials expert at a remote nuclear site, finds her well-ordered life shattered when her cousin is slain by an unknown assassin. His shocking death leaves Ariel sole heir to a family legacy: a sinister cache of manuscripts that sweeps her into the deadly center of international intrigue--and a mystery that spans the centuries. . . .
Jerusalem, 32 AD--During the last week i More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Dec 19, 2008
melydia
rated it: 
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 s
More...
Aug 08, 2011
Maria
rated it: 
A la autora la conocí primero por "El ocho" su best seller mas conocido desde que se publico hasta la actualidad,"El circulo mágico" lo leí en la biblioteca,sin saber que me encontraría,porque la lectura anterior de esta gran escritora, había dejado el listón muy alto.
Cuando analice el libro que acababa de tener entre mis manos,todavía me acuerdo que decidí que por muchos años que pasasen y muchas novelas leyese,este siempre seria mi libro favorito y lo sigo manteniendo. More...
Cuando analice el libro que acababa de tener entre mis manos,todavía me acuerdo que decidí que por muchos años que pasasen y muchas novelas leyese,este siempre seria mi libro favorito y lo sigo manteniendo. More...
Aug 09, 2010
Mιss •kαthєяίиє•
rated it:
Επιτέλους! Ήθελα εδώ και πολύ καιρό να το διαβάσω...
Ο Μαγικός Κύκλος είναι το πιο περίπλοκο βιβλίο της συγγραφέως μέχρι τώρα. Θα μπορούσα να πώ ότι μότο της οικογένειας Μπεν είναι το "Πάμε με όλους". Ειλικρινά τόση περιπλοκή στις οικογενειακές σχέσεις μου προκάλεσε πονοκέφαλο.
Γενικά το βιβλίο ήταν αρκετά ενδιαφέρον, ειδικά η αγαπημένη φράση της Άριελ Μα τις ιερές σκατούλες!. :) Η πλοκή είναι συνυφασμένη με το παρόν (την περιπέτεια της Άριελ με το κληροδότημα π More...
Ο Μαγικός Κύκλος είναι το πιο περίπλοκο βιβλίο της συγγραφέως μέχρι τώρα. Θα μπορούσα να πώ ότι μότο της οικογένειας Μπεν είναι το "Πάμε με όλους". Ειλικρινά τόση περιπλοκή στις οικογενειακές σχέσεις μου προκάλεσε πονοκέφαλο.
Γενικά το βιβλίο ήταν αρκετά ενδιαφέρον, ειδικά η αγαπημένη φράση της Άριελ Μα τις ιερές σκατούλες!. :) Η πλοκή είναι συνυφασμένη με το παρόν (την περιπέτεια της Άριελ με το κληροδότημα π More...
Jul 16, 2009
Luthien
rated it:
Un libro muy interesante ya que permite hacer un enlace entre el pasado y el presente. Aprendes varios "secretos" de diferentes culturas que se encuentran en distintos lugares en distintas epocas. La trama te mantiene al borde del asiento y sin parar de leer. El final no era lo que esperaba.
Trama:
Ariel recibe en herencia unos viejos manuscritos de gran valor que encierran un secreto relacionado con los objetos sagrados de las tribus de Israel. Quien consiga des More...
Trama:
Ariel recibe en herencia unos viejos manuscritos de gran valor que encierran un secreto relacionado con los objetos sagrados de las tribus de Israel. Quien consiga des More...
Aug 06, 2011
Jeannine
rated it:
8-6 As with all of the Katherine Neville books I've read, the historical data that she uses is by far some of the best I've seen in any novel. I gave the book three stars, however, because the story that surrounds the data seems to follow the same formula to the other two books I've read. A definite good read for anyone who enjoys discovering other theories behind some of the world's most popular mythologies.
7-30 I've read two of Katherine Neville's other novels, "The Eight" More...
7-30 I've read two of Katherine Neville's other novels, "The Eight" More...
