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rhimaginemua's review against another edition
4.0
The story starts off with meeting young Cassie Blake. She is just fifteen years old and on vacation in Cape Cod for the summer with her mother. She is described of having brunette hair, wavy, and petite too. Over time the read comes to find out that plans change and Cassie is forced to move with her mother to the town of New Salem, Massachusetts for both of them to live with her grandmother, who she has never met till they show up at her front door. The story continues with her meeting students, having a rocky start her first week of school, and learning something peculiar about a group of students; which either half the students are afraid of or worship the group they walk on. But for reasons Cassie has no clue about.
So no more spoiling the book, because it's awesome! For most people, they only know of this because of the show and watched the show instead. But I think for the most part, the show lacks a certain quality that the book has: magic! I'm not talking spells or doing cool things with incantations, but I'm talking that quality that book has that makes you enjoy every second you read the book.
There is something about the way that Cassie meets everyone and how she learns of the "secret". My favorite part was that is was set in Massachusetts. The show doesn't have that. My big complaint about the show. Reason for this is the witch trials happened in Salem Mass. and that reference/story is brought up in the book too. It's one of the huge elements that is played on the last half of the book as well.
I simply enjoyed how there was a part in the beginning when Cassie sees Diana for the first time. She is described as this tall girl, with hair so long and beautifully blonde, "that is woven with the sun and the moon". She is also described as being this unbelievably nice girl and how everyone LOVES her in school. All the girls can't get enough of her and every single guy she passes in the hall asks her out on a date.
Then you have the complete opposite to her: Faye. Faye is a this tall girl too. Dark black hair that is long and raven black. Red fire painted nails and the body of something 'exotic'. She is always wearing clothing that is too sexy for her and doesn't give a care in the world that she goes after the boys that are never single or just flat out a challenge.
Those two characters added such a dynamic, that it was intriguing to know what they were capable of doing to anyone or to each other in their "circle".
This book is a great read for those wanting something deeper than the show can offer, while also knowing maybe how it came about as a book. The one thing I can give away is that in the books that didn't happen on the show: Cassie's mother never died and her father wasn't a witch either. Something I didn't enjoy they doing for the show. Took away too much about the original story at hand.
Anyway, this is something to really check out if you have the time, especially if you haven't seen the show.
So no more spoiling the book, because it's awesome! For most people, they only know of this because of the show and watched the show instead. But I think for the most part, the show lacks a certain quality that the book has: magic! I'm not talking spells or doing cool things with incantations, but I'm talking that quality that book has that makes you enjoy every second you read the book.
There is something about the way that Cassie meets everyone and how she learns of the "secret". My favorite part was that is was set in Massachusetts. The show doesn't have that. My big complaint about the show. Reason for this is the witch trials happened in Salem Mass. and that reference/story is brought up in the book too. It's one of the huge elements that is played on the last half of the book as well.
I simply enjoyed how there was a part in the beginning when Cassie sees Diana for the first time. She is described as this tall girl, with hair so long and beautifully blonde, "that is woven with the sun and the moon". She is also described as being this unbelievably nice girl and how everyone LOVES her in school. All the girls can't get enough of her and every single guy she passes in the hall asks her out on a date.
Then you have the complete opposite to her: Faye. Faye is a this tall girl too. Dark black hair that is long and raven black. Red fire painted nails and the body of something 'exotic'. She is always wearing clothing that is too sexy for her and doesn't give a care in the world that she goes after the boys that are never single or just flat out a challenge.
Those two characters added such a dynamic, that it was intriguing to know what they were capable of doing to anyone or to each other in their "circle".
This book is a great read for those wanting something deeper than the show can offer, while also knowing maybe how it came about as a book. The one thing I can give away is that in the books that didn't happen on the show: Cassie's mother never died and her father wasn't a witch either. Something I didn't enjoy they doing for the show. Took away too much about the original story at hand.
