The Secret Circle, Volume I: The Initiation

By: L. J. Smith

Narrated by: Devon Sorvari

Length: 7 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's summary

The Circle’s power has lured her home....

Forced to move from sunny California to gloomy New England, Cassie longs for her old life. Even so, she feels a strange kinship to a terrifying group of teens who seem to rule her school. Initiated into the coven of witches that’s controlled New Salem for hundreds of years, she’s drawn into the Secret Circle, a thrill that’s both intoxicating and deadly. But when she falls for the mysterious and intriguing Adam, Cassie must choose whether to resist temptation or risk dark forces to get what she wants—even if it means that one wrong move could ultimately destroy her.

©1992 Lisa Smith and Daniel Weiss Associates (P)2011 HarperCollinsPublishers

Can't wait for volume 2

If you could sum up The Secret Circle, Volume I: The Initiation in three words, what would they be?

a great book

What other book might you compare The Secret Circle, Volume I: The Initiation to and why?

A house of night book, Torment and Grave secret

What about Devon Sorvari’s performance did you like?

I loved the way she read the book it was easy listing. The way Devon Sovars's portrayed the character so well, just painted a fantastic picture of all the characters.

The book is very different from the Series

I enjoyed the first book of the Secret Circle. The book introduced many characters that the television series did not. Needless to say, Faye was a character that I loved to hate. She comes off as self serving and just plain mean spirited. The main character Cassie can be a bit pitiful at times. I will continue to listen to the Secret Circle series, and I hope Cassie will transition into a powerful witch and stop being so pitiful.

Good,

Where does The Secret Circle, Volume I: The Initiation rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

In the fantasy category I would say that it is in the second position. I really enjoy these kind of teen fantastic stories about vampires, witches, supernatural creatures, but I was expecting more scary scenes and more passion between Cassie and Adam in this first book. I watched the tv series before start reading and listening this book, so I really expected see more intensity than I saw on tv. I will listen the other books to see if the story will catch me the way the tv series did.

Who was your favorite character and why?

In the book my favorite was Faye. She is seems so real and bad.

Have you listened to any of Devon Sorvari’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Yes. It is always good to listen to Devon.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Not exactly. I read it because I really love the tv series. I thought I would love this book more, but it did'n happen yet.

Any additional comments?

I like The Secret Circle. I hope enjoy more the next books.

The 17th time~~~

This is the 17th time I've finished this book, and will, the series! Absolute masterpieces~

Left me unsure

Normally, L.J.Simth's books leave me unable to wait to purchase the next in the series, not so much this time. I think if the author had pursued any one thing, but every plot element felt more like a tease than anything headed for a conclusion. Guess in the end, I just wanted more from it than it delivered.

Don't bother

This is a review for the whole series. The first thing you need to understand is that this series is basically two sets of trilogies, written by two different authors, and both are bad. The first three books were published in the 90s and written by L. J. Smith. The plot is fairly interesting, but the characters are flat. The second trilogy was published in the 2010's and were written by Aubrey Clark. Clark adds some much needed depth to the characters, but not in a good way. Furthermore, Clark's plotlines are mildly interesting at best, which does nothing to offset how annoying her characters are. The writing isn't the best and there is absolutely no character development throughout the series. Cassie NEVER learns from her past mistakes. These books are too dark for younger readers and too immature for older readers. I would not recommend them to anyone.

The Secret Circle V1

I saw the tv show, so i gave the book a try it definitely different from the show. In a good way, if you s÷een the show, then you have to try the book.

DNF - both narration and storyline are so slow!

Story:
I normally like anything pnr, YA or otherwise, but this book was just sooo slow and juvenile that I couldn’t get into it. I really wanted to like it but I couldn’t finish. Got less than half way thru.
Narrator:
I had the speed at 1.3x and it was still sooooo slow. The narrator just didn’t do it for me.

Excellent

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

It was very exciting and the reader used alot of expression in her voice.

What could L. J. Smith have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Nothing enjoyed it.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Excellent

What character would you cut from The Secret Circle, Volume I: The Initiation?

None

Umm, ok.

I am one of those who came here from the TV series. Thr story is quite different and not in a bad way. BUT omg, this version of the main character is pathetic! I don't think I can read anymore of this. Who on earth let L.J. Smith publish this trash? I'm going to read some online reviews of book II. I can sense the underlying magic and danger in the story, but there were barely any real glimpses of it in this book. I swear if the second book isn't 300% more enveloping, I'm returning to give this book 1 star. I seriously feel bad that the narrator had to read this aloud. She was surely underpaid to do so.

Note:. I'm often quite harsh on series that done have an appropriate ebb and flow. This "book" is more like an Introduction than a stand alone book. I'll give it a fair node once I've read a bit further in. It SHOULD not take 4 more books for the series to get good. I don't find dragging your audience through trash an acceptable writing style just to have one grand moment in book 5-6. Sigh, I'm probably going to sufger through the whole series because I can't believe this was worthy of a TV show. Even if it did get a complete rewrite.