13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
"Sky and Sea, Keep Harm From Me", May 10, 2004
This review is from: The Initiation (The Secret Circle, Vol. 1) (No. 1) (Paperback)
Fans of L. J. Smith know what to expect from her before they open the books, and "The Secret Circle" trilogy is no exception. A young woman blossoming into adulthood, a handsome "knightly" love interest (often seeming too good to be true), a darker, more mysterious bad-boy to balance the 'good boy' that the protagonist is equally attracted to, an angelic best friend, and a beautiful, sensual female villain. In terms of storylines, a supernatural mystery will be mingled in with the usual troubles of adolescence, with a hefty dose of the coming of age narrative, a forbidden romance, a series of murders and other little subplots thrown in for good measure.
Yet as repetitive as Smith's books sometimes appear, their popularity and appeal cannot be denied. The author has a good ear for human connections and emotions, and can keep a story rolling along nicely, dropping clues to the mystery as she goes and juggling several threads of narrative without letting any fall to the way side or having any become un-neccessary or boring. And in terms of keeping her regular formula fresh, "The Secret Circle" is probably the trilogy that does so most effectively: managing to pull together many different plots and ideas into a coherent, interesting whole.
Cassie Blake is holidaying with her mother in Cape Cod, putting up with Portia Bainbridge and having a remarkable experience with a young man who she rescues from some local thugs, when her mother breaks her some drastic news: they are not going back home at the end of break, but returning to her mother's hometown New Salem, to live with Cassie's ailing and estranged grandmother. Life in the small town is not to Cassie's advantage: the other students do not simply ignore her, but *avoid* her, nasty surprises are left in her locker, and even the teachers seem to treat her with suspicion. To top it all off, a strange group of teenagers led by the beautiful Faye Chamberlain seem to have it in for our Cassie.
Yet it seems that Cassie is somehow linked to this odd club - they all live on the same road, and she is eventually befriended by the benevolent, lovely Diana Meade, cousin to Faye and leader of the group. From here she soon discovers that there are two opposing factions in town: the ordinary, often hostile 'out-siders', and the Club: a group of young witches who are the descendants of the real witches at Salem.
And of course, it is here that things get really complicated for young Cassie, with the advent of three major catalysts: the return of Diana's beloved boyfriend, who just happens to be the boy Cassie saved at Cape Cod and has fallen in love with; the discovery of a crystal skull that she suspects holds some evil power, and the death of one of the soon-to-be initiated witches, that leaves a place open in the coven for Cassie...
It's hardly strenuous reading, but Smith's myriad of plots and details come together in her most worth-while series of books. Though the main characters are hardly realistic (Faye in particular is a bit over-the-top - see her little performance in English class), they are *interesting*, as are their relationships to each other. Or should I say their *conflicts* with each other, as the struggles between opposing factions of the coven, the coven with the out-siders, the members of the love-triangle, and the entire cast with the malevolent black force are compulsive reading.
It does slip a few times, usually when Smith gets too caught up in her own cleverness, for instance, she seems to be very proud of the phrase "devastatingly witty remark" as she uses it no less than four times! Furthermore, it was painful to read the truly awful poems that Smith describes as "good". No self respecting author would ever blow their own trumpet over lines such as "But you'll die smiling/Then you'll be part of the fire too". And as always, her love scenes are just plain silly - are we really supposed to believe that Cassie is in love with Adam after just one meeting?!
So basically, Smith's books do have an expiry date for older readers - anyone over the age of fifteen will probably find them silly, but if you're gift-searching for book-loving female "tweens", then L. J. Smith is a good choice, and "The Secret Circle: "The Initiation" her most entertaining read - including of course "The Captive" and "The Power".
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Secret Circle trilogy is the best ever!, April 2, 2000
This review is from: The Initiation (The Secret Circle, Vol. 1) (No. 1) (Paperback)
The Initiation is just the first installment in an absoulutely compelling and exciting trilogy. It's just too good to describe and it gets even better in the second and third book! The characters are great and well developed. Unlike LJ Smith's other books, you will fall in love with BOTH the main male characters, Adam and Nick. You will fall in love with Adam in this book particularly, but when Nick's character starts to really develop in the second book onwards, you feel torn between the two, just like Cassie, the main character, is. Cassie is a great female lead, you feel like you're her. The love triangle between Cassie, the honest and strong-willed Adam and the sexy and brooding Nick is great. And although Adam is good, unlike other good guys in LJ Smith books, he's more...strong-minded, he's a leader but he's also mysterious and enigmatic, particularly in the beginning. All the rest of the characters in the coven are great, they all develop as the story goes on and you almost wish they were your own friends: biker-girl Deborah, ditzy Suzan, wise Melanie, friendly Laurel, sly Sean, wild Doug and Chris(the Henderson twins)and of course fiesty Faye and gentle Diana. My one complaint is Diana, you will find that she is such a dumb, wussy goody-goody! But maybe I just think that cos' I'm a lot like Faye. Anyway, this book and the other two in the trilogy are super! I'm a huuuuge LJ fan and I've got all her stuff, and before reading this trilogy I didn't think she could come with anything even better than her other books, but boy was I proven wrong! The Secret Circle is so good, that you'll be really upset when you reach the very last page of the very last book, you'll want more! I do, I want to find out what happens afterwards, with Adam and Cassie, and everything else. I hope there's gonna be a fourth book! You just have to read this trilogy, even if you're not into LJ Smith's stuff, you'll still love this. You'll get so drawn into the story that you'll actually feel like you're Cassie and that you actually talk to and meet the other characters and that you are in the actual place, New salem! THE ABSOLUTE BEST! Anyone who wants to talk about this and other LJ Smith books e-mail me, Candy, at: vampireraven@chickmail.com! I'd love to hear from you!
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Delicious, traditional L.J.Smith, October 20, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: The Initiation (The Secret Circle, Vol. 1) (No. 1) (Paperback)
The Secret Circle carries LJS's mark all the way. You've got the strong female lead ... the beautiful (and wicked) enchantress ... the equally beautiful "good fairy" type ... the dark, brooding bad boy (the highlight of every LJS book). You just can't get enough of the woman's work - even if some of it sounds awfully similar to her other books.
In The Initiation, it is exactly as the title suggests: Cassie is initiated into the Secret Circle, a coven of witches in New Salem, after many trials. Then she realizes that the guy she'd been obsessing over for the entire summer it seems like is her new best friend's boyfriend. Worse, the real "witch" of the witches - Faye, reminiscent of Blaise and Maya - finds out that Cassie's messed with her almost-sister's guy - and she starts to blackmail her. Meanwhile, an old evil has been released...
For some good old-fashioned LJS delight, read this!
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