“Circe Syndrome” by Janette Bach — BOOK REVIEW

About “Circe Syndrome” by Janette Bach::

“Follow a week in the life of a modern wizard in Portland, Oregon. Her day to day is anything but simple. Watch her shift between the demands of work with vampires, elves, fairies and trolls. Then face the hugest challenge of her days, her family.Follow Muriel through a week and see the world through a lens of potential…It is a week you will not forget!”

(Just FYI: I kept bouncing between a 5/5 and 4/5 review for this story so I’ve rated it both: 5 on some sites and 4 on others lol)

Imagine if Harry Potter were written by a scientist. Now that’s not to say that the plot/characters are anything like the Potterverse because they’re not. However, the universe of this story is just as expansive as that of JK Rowling’s work. There is so much to be explored within the cultures created here that I feel it could have twenty novels in the series and still leave plenty to be explained about the world(s).

The heroine comes from both a Jewish family and a powerful race of magical beings known as Heska. I think it’s important to mention this because one of the things I loved was how she speaks about the impact these two contrasting things have on each other: Faith vs their scientific form of ‘magic.’ As a spiritual atheist myself, I don’t feel these two things need be exclusive of each other and I appreciate seeing the characters in the story coming to the same conclusion after dealing with the concept.

Probably the best science-fantasy novel I’ve read to date, “Circe Syndrome” expresses the fantastical awe of stories such as the aforementioned Harry Potter while maintaining that life must keep the rules of physics in order to properly exist. As the characters need to make use of their special abilities, the author dutifully explains the science behind their workings which makes for interesting lessons throughout.

Muriel herself is an extremely kind-hearted individual who finds it impossible to ignore any calls for help even if it lands her in some deep trouble. But she’s also highly intelligent and has quickly learned how to get out of sticky situations all while keeping her cool…if only on the outside.

My only real problems with the book were a couple formatting errors, typos, and a few odd word choices (or wrong word usage). I feel like the sentence structure was a bit choppy and there were commas in unusual places almost as if to avoid this choppiness, but overall the story itself- the plot, characters, world- were well developed. So if my rating could be more precise, would be a solid 4.5/5.

One final note: the doodles. Muriel is a bit of an artistic creator in her own right and the author begins each chapter with a drawing to represent her character’s sketches. This is an awesome touch to an already great book.

You can purchase the ebook here: https://amzn.to/2J5QlXx
or the paperback here: https://amzn.to/2H6MG9R

Also find Janette Bach’s other work and follow their profile to receive email notifications when new stories are published here: https://amzn.to/2V29Fqd

Janette Bach can also be found on:
Twitter: @AtheneTrek
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BachFlocks/

Want your book reviewed? Click here for more information.

~Sahreth ‘Baphy’ Bowden