Review & Giveaway: The Magic Circle By Jenny Davidson

Paperback: 208 pages
Publisher: Little A / New Harvest
Release Date: March 26, 2013
ISBN-10: 0544028090
Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Suspense

About The Book:
Three smart young women—the scholarly Ruth, her poet roommate Lucy, and their exotic, provocative neighbor Anna—are obsessed with games of all kinds. They’ve devoted themselves to both the academic study of play and the design of games based on the secret history of the neighborhood around Columbia University, from Grant’s Tomb to the former insane asylum that once stood where the campus is now. When Anna’s mysterious brother Anders gets involved and introduces live-action role-playing based on classic Greek tragedy, theory goes into practice and the stakes are raised. Told in a variety of formats—including Gchat and blog posts—that bring the fraught drama of Euripides screaming into the 21st century, The Magic Circle is an intellectual thriller like no other.



About The Author:
Jenny Davidson is a professor at Columbia University and the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship. She is the author of the novel HEREDITY (2003); two YA novels, THE EXPLOSIONIST (2008) and INVISIBLE THINGS (2010); and several academic books.

 To learn more, please visit the author's blog at:

Light Reading

My Thoughts:
Jenny Davidson has created nothing less than an intellectually captivating story with The Magic Circle.  Although I was skeptical about the plot focusing on live action role playing, I was instantly drawn into Davidson's use of language and play on words as well as her though-provoking views of humanity and pain-staking attention to detail.  As the characters delve into role-playing Euripides’ The Bacchae, I would strongly suggest that the reader have a sense of familiarity with this particular text.  Otherwise, the meaning and overall plot will simply be lost to the reader.  As a former graduate student of English Literature and History, I found this novel to be absolutely intriguing from start to finish.  The typical reader may find the language to be too formal or perhaps too academic, and for this reason I would recommend this novel to more advanced readers who enjoy an intellectual challenge of language.  My overall rating for this novel is FOUR stars.  Well done and quite enjoyable!

And The Giveaway:
The author and TLC Book Tours have graciously offered me the opportunity to provide one lucky reader here with a copy of The Magic Circle.  Many thanks to Jenny Davidson and TLC Tours!  This giveaway is open to US &Canadian residents only please.

To enter:

• You must be a follower of my blog and leave a comment below
• One additional entry each  for posting this to Twitter and Facebook (optional two additional entries)

 I'll announce the winner on Wednesday May 1st.

I linked this review up with Cym Lowell's weekly book review hop...stop by to check out more great reviews, or link up your own review for a chance to win a $15.00 Amazon Gift Card and to help out a very special young man in the process!