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athira's review against another edition
1.0
Ruth, Anna and Lucy are three young women studying/teaching at Columbia University. They are quite addicted to games and the theories of games and enjoy spending long hours talking about various aspects of game-making. At the beginning of this book, they are working on a game that's Ruth's brainchild. The idea of the game is to provide a virtual experience of a mental institution that used to be located exactly where one of the current Columbia University buildings is situated. While that's happening, Anna comes up with her own idea of a game which involves some occult-like rituals in front of several supporters. But when Anna's brother Anders becomes involved, things begin to go wrong terribly.
I gave up on this book. I don't typically review DNF books unless I have something to say, which in this case is a lot. I actually gave this book a lot more tries than I usually would with a book that's not piquing my interest. At many points during my reading experience, I wanted to put it down but since I was reading it for the tour, I kept going back to it.
The Magic Circle has quite a few elements I like - gaming, a university setting, women characters, nerdiness and psychological issues. It starts off demonstrating the women's strong interest in games and their plans for Ruth's gaming project. Unfortunately, that's all I enjoyed about this book.
The characters didn't feel well-built to me. And that's sad because there was so much potential here. I found the three protagonists acting out of character too often. They are portrayed as very good friends and then suddenly, they act way too formal in their conversations.
I didn't feel there was a proper build-up of essential plot points. For instance, one character has been suffering from eating disorders for a good part of her life but that isn't mentioned until page 88. After that though, it is brought up in every other paragraph - almost as if all the relevant facts need to be revealed. There was also a very weird ritual described in the book - too weird it made it very implausible. I got bugged by the long trivial conversations and the descriptions of several minor events in the book. Maybe they were all meant to be significant later in the book and if I had been more patient, I may have discovered them but the build-up wasn't great and I couldn't quite understand why a character often made a mountain out of a molehill. It made me wonder too much about whether I was missing the overall picture.
The author definitely writes beautiful sentences but the sentences didn't gel well when put together. I found the whole narration very dry - with its long-winded sentences and heavy usage of uncommonly used English words. I almost got the impression that a lot of the big words were used more for impressing the reader than to impart any purpose.
Overall, I'm disappointed. Maybe I wasn't the right audience though from the synopsis, I would have jumped for this kind of book any number of times. The whole execution of it just was too poor and even though The Magic Circle is under 200 pages, I couldn't quite put myself through the second half of the book. Nothing of any significance had happened when I put the book down, which made me not miss it. I wish I could say something more redeeming about this book and since I'm the first reader on the tour to review this book (and there doesn't seem to be anyone in bloglandia who have read this book), I'm not able to point you towards other reviews. Hopefully, others would have enjoyed it more than me.
I gave up on this book. I don't typically review DNF books unless I have something to say, which in this case is a lot. I actually gave this book a lot more tries than I usually would with a book that's not piquing my interest. At many points during my reading experience, I wanted to put it down but since I was reading it for the tour, I kept going back to it.
The Magic Circle has quite a few elements I like - gaming, a university setting, women characters, nerdiness and psychological issues. It starts off demonstrating the women's strong interest in games and their plans for Ruth's gaming project. Unfortunately, that's all I enjoyed about this book.
The characters didn't feel well-built to me. And that's sad because there was so much potential here. I found the three protagonists acting out of character too often. They are portrayed as very good friends and then suddenly, they act way too formal in their conversations.
I didn't feel there was a proper build-up of essential plot points. For instance, one character has been suffering from eating disorders for a good part of her life but that isn't mentioned until page 88. After that though, it is brought up in every other paragraph - almost as if all the relevant facts need to be revealed. There was also a very weird ritual described in the book - too weird it made it very implausible. I got bugged by the long trivial conversations and the descriptions of several minor events in the book. Maybe they were all meant to be significant later in the book and if I had been more patient, I may have discovered them but the build-up wasn't great and I couldn't quite understand why a character often made a mountain out of a molehill. It made me wonder too much about whether I was missing the overall picture.
The author definitely writes beautiful sentences but the sentences didn't gel well when put together. I found the whole narration very dry - with its long-winded sentences and heavy usage of uncommonly used English words. I almost got the impression that a lot of the big words were used more for impressing the reader than to impart any purpose.
Overall, I'm disappointed. Maybe I wasn't the right audience though from the synopsis, I would have jumped for this kind of book any number of times. The whole execution of it just was too poor and even though The Magic Circle is under 200 pages, I couldn't quite put myself through the second half of the book. Nothing of any significance had happened when I put the book down, which made me not miss it. I wish I could say something more redeeming about this book and since I'm the first reader on the tour to review this book (and there doesn't seem to be anyone in bloglandia who have read this book), I'm not able to point you towards other reviews. Hopefully, others would have enjoyed it more than me.
streamingsilver's review against another edition
2.0
The dialogue throughout felt pretty stilted and not a lot happened plot-wise for at least half of the book. Also, there was an error with the author writing about anorexia, and then going on to describe binging and purging, which is bulimia. The second portion of the book was definitely stronger than the first half, and I did enjoy the energy of the last game.
pauliinakiero's review against another edition
2.0
well, this sure was.. different? i'm just not sure if i'd call this different in a good way.
all the references to twitter and iPhones and hashtags make me feel like this book won't age well so if you want to read this, do it now; in five years it's gonna feel very dated.
it's a bit over-written and trying too hard, and the dialogue's absolutely ridiculous, no one actually talks like that, right??
(and yeah, this is on my similar-to-the-secret-history shelf bc it says so in the back cover but even though i can see what the person quoted for that means, i don't really think they're all that similar)
all the references to twitter and iPhones and hashtags make me feel like this book won't age well so if you want to read this, do it now; in five years it's gonna feel very dated.
it's a bit over-written and trying too hard, and the dialogue's absolutely ridiculous, no one actually talks like that, right??
