Customer Reviews

Morrigan's Cross (The Circle Trilogy, Book 1)

5 star:		(91)
4 star:		(41)
3 star:		(34)
2 star:		(17)
1 star:		(26)

 

 

As a Nora Roberts fan, I of course look forward to new books by her. However, this one totally missed in terms of a worthwhile read. That said, I would personally have preferred that she had made Angels Falls a paperback and taken this trilogy and put more effort into it and made it a hardcover. Books one and two of the trilogy were rather boring in my humble opinion. You could see a relationship building between the tortured Cian and the future queen Moira--the development made the third book satisfying, but one and two were not. The pairings (Hoyt/Glenna, Larkin/Blair) seemed forced and there wasn't enough foundation to want to see these folks succeed as couples. The teasers were there to make the pairings powerful, but the reality was that the books were too short, too much of a fluff adventure to allow it to happen.
I also would have liked to have seen more information about vampires--historical and "factual" (whatever that means). It seemed like Ms. Roberts was trying to combine the vampire, time travel, romance and general fiction genres all in this trilogy.
If you gave up the series at this book, my advice would be to read all three with your focus on Cian and Moira. Both characters develop well in the trilogy. The other two pairings do not. You can see glimpses of development, but suddenly Hoyt and Glenna are a pair and you think "Did I miss something here?" How and why did they suddenly with weeks fall madly in love in the "I can't live without you as you complete me" framework. Just wasn't enough information in the book.
Again, I think this would have made a far better hardcover with some additional writing and depth in it and a focus on Cian and Moira who to me are the most interesting of the six major characters.

Disappointing. My first hint that the writing wouldn't be great was that the entire back cover of the book was a portrait of Ms. Roberts. I opened the front cover to see the list of prior publications, and it covered two entire pages in a tiny font. The story is compelling - but it suffers by lack of attention to the craft of writing. If you aren't bothered by clumsy constructions or overused words and phrases, then you will probably find the story engaging and not even notice these. But if these little details grate on your nerves, then I recommend passing on this trilogy. I won't be reading the other two books in the trilogy.

I'm a devoted Nora Roberts fan and have bought and read nearly every thing she writes. If it has her name on it, I only stop to check to make sure I don't already have it before I buy it.

I'm rarely disappointed. Her characters, particularly in the trilogies, are well developed and make you want to root for them. Her descriptions are evocative and poetic.

But Morrigan's Cross just didn't delight me as most of her books do. The characters were not engaging, the plot was predictable, the prose was so-so.

I enjoy her forays into fastasy and sorcery, but maybe it was the vampyre which turned me off.

I've had to force myself to continue to read (eventhough I stopped in the middle to re-read Chesapeake Blue!) and I'm still not done. I usually stay up all night to finish a NR book, but it's been nearly a week and I still haven't finished this one.

I'm not sure if I'll buy the rest of this trilogy. We'll have to see.

First book in Roberts' new Circle Trilogy, we enter the world of ancient Celtic magic and vampires. When his twin brother is made into a vampire, powerful sorcerer Hoyt Mac Cionaoith is sent on a quest by the goddess Morrigan, to save the world from vampires - but not in his own time. He is to find Cian, his brother, and form a band of 6 warriors to start the war against Lilith, the vampire who turned Cian. Glenna is the witch in the group, and they are then joined by two cousins from Gael who were victims of vampires in their own world. They travel back to Ireland, present day, to prepare for the coming battle, in the Mac Cionaoith ancestral home which Cian has bought and maintained. The circle of six is completed there, and the magic between Hoyt and Glenna is more than just out of this world. I kind of had a hard time with Roberts' writing this type of magic - I am more accustomed to her other type of paranormal abilities, and vampires didn't quite sit with me. Other than that it is a genuinely interesting story with a lot of humor and action.

Other than her J.D. Robb books, I don't normally read Nora Robert books because I find them hard to get into. I picked up Morrigan's Cross because it had vampires, sorcerers, and witches in it.

The story was indeed dry and almost like a basic guideline to a Dungeons and Dragons storyline. Hero is assigned a task to fight evil and he has to gather his band of heros that are each different and have their own skills to form a team to defeat the villain. There is the sorceror, vampire, witch, buffy-like vampire slayer, shape changer, and an archer. All strangers who band together and train for several months to fight the big Bad.

Most of the story line just has them learning each other and training. The worst part of the story is that the overall plot of fighting the villain isn't even in the conclusion. Instead, you get one small battle, and the next book will continue w/ their training and maybe another battle, before dipping into a 3rd book that will tie up the big bad war plot.

I bought this book when it first released, and it took me until now to finally open up the book and finish it from beginning to end. I had a difficult time getting in the mood to read the book.

