Reading Response: The Secret Circle

I have just finished reading the book The Secret Circle:The Initiation and The Captive pt.1 by L.J. Smith. This book is by a author that I don't really read from so it was a change from the writing styles that I'm used to,but a good change.This book is about 16 year of Cassie Blake,a ordinary girl that moves to New Salem with here mother to help out her Grandmother that she has never met before.Little does she new about the secrets that this place holds about Cassie and her family.Cassie is a Witch,but not only is she a witch but she belongs to an entire secret coven of witches that have lived their lives in Salem. When I read the book I was surprised by how magic worked and how it was used inside the book,and the tension between characters.These differences helped build the story in it's own unique way,but I couldn't help comparing it to other texts that I have read.

In the book City of Bones by Cassandra Clare,magic is called upon by sorcerer's,some(stupid and reckless) humans,and Warlocks.Magic was focused through the elements and the dark arts gained through demons and spirits.So basically,magic was something that was evil and forbidden,not something you would want to mess around with.

In the series The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel,The books The Alchmyst&The Warlock they explain magic two different ways.Magic was invoked through the power of your own aura,an electrical field that surrounds your body that is unique to you,with most people could use if the were trained.There were many rules that apply to each form of magic and entirely different uses,but each could easily but your live at critical risk if your weren't careful.But according to another character in the series there was no such thing as magic,it was just using using your will and imagination to physical change the molecular structure of things(Which to me,it just sounds like transmutation alchemy).This wasn't really evil like in City of Bones but it was still incredibly dangerous.

Now,inside The Secret Circle,magic was passed down through your family,not something that you could really teach someone like in the other books.Magic was focused through the elements like in City of Bones, but also seemed to use some things you would find in astronomy. The magic of the characters was strongest when they had a complete circle, a coven of twelve,six boys and six girls,each person from a different magical family.Also magic seemed to have a connection to,strangely enough,poetry.Incantations were spoken like the stanzas in a poem.For example:
Strength of stone
Be in my bone
Power of light
Sustain my fight
Although I find this very strange,I think it's rather entertaining and original compared to how other books just have people mumbling words in some other language.

After comparing and contrasting this book to other texts that I have read,I found that it was slightly similar to other books that I've read.But otherwise it was pretty original and the world that Smith has created is one that I would return to.This book also ties in some other things like teen issues to add to the drama of the story so this is also very entertaining to look at.I'd like to recommend this book because it sets itself apart from other worlds of magic of other books I've read.