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lxnxs_bookspace's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
devnerdchic's review against another edition
3.0
Good read just not original
This is the older of the ones I've read so it probably came first but it's way too similar to some of her other book series.
This is the older of the ones I've read so it probably came first but it's way too similar to some of her other book series.
sunshine_kitty's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
la_xu's review against another edition
4.0
I haven’t had access to a computer in the past few days so this review will be shorter than others, as I’ve already blurred parts of the Dance with the Valley of Silence (which I’m almost done reading).
Either way, I’d give the romance 3 stars and the story itself 4 stars.
I’d like to speak generally about the series at first:
While it’s commendable that Roberts attempts to keep all characters throughout the trilogy, and thus helping us connect to their relationships, the novels still run as standalone romances, but connected storylines. For example, each new relationship seems to almost start at the beginning of the novel. There is minimal build up in the prior novels. But say, I liked Cian and Moira, and did not want to read about Larkin and Blair, I would not be able to skip the second novel, or else the plot would be completely messed up. If the plot line ties so closely together, so should have the romances. But this is a difficult task, so I didn’t actually expect too much more.
One thing I constantly complain about is the timeline and how quickly and deeply they all fall in love. The fault is just the fact this whole series takes place in 3 months and each love story takes place in one month. This technically means that Hoyt and Glenna should have been stripped of a good romance, while Blair and Larkin had 2 months, and Cain and Moira should have had the most in depth and believable courting. But it seems that each book gives each couple one month to fall in love, fight, and figure out what they’re going to do after the war.
Okay… other than that rant, onto the novel specifically:
Blair:
I didn’t like her at first. But I’m glad I read this book because you really get to know her better, and grow with her as a person. I didn’t really have anything in particular I liked or disliked about her by the end. I guess at the end of it, she’s just really badass and her and Larkin ended up being a great pair.
Larkin:
I think he’s easy-going, fun, and definitely helps bring out Blair’s playful edge. I thought it was adorable how he didn’t know the modern world and would constantly ask Blair to explain how things worked or what things meant. Even with that kind of dopey curiosity, there were still parts of dialogue that just seemed so weird to me. While, on paper, he seems great, when I tried to think of a real person saying that stuff to me, I would definitely have been put off. Such as his random perverted remarks about seeing Blair naked before they really had a relationship (pg 109 ebook). Besides the shady dialogue, I absolutely LOVE his shapeshifting power. It’s super unique and definitely helps balance out the witch vs vampire characters.
In general, this was really just the middle book. The one that gets you from beginning to end. And it did its job. It kept me hooked and I literally ripped through the last book because of how excited I was at the end of this one.
Again, rating each novel separately is a bit unfair for this series. It’s difficult to truly love and believe and invest in a group of people when so much of the first book was made to set up for the rest of the novels. This one had much more going for it, and I can only expect the last book to be even better.
About the writing:
Two things that bother me about the reading of this novel:
1. The dialogue. Very often, Roberts goes on this list of dialogue after dialogue with no prose to suggest who is saying the dialogue. While I’m sure she intended it to be obvious, there were many parts I had to reread, or backtrack, to fully understand who was saying what.
2. The change of POV. While this whole novel is written in 3rd person, it’s written in 3rd person limited so that we only get the POV of one person at a time. It’s ridiculously confusing when she switches from Blair’s POV to Larkin’s POV and vise versa. This may just be my ebook not having correct spacing, but there are times I’m not sure whose head I’m in. Again, just a distraction to the story.
Either way, I’d give the romance 3 stars and the story itself 4 stars.
I’d like to speak generally about the series at first:
While it’s commendable that Roberts attempts to keep all characters throughout the trilogy, and thus helping us connect to their relationships, the novels still run as standalone romances, but connected storylines. For example, each new relationship seems to almost start at the beginning of the novel. There is minimal build up in the prior novels. But say, I liked Cian and Moira, and did not want to read about Larkin and Blair, I would not be able to skip the second novel, or else the plot would be completely messed up. If the plot line ties so closely together, so should have the romances. But this is a difficult task, so I didn’t actually expect too much more.
One thing I constantly complain about is the timeline and how quickly and deeply they all fall in love. The fault is just the fact this whole series takes place in 3 months and each love story takes place in one month. This technically means that Hoyt and Glenna should have been stripped of a good romance, while Blair and Larkin had 2 months, and Cain and Moira should have had the most in depth and believable courting. But it seems that each book gives each couple one month to fall in love, fight, and figure out what they’re going to do after the war.
Okay… other than that rant, onto the novel specifically:
Blair:
I didn’t like her at first. But I’m glad I read this book because you really get to know her better, and grow with her as a person. I didn’t really have anything in particular I liked or disliked about her by the end. I guess at the end of it, she’s just really badass and her and Larkin ended up being a great pair.
Larkin:
I think he’s easy-going, fun, and definitely helps bring out Blair’s playful edge. I thought it was adorable how he didn’t know the modern world and would constantly ask Blair to explain how things worked or what things meant. Even with that kind of dopey curiosity, there were still parts of dialogue that just seemed so weird to me. While, on paper, he seems great, when I tried to think of a real person saying that stuff to me, I would definitely have been put off. Such as his random perverted remarks about seeing Blair naked before they really had a relationship (pg 109 ebook). Besides the shady dialogue, I absolutely LOVE his shapeshifting power. It’s super unique and definitely helps balance out the witch vs vampire characters.
In general, this was really just the middle book. The one that gets you from beginning to end. And it did its job. It kept me hooked and I literally ripped through the last book because of how excited I was at the end of this one.