I don't believe I would recommend this book. Nor will I buy the followup books. I may just skim it in the store if I'm so inclined to find out what happens in the end. But it really isn't that interesting. Nora Roberts attempt to cash in to the paranormal world of Vampires, witches and buffy-like vampire slayers is just another so-so paranormal book that is flooding the IT market.

A friends suggested that I read this as it's along the lines of what I enjoy. Romance, vampires and mythology. All three things are there, but not in the best of stories ever told. This is average and not one I think you'll read again.

I'm a slow reader. I know this and accept it. Even though I read word for work except when I skip over lots of details, when I'm reading I'm not seeing the words, but am seeing everything in movie. Yes, I'm sure my pictures are not the same as the descriptions on the page and I'm OK with that. To me, the story isn't the surface stuff so much as the essence of what is going on. This it not to say I am a passive reader. I'm not. I'm constantly thinking of what's going on, where the story is going, what's going to happen to the characters, how did the characters get to this point. All these things I feel are very important to a good epic story series which this was trying to be. As I'm reading, there are things that will catch my eye and I'll hold on to until the story clears up my question or concern, such as Hoyt being told by description of who is to be part of his team or of Nola, his youngest sister who has the "sight" telling Hoyt that she will be the last to complete the circle.

The description of the people who complete the circle weren't something that Hoyt really held onto or questioned over and over as he was looking. Though told by the Goddess that some he would find, others would have to find him--those words indicate more of a search than what really happened. I don't understand why Hoyt never really acknowledges that his brother fulfilled one of the descriptions. Perhaps because there wasn't much of a search for the 5 other people was why the descriptions of these people fell flat for me.

I'm still trying to figure out how Moria was the scholar. I understand how Larkin was the person of many shapes but when he is introduced in this book, he is such a weak character that his skill isn't appreciated or explained.

Glenna the witch, is a witch, even though she does witchy things her patron goddess is Hecatae and Hecatate isn't called on, only Morrigan.

Hoyt, the sorcerer the brother to Cian, who is turned into a Vampire which starts this trilogy, starts out as a strong character is quickly overshadowed by his "love" Glenna.

Cian, our vampire that when Hoyt sees him again has lived 1000 years and drinks pigs blood and has accumulated quite a lot of knowledge and wealth. He's sarcastic and he says bored and that is why he joins this circle.

Back to the other thing that I held onto, Nola completing the circle. Technically I guess through her progeny Blair, who is the warrior, completes the circle but when Nola throws out her prediction it says she will complete the circle. Blair and Nola are not the same person. For Blair we find out she was the first to be called and the last to be joined. This statement was not explained to my satisfaction.

There you have the characters that complete the circle part of the story has the couples pairing off so that love is also part of the circle.

Other than the cliché of love making everything stronger, which when done well I can totally live with, however in this series the love doesn't enhance the characters it's really just another character. The flow of the words didn't flow. I can't tell you how many times my movie was interrupted by poor dialog and I had to rewind to figure out what was really being said. The writer has to remember that as a reader I'm just not going to hold onto the full conversation. When something in the conversation is over, to revfer back to that bit of converstation again during something that is totally different because the character is supposedly being witty and making some point -- as does happen in real life, it doesn't work here. I lose the whole thread and stupidly I go back to try and find out if I missed something important that I will need for the future. Never was it important.

There was also the choice of words in some situations that just threw me. In the second book, Blair and Larkin are having pillow talk and Blair calls Larkin's penis "Mighty". God, that was such a bad word and once again cut into the flow and I had to make sure I understood what she was getting at.

For the series overall, the breaking up of the story by the pairing off of the couples was a bad choice. The first book had to set up the entire series and we see Glenna and Hoyt come together. Because of the series set up you also got more interaction of the characters, not as much as I would have liked, but more. Each character has a voice at one point or another, however, the males are so completely overshadowed by the women's voice, that when they do talk they don't add as much value to the story.

This book starts off with Hoyt and Cian. Hoyt trying to save his brother's soul and killing the one who turned him and Cian just being a new Vampire. After the failed fight with Lilith Hoyt is given a choice to fight a bigger battle that will not only save the world but will get him the revenge against Lillith. To me this should be Hoyt's story. When Hoyt reaches New York he looses control of his journey. He meets Glenna and she's the one that takes the charge and when they get to Ireland she's the one who comes up with most of the magical solutions. Sorcerer's because of how they work with energy are not as hindered by ritual so should be stronger. After Glenna came on board he lost not only the voice and the lead of this journey, but a lot of what should have been his contribution. Celtic religion and live is very much into balance and there wasn't a good balance for the pairs of this story. Hoyt, you still knew he was strong and intelligent, he just wasn't provided the words and viewpoint that went to the women.