(and yeah, this is on my similar-to-the-secret-history shelf bc it says so in the back cover but even though i can see what the person quoted for that means, i don't really think they're all that similar)
melbutnotgibson's review against another edition
1.0
Such a disappointment. The writing was awful and simple( I finished it in three hours) characters are impersonal. The author was trying so hard to sound intelligence as well as make it like Secret History, but it was just awful. Don't waste your time or money
jpfriday's review against another edition
3.0
“Life seemed to fall more often into the patterns of melodrama than ideally mandated by the aesthetic properties of tasteful storytelling.” I wanted to love this campus thriller set in my very own Morningside Heights, but I settled for liking it. Inspired by Euripides’s Bacchae, it follows three grad students active in live-action, site-specific games as the line between reality and play starts to blur. I love this premise, but the prose felt like a chore: the book talks like it went to Columbia and wants to make sure you know it. There’s only so many academic ten-dollar words I can stomach! Yet, I admire Davidson’s formal explorations – she incorporates blogs and chat-style dialogue – and she sticks the landing with a terse, unsettling ending.
laurendubs's review
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm, Death of parent, Eating disorder, and Incest
Moderate: Alcoholism and Drug use
micaelabrody's review against another edition
1.0
I spent the latter half of this book wondering why I didn't just choose to reread The Secret History rather than try to finish this, but I don't give up on books easily, especially when they're so much lighter than the books I've been carrying around for a while. But I should have stuck to my instincts.
There are two parts to my dissatisfaction with this book. First: I admit I have never been an academic, in the field of game design or otherwise, nor do I move in hyperintellectual New York circles, but I can't believe that real people, even the super smart, actually talk like this. I am also aware that moving in the aforementioned circles sounds like hell, so maybe I've been avoiding them in real life, but who on earth manages to retain any friends or even a roommate while talking in daily conversation about game theory as if you were writing an academic paper—and at a hangover brunch no less? Who would ever want to hang out with these people just for a coffee, much less days-long games?? (God, I feel like I'm even talking like them now.)
In this way it felt a lot like The End of Mr. Y—someone who clearly understands the subject matter tried to write a book but much as they can speak to immersion in game theory, they can't figure out how to make it accessible to ANYONE else.
Secondly, I was fine with the kind of languidly suspenseful atmosphere up until the very end, when all of a sudden you realize that just The Game Is Fucked Up isn't the only end game—that there's actually something dramatic she intends to write about. But by then you've got like 20 pages left and you can't wait to get away from these pretentious assholes, so I didn't even care about thebig death scene. Scenes. .
Theincest was so far past shoehorned in, it was laughable. Lucy says she is heading to their place and you know exactly what happened. Even in 2013, that was an overdone twist. And, uh, what the fuck was that with "his mother" at the end?? Was Anna his mother? ? Did I just get so impatient I skimmed over something important?
I started by rating this book a 2, out of guilt because I did read the whole thing and didn't get truly pissed until halfway through, but I'm trying to come up with ANYTHING to say in favor of this book besides "the cover design was great," and I'm coming up short. Unfortunate that such a good cover and such an intriguing blurb got a terrible treatment. Honestly, save the time and read The Secret History, which is more famous for a really good reason.
There are two parts to my dissatisfaction with this book. First: I admit I have never been an academic, in the field of game design or otherwise, nor do I move in hyperintellectual New York circles, but I can't believe that real people, even the super smart, actually talk like this. I am also aware that moving in the aforementioned circles sounds like hell, so maybe I've been avoiding them in real life, but who on earth manages to retain any friends or even a roommate while talking in daily conversation about game theory as if you were writing an academic paper—and at a hangover brunch no less? Who would ever want to hang out with these people just for a coffee, much less days-long games?? (God, I feel like I'm even talking like them now.)
In this way it felt a lot like The End of Mr. Y—someone who clearly understands the subject matter tried to write a book but much as they can speak to immersion in game theory, they can't figure out how to make it accessible to ANYONE else.
Secondly, I was fine with the kind of languidly suspenseful atmosphere up until the very end, when all of a sudden you realize that just The Game Is Fucked Up isn't the only end game—that there's actually something dramatic she intends to write about. But by then you've got like 20 pages left and you can't wait to get away from these pretentious assholes, so I didn't even care about the
The
I started by rating this book a 2, out of guilt because I did read the whole thing and didn't get truly pissed until halfway through, but I'm trying to come up with ANYTHING to say in favor of this book besides "the cover design was great," and I'm coming up short. Unfortunate that such a good cover and such an intriguing blurb got a terrible treatment. Honestly, save the time and read The Secret History, which is more famous for a really good reason.
cloudslikethis's review against another edition
4.0
Weird, sexy, literary. I think I'm gonna make a video review of this, so watch out for that.
emmagetz's review
2.0
I am really disappointed by this book. The concept was extremely interesting and I think there was real potential at a story to be told, but this fell completely flat.
The writing was messy, adverb-heavy, and a weird mix of informal and too formal. There was no character development and the dialogue was very forced and unnatural. I wasn't drawn into any of the characters, so the ending made me feel nothing.
On a positive note, though, the information about game theory and such was interesting. The novel itself was not.
The writing was messy, adverb-heavy, and a weird mix of informal and too formal. There was no character development and the dialogue was very forced and unnatural. I wasn't drawn into any of the characters, so the ending made me feel nothing.
On a positive note, though, the information about game theory and such was interesting. The novel itself was not.
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