Again, rating each novel separately is a bit unfair for this series. It’s difficult to truly love and believe and invest in a group of people when so much of the first book was made to set up for the rest of the novels. This one had much more going for it, and I can only expect the last book to be even better.
About the writing:
Two things that bother me about the reading of this novel:
1. The dialogue. Very often, Roberts goes on this list of dialogue after dialogue with no prose to suggest who is saying the dialogue. While I’m sure she intended it to be obvious, there were many parts I had to reread, or backtrack, to fully understand who was saying what.
2. The change of POV. While this whole novel is written in 3rd person, it’s written in 3rd person limited so that we only get the POV of one person at a time. It’s ridiculously confusing when she switches from Blair’s POV to Larkin’s POV and vise versa. This may just be my ebook not having correct spacing, but there are times I’m not sure whose head I’m in. Again, just a distraction to the story.
childofki's review against another edition
4.0
Second in the Circle Trilogy. The first is usually my favorite, but I believe this one was better than the first. Interesting. Enjoyable read.
shinke's review against another edition
4.0
Enjoyed this much more as I was already invested and I enjoyed the romance.
shelfleigh's review against another edition
4.0
The circle of six move from Ireland to Geall as they maneuver closer to their final show down with Lilith.
This installment focused on the love developing between Larkin and Blair. While it did improve upon the love story of the last book, it still suffered from pacing issues. Blair shows up toward the last 10% of Morrigan's Cross, meaning they have not know each other that long. Each book is roughly one month of time. So they have essentially know each other 5 or 6 weeks before they reach an HEA. The best thing about their story is the ability to go directly to the romance without having to sketch out the initial plot, unlike Hoyt and Gleena's story.
If you can look past the timing of it all, Larkin and Blair work as a couple and as friends. Larkin has a playful, fun loving side that Blair obviously needs in her life, while she adds a bit of seriousness to an otherwise playboy. The two were given more time to be fleshed out from the plot and each other. We also get a tiny glimpse of the awesomeness of Cian and Moira, which is obviously the couple of the last book.
We still have no idea of Lilith's motivation, but we do get to know more about her inner circle (Lorna and Davey). Honestly, I think I like this series so much because Roberts plays with so many fantasy elements. Witches, warlocks, and ghosts are staples of her writing; adding vampires, time travel, dragons, and alternate dimensions really livens up the plot.
tl;dr While the love story suffers a bit from pacing, the overall series is shaping up to be a home run.
This installment focused on the love developing between Larkin and Blair. While it did improve upon the love story of the last book, it still suffered from pacing issues. Blair shows up toward the last 10% of Morrigan's Cross, meaning they have not know each other that long. Each book is roughly one month of time. So they have essentially know each other 5 or 6 weeks before they reach an HEA. The best thing about their story is the ability to go directly to the romance without having to sketch out the initial plot, unlike Hoyt and Gleena's story.
If you can look past the timing of it all, Larkin and Blair work as a couple and as friends. Larkin has a playful, fun loving side that Blair obviously needs in her life, while she adds a bit of seriousness to an otherwise playboy. The two were given more time to be fleshed out from the plot and each other. We also get a tiny glimpse of the awesomeness of Cian and Moira, which is obviously the couple of the last book.
We still have no idea of Lilith's motivation, but we do get to know more about her inner circle (Lorna and Davey). Honestly, I think I like this series so much because Roberts plays with so many fantasy elements. Witches, warlocks, and ghosts are staples of her writing; adding vampires, time travel, dragons, and alternate dimensions really livens up the plot.
tl;dr While the love story suffers a bit from pacing, the overall series is shaping up to be a home run.
sedeara's review against another edition
3.0
This book was better than the first one--a whole star better, in fact. Maybe that's just because I liked Blaire better than I liked Glenna, and this story focused more on her. We also got a better sense of how "evil" the vampires are, although even the evil vampires have intriguing moments of humanity. Oh, and in this one, there's a castle, and dragons. So that's probably worth a whole star point right there.
Still, this is essentially just a romance with a few paranormal elements thrown in, typical Nora Roberts in an atypical Nora Roberts setting. The world-building remains weak, haphazard. This book would be hard-pressed to find a home at true publisher of fantasy. But it had enough fantasy elements to make me hungry for some REAL fantasy storytelling -- thus, I moved on to Robert Jordan's "The Dragon Reborn" after this had whetted my appetite.
This is for people who like a few vampires and dragons thrown into their romance, not the other way around.
Still, this is essentially just a romance with a few paranormal elements thrown in, typical Nora Roberts in an atypical Nora Roberts setting. The world-building remains weak, haphazard. This book would be hard-pressed to find a home at true publisher of fantasy. But it had enough fantasy elements to make me hungry for some REAL fantasy storytelling -- thus, I moved on to Robert Jordan's "The Dragon Reborn" after this had whetted my appetite.
This is for people who like a few vampires and dragons thrown into their romance, not the other way around.
kisjdmls's review against another edition
3.0
Book two in the Circle Trilogy picks up right where book 1 left off. The circle of six must leave modern-day Ireland for the thought-to-be-mythical land of Geall, the homeworld of the scholar and the shapeshifter. Just as the first book focused on the romance between two of the circle, the second picks up with the next obvious couple. (Gee, what could the third book focus on?) This book has the group getting to Geall, adjusting, and convincing the Geallians of the need to fight the vampire army led by Lilith. Again, it's set as a story told by an old man to children. It felt a little less unfinished this time, but that could be just because I was expecting it. Already started the third, and I'll tell you whether or not I liked it then!