Bottom line: if you're a Nora Roberts fan, borrow the books, don't buy them. They are not worth it.

What an incredibly bad and BORING book. I usually trust Roberts to tell a good story, but this book raised serious doubts for me. These characters are underdeveloped, BORING and I didn't care about any of them at all. "End of the world" - YAWN. I am not even tempted to buy the rest of the trilogy. And Roberts' habit of big, bloated speeches was bad in the last "Red" flower books; I'm assuming that no editor's curtailed her because it's just awful here. I just wanted everyone to shut UP with the big, long-winded declarations. And I'm annoyed that the person that, ah, not ends up not being part of the group, is that person. Talk about the final cliche in a book chock full of them.

I agree with the other reviewers who are criticizing this novel for being shallow and poorly worded in places. The characters seem like they're taken out of a playbook: one isolated sorceror, one sexy earth mama redhead, one overgrown kid off the streets, etc. The plot and setting are nothing special. Furthermore, Nora Roberts seems to have picked up Stephanie Laurens's bad habit of writing sentences that are missing a subject. And does it often; and it's ineffective.

Nora Roberts can write better than this. The most recent trilogy--Red Lily, Black Rose, and Blue Dahlia--was far more vividly imagined. I wonder if she churned out this new trilogy in a month or two, skating through an unwanted homework assignment from her publisher to put out a vampire series now that they're so popular.

Courtesy of CK2S Kwips and Kritiques

Please Note: I had the audio version of this book and not the paperback book. Therefore, I am not promising that all of my spellings are correct.

Hoyt MacCionaoith is a 12th century sorcerer tasked by the Goddess Morrigan with forming an army to fight the vampire queen Lilith and her legions of undead, of which his twin brother unwillingly became a member. Glenna is a modern day witch who finds Hoyt when he comes forward in time to find the people destined to become part of The Circle.

Hoyt and Glenna must prepare for the arrival of the rest of the Circle of Six and help everyone train for the biggest challenge of their lives, a battle to the death against Lilith on Samhain. As they learn to work together, neither Glenna nor Hoyt expected the love that develops between them.

While the concept of this vampire/fantasy trilogy appealed to me so much I actually bought the books in audio instead of waiting for it to arrive at the library, I was not overly impressed with Morrigan's Cross. This is a decent start, but is your typical Roberts fare, right down to her formulaic character appearances and personalities. We always find the exact same kinds of heroines and for me I don't even have the challenge of guessing who fits what Nora archetype since it's always glaringly obvious the moment they are introduced.

I do like the unique story idea behind The Circle and look forward to seeing where their adventures will take them, even though it's wasn't very hard to figure out who all the couples would be. It is apparent from the first page that Morrigan's Cross is the introduction to a storyline overarching all three books and as such, much time is spent setting up the world and introducing the players. The pacing fluctuates between slow and steady where information is being revealed and high intensity action when the battles rage. For the bulk of the story though, it falls somewhere in the middle, smooth enough to keep me reading but not fast enough to make me want to stay up late listening for what is next to come.

Hoyt is a medieval man with medieval beliefs of a woman's place in the world. Glenna is a thoroughly modern city woman who is not one to sit on the sidelines for a big strong man to protect her. As a result, the fireworks between these two are incendiary as they learn to accept each other's strengths. One especially amusing aspect of their relationship is that Hoyt has such a low opinion of witches who need such complicated rituals to get anything done. This opinion of his adds a touch more conflict to their growing relationship as he has to learn that complicated rituals aside, Glenna is every bit as powerful as he is. The fact they are preparing for a war at the same time they are nursing a growing love adds a sense of immediacy and makes their passion more intense.

While I enjoyed Dick Hill's performance in Morrigan's Cross, I did struggle a bit with his interpretation. He has a tendency to overdo the female voices, making them sound a little too wimpy. There were also some inconsistencies in the voices he gives to each character. Several times the voices were so similar, I think he forgot whose lines he was reading and as a result, I had a hard time figuring out who was talking. Even so, I enjoyed him enough to want to see how he does in the next two books of The Circle and I caught enough of his intonations that I know I would recognize him immediately in other books I choose to listen to in the future.

© Kelley A. Hartsell, October 2007. All rights reserved.

I have already cancelled my order for the second book in this trilogy. I don't know what else to say except the whole book is trash. Nora Roberts has always been one of my favorites, but this book has no direction - nothing to hold your interest. I felt this from the first page of the book and kept thinking it would get better - it didn't. What a shame.