Jan 01, 2012
KimberlyVille
rated it: 
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
Oct 27, 2010
Kimberly
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
Sep 25, 2010
Liam
rated it:
I thought this would be an enjoyable if silly read, but I had to abandon it after about fifty pages because my sensibilities could no longer stand the nonstop assault of trite bestseller/romance novel prose that passes for "writing" in its pages. I should have put it down when she mentioned a character's "mane of golden hair" on the first page, but I soldiered on. The section on ancient Rome set off all my History Professor alarms but, hey, it's just a novel. Still, when the
More...
Oct 28, 2009
Kimberly
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
Feb 28, 2008
Tripp
rated it:
This book is the Platonic form of bad.
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Aug 12, 2010
Camille
rated it:
My two star "it was ok" rating is generous compared to how I really felt about this book. By the end it was work to read it, and the end result, the final unraveling of millennia of esoteric knowledge, was a let down.
Small details that bugged me:
The fact that various characters had beautiful and amazing eyes. OK, Ariel, the protagonist, has the same beautiful eyes as her grandmother. But Dacian Bassarides has purple-green eyes? That's not even a color!
There is More...
Small details that bugged me:
The fact that various characters had beautiful and amazing eyes. OK, Ariel, the protagonist, has the same beautiful eyes as her grandmother. But Dacian Bassarides has purple-green eyes? That's not even a color!
There is More...
Sep 10, 2009
Shelly
rated it:
Oh, this book was so disappointing. I had big hopes after really enjoying The Eight. The central character, Ariel, was suppose to be a nuclear expert and a super code cracker but her character really lacks the mental strength required for both. Also, it felt like she was lead from event to event and never really took the lead herself. Plus the whole convoluted family inbreeding situation that unraveled over the course of the story was disturbing. The "ick factor" was too much for
More...
0 comments
like
(3 people liked it)
Aug 06, 2011
Kerri
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
Jul 24, 2008
Moosesmu
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
Sep 02, 2011
hennagoddess
rated it:
Dear Katherine Neville: I REALLY DON'T CARE ABOUT THE SCREWED-UP, DYSFUNCTIONAL DYNAMICS OF THE BEHN FAMILY! I WANTED TO READ MORE ABOUT THE MANUSCRIPTS AND THE 13 SACRED HALLOWS!
Now that I've gotten that out.... I don't often bother writing reviews, but I feel I have to for this book because I was extremely disappointed (not to mention SEVERLY IRRITATED!!!) by this book. The longer I read it, the less I liked it. I thought the book was going to be more like the Robert Langdon novels More...
Now that I've gotten that out.... I don't often bother writing reviews, but I feel I have to for this book because I was extremely disappointed (not to mention SEVERLY IRRITATED!!!) by this book. The longer I read it, the less I liked it. I thought the book was going to be more like the Robert Langdon novels More...
Sep 11, 2011
Leslie
rated it:
I wanted to like this book, and while I was not expecting literary genius, this was just bad. BAD BAD BAD. I can read just about anything, but I could NOT get into this book. Shampoo bottles posess better prose.
Beautiful, tragic, intelligent, rich heroine (trust me, her beauty and natural intelligence are mentioned ALOT) who despite posessing all these fabulous qualities, is incapable of making a decision with her brain instead of her vagina. UGH. Maybe fans of Twilight would enjoy it.
Beautiful, tragic, intelligent, rich heroine (trust me, her beauty and natural intelligence are mentioned ALOT) who despite posessing all these fabulous qualities, is incapable of making a decision with her brain instead of her vagina. UGH. Maybe fans of Twilight would enjoy it.
May 17, 2011
Katie
rated it:
Truth be told, I only read the first and last hundred pages of this book. After a hundred pages I assumed I'd be able to get into the book, but I couldn't. The end of the story, though I didn't know the full story of the mystery, did not seem to wrap everything up as well as the author could have. The characters were very shallow and predictable, nothing was really entertaining, and the storyline bored me.
After reading The Eight, this was a big letdown, as I was expecting more from Miss Ne More...
After reading The Eight, this was a big letdown, as I was expecting more from Miss Ne More...
Jan 24, 2011
Lydia
rated it:
Eh,it was good...However,I expected something...I don't know,something more.After The Eight,I thought The Magic Circle would be as exciting - if not more - but I can't say I was satisfied with the result.I guess what made me look over the amazing riddles and mysteries that had to be solved was the fact that,after some point,I grew tired of Ariel's mistake to keep falling in bed with a traitor.And I can't say that the whole kinda incest thing was thrilling me...
