But who will be bold enough to harness their power? More than a century after their discovery, some of the secret prophecies fall into the hands of nuclear scientist Ariel Behn when her beloved cousin is assassinated. The Sibyl's words remain as potent as ever, having the ability to change the destiny of mankind. Thus, in the crater of a dormant volcano, the books of the Sibylline oracle are sealedlost to the world until the nineteenth century when Clio, a brilliant archaeologist, discovers them. In the last week of Jesus's life, the Emperor Augustus orders the purge of all prophecies that question his divine power. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.A female scientist races to save the world using prophecies from before Christ's time in this thriller by the New York Timesbestselling author of The Eight. Writer and editor Beth Dora Reisberg writes book reviews and interviews of thinkers and writers on the leading edge. ![]() Neville delivers another tour de force, and leaves us wanting more. This book provokes questions and imaginings, and rereading. It is for each of us to enter into the magic circle and transform. The magic circle evokes a place to do ritual, to connect with our community, be it the neighborhood, our families, friends or the planet. ![]() The reader becomes a local observer of, for example, the last week of Jesus's life, seeing the events from Pontius Pilate and Joseph of Arimathea's view. Neville's historical segments are delicious and compelling. Like Scheherazade, the story teller in One Thousand and One Nights, Neville weaves tales within tales, only this time they go backwards into history as we learn about ancient initiation and transformation rituals, runes, Uranus, power spots, who Jesus might have been, and what the Song of Solomon may actually mean. As Ariel pursues the meaning of the manuscripts she uncovers the hard truths about her complex family and their role in major twentieth century events such as the Boer Wars in South Africa and World War II. But this wouldn't be a Katherine Neville novel without huge amounts of history and science, puzzles and etymology thrown in. Why she has been given these documents and why everyone in her family wants them before she can uncover what they are is what Ariel must find out. His death is as sudden as his disappearance from her life some years ago.Īriel soon learns that she's been bequeathed with precious family papers that her brother, Sam, had inherited from their grandmother. When we first meet her she is driving in treacherous snow conditions on her way back to Idaho from San Francisco where she left her brother's shrouded remains in a casket, blown apart by some unknown bomb while operating in an advisory capacity for the military. ![]() The heroine of The Magic Circle is Ariel Behn who calls herself a "girl nuke," and works as a nuclear security expert in Idaho. ![]() This book is about humankind's quest to harness the power of the earth and heavens for such a transformation. It is a story about the big picture and transformation it is the story of an aeon - a 2,000 year cycle - that began at the rise of the Roman Empire and the birth of Christianity and that is approaching its completion right now. The Magic Circle, her third novel, is Neville's most ambitious book yet. Neville has become one of my favorite writers. It was an engaging and fun romp through the world of banking and high finance and opera. Her second novel, A Calculated Risk, was a New York Times Notable Book. Katherine Neville's first novel, The Eight, was an international bestseller, a two-tiered story that mixed chess, the French Revolution, the oil embargo of the 1970s, and romance on the Mediterranean Sea. Review: The Magic Circle by Katherine Neville
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