Anyway, this is something to really check out if you have the time, especially if you haven't seen the show.
jesspeachee's review against another edition
2.0
Wasn't as exciting as the television show and I had trouble keeping up with who was who. I could remember Faye, Cassie, Diana, Adam and Nick but the other people I couldn't keep track of. I guess the producers of the show really did only BASE the show on the book, and didn't follow it. Maybe it would've been better if they had.
clarabow's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death
Minor: Suicide
filetypetiff's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
fantasery's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
acac1012's review against another edition
1.0
Really bad story line could not get into it properly would not recommend to anyone.
buhbird's review against another edition
4.0
really enjoyed this, liked it much more than the vampire diaries
ellentaylor's review against another edition
3.0
I judged the writing on every page but I still couldn’t stop reading.
hobbyhopper's review against another edition
3.0
The Initiation is the first novel of L. J. Smith’s Secret Circle trilogy that is currently being produced by Kevin Williams for the CW network. The Initiation follows a teenager named Cassie whose mother moves them back to the town, where her grandmother lives. Cassie is not happy with starting a new school and the forbidding house of her grandmother. Within days of starting school she gets on the bad side of Faith and her underlings, Suzan and Deborah. They begin a campaign of intimidation and harassment that ends with fire play in an abandoned building on the school campus. Cassie is rescued by the beautiful Diana and cousin of Faiths. Diana puts Cassie under her protection and they develop a close sisterly bond. Diana brings Cassie into the popular group, which includes a mixed bag of characters including Faith and her minions. One of the things we discover is that the group is preparing to initiate another girl into the group and Cassie is jealous because she knows she will always be on the fringe of the group. When the girl is killed, Cassie is initiated in her place and the truth comes out that the group are actually witches. Diana’s boyfriend returns from a search for the “Master Tools” which are a set of witch tools that the original coven used to work powerful magic. The boyfriend, Adam, returns with one of the tools, a crystal skull, that some of the coven want to use to discover who has murdered their friend. When they use it, some type of black power surges from the skull and escapes out into the world. Cassie also discovers that Adam is the boy she met once during the summer with and had an amazing connection with which might be love. Cassie is horrified by what she sees as a betrayal of Diana’s friendship and vows to never let her know of how she feels. At the end of the book, Cassie and Adam share a kiss and promise that it is the end of it. Unfortunately, Faith has witnessed the interaction and uses it to blackmail Cassie into doing her bidding.
My views of the book:
This book is a decent addition to any library and especially so for those that enjoy young adult fiction. However the first book is clearly a first book in a series as it is long on exposition and short on character development. Many of the characters are very stereotypical with the bad girl, bad boy, aloof boy, biker chick, creepy dude, and perfect couple. The first time I read this book was when I was a teenager and I enjoyed it both then and now. I feel that Cassie is a relatable character because of her shyness and need to belong. She feel s out of place and sees the Circle as somewhere that she can belong. One of her biggest faults however, is that she is so desperate to now “rock the boat” that she allows herself to fall under the power of Faith. Of course, if honesty was a viable option we wouldn’t have drama which is what makes books and television enjoyable. I cannot wait to see how the Secret Circle adapts to television and with the minds behind the Vampire Diaries on board, I am eager to see it.
My views of the book:
This book is a decent addition to any library and especially so for those that enjoy young adult fiction. However the first book is clearly a first book in a series as it is long on exposition and short on character development. Many of the characters are very stereotypical with the bad girl, bad boy, aloof boy, biker chick, creepy dude, and perfect couple. The first time I read this book was when I was a teenager and I enjoyed it both then and now. I feel that Cassie is a relatable character because of her shyness and need to belong. She feel s out of place and sees the Circle as somewhere that she can belong. One of her biggest faults however, is that she is so desperate to now “rock the boat” that she allows herself to fall under the power of Faith. Of course, if honesty was a viable option we wouldn’t have drama which is what makes books and television enjoyable. I cannot wait to see how the Secret Circle adapts to television and with the minds behind the Vampire Diaries on board, I am eager to see it.
hannahthefruit's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25