Nov 22, 2008
Deirdre
rated it:
This is just a mess. There is chunks of infodumping, the main character seems to be related to almost everyone. Hitler is a pivotal character and the history seems not only to be adapted to suit but also warped to suit.
There are ways and means of doing this sort of book and this wasn't one of them. You really need to base it in real history and just warp a few minor points rather than have the historian in me. It wasn't a bad book but it was a book that could have been tidied up More...
There are ways and means of doing this sort of book and this wasn't one of them. You really need to base it in real history and just warp a few minor points rather than have the historian in me. It wasn't a bad book but it was a book that could have been tidied up More...
Jul 28, 2011
Laurie
rated it:
Disappointed. It took me forever to finish this book. I had enjoyed The Eight so much that I can't believe this one was so much harder to get into. The mystery just took too long to explain and understand. Honestly even at the end I'm not sure I fully grasped everything that occurred. Too many people involved in the history of events. The ending was a let down as nothing really happened after all the build up.
Apr 02, 2009
Jaimie
rated it:
This book was just too convoluted to be believed. The Magic Circle follows Ariel Behn as she tries to discover the secrets hidden in her family history. And her family history changes quite frequently throughout the book. The historical flashbacks often didn't make sense, and didn't seem to have any bearing on the story. The ending really just doesn't seem to bring together all points of the story.
Jan 20, 2010
Alice
rated it:
I have to say, this one was a disappointment. A ponderous mishmash of mystical objects, zodiac signs and their coordinating "ages," along with a truly awful family history. It lacks the tight focus and wonderful pacing of "The Eight." It might have been OK if it was another author, but it truly suffers by comparison. By the end of this one, I was just hoping for it to be over. Unfortunately, the ending was the most disappointing part of all.
Jul 06, 2011
Lisa
rated it:
Suffers from what I call "James Michener syndrome", AKA, "look how much research I did for this book!" The historic interludes and pieces of the backstory were interesting, and reminded me how little I actually know about much of world history, but after a while they just got to be tedious, and ultimately I found myself thinking (as I finished the book), "what the hell did *that* have to do with anything?" Plus, the endless convolutions of the various relationship
More...
Nov 02, 2010
Angela
rated it:
My first Katherine Neville and I liked it overall. The first half was fantastic and I found myself turning page after page. However, I found that the 2nd half wasn't as great as the first.
That being said - for a book I picked up just to read while trying to kill and hour, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked it.
That being said - for a book I picked up just to read while trying to kill and hour, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked it.
Jan 13, 2011
Yankey
rated it: 
I liked this story a lot. Ms. Neville has done so much historical research, I would bet the first draft of was 2,000 pages long. Although her style is a bit dry and her stabs at romance and compassion don't work for me, the expert way she weaves this complax story together is loads of fun to read.
Sep 27, 2010
Terry
rated it:
About 100 of the 334 pages I read (of the 554 in the book) were interesting and well written. The remainder were boring, preachy, and incredulous, outdoing Brown's Da Vinci Code (written years before it) in pedantic, mystical theories of clandestine power maneuvering.
Aug 10, 2011
Juan D
rated it:
Me compré este libro cuando me terminé El Ocho pero al empezar a leerlo estuve a punto de devolverlo a la imprenta. Es como si estuvieras leyendo El Ocho pero con otros personajes, se nota que la autora no ha sabido salir de ese tipo de narración.
Aug 08, 2011
Angel
rated it:
De la misma autora de "El Ocho" esta es la historia de unos manuscritos profeticos y los personajes que los escribieron a través de la historia. Aquel que los logre decifrar será dueño de la verdad universal respecto a la vida después de la muerte
Feb 02, 2011
Abigail
rated it:
I really enjoyed it, very well written thriller type. So many plot twists you'll get whip lash. Reminds me a lot of Dan Brown (though this was written first). Gets disappointing toward the end though, feels a bit anti-climactic. Otherwise, very fun read.
