The Magic Circle [Mass Market Paperback]

The Magic Circle offers much but delivers little. I was expecting a novel which would keep me riveted page to page, however I found myself at times struggling to comprehend the complex web of characters not only in the Roman and bibilical periods of the novel but the present day charcters of the Behn family. I have to agree with the reader who tired of hearing of a new shocking family secret every time Ariel spoke with a new family member. This aspect of the novel was badly overdone. At one stage I looked in the back of the book to see if the author had included a family tree diagram to aid the reader in trying to comprehend the intricate relationships of the Behn family.

Whilst reading I was looking forward to finishing the book to uncover " the chilling truth of the ne millenium", to me this never happened, I felt as though there was something missing. Maybe I was looking forward to an ending like the ones I encountered in The Day After Tomorrow or The Genesis Code.

Reading this at times I felt I was in a history lesson, lots of names and lots of dates. Don't get me wrong the authors research for this novel is second to none. I haven't yet encountered a novel which covers so many historical events and characters from so many different time periods. Neville's shortcoming is that she has overloaded the reader with this information, combine this with the complex Behn family and you have a novel which is simply too long and has too much information.

Putting those critcisms aside, Neville has a wonderful descriptive writing style, places such as Vienna come right off the page. Her main characters come alive, rescuing the book from below average status.

In summary the book i! s still worth a read but be prepared to take notes.