Cybele's Secret | Juliet Marillier

Cybele's Secret | Juliet Marillier | A fantastic story of romance, intrigue, and destiny

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Cybele's Secret

	Cybele's Secret Juliet Marillier Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2008 - 448 pages average customer review:based on 7 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

FOR PAULA, ACCOMPANYING her merchant father on a trading voyage to Istanbul is a dream come true. They have come to this city of trade on a special mission to purchase a most rare artifact?a gift from the ancient goddess, Cybele, to her followers. It?s the only remnant of a lost, pagan cult.

But no sooner have they arrived when it becomes clear they may be playing at a dangerous game. A colleague and friend of Paula?s father is found murdered. There are rumors of Cybele?s cult reviving within the very walls of Istanbul. And most telling of all, signs have begun to appear to Paula, urging her to unlock Cybele?s secret.

Meanwhile, Paula doesn?t know who she can trust in Istanbul, and finds herself drawn to two very different men. As time begins to run out, Paula realizes they may all be tied up in the destiny of Cybele?s Gift, and she must solve the puzzle before unknown but deadly enemies catch up to her. . . .

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Phenomenal!

I just finished reading this amazing book and I have chills on my arms, it is so good. Run and buy this book for you are a woman of any age- Mom or daughter you will love it.

The cast of characters- Paula, Duarte and Stoyan are amazing. I had not previously read Wildwood Dancing, but I had no trouble getting immersed in this story.

Action, adventure, fantasy and most of all a wonderful romance, this book has it all. Paula grows and mature through the course of the story and she has to choose between two very different men. The dashing, erudite and handsome pirate, and the scarred, illiterate farmboy/bodyguard.

OMG, this book defines romance- the growing together of two people through love and trust and of course physical attraction. Straight romance novels focus so much on the physical aspect that true love gets lost by the wayside. This book was so romantic and tender, and set in a wonderfully exotic location of Istanbul.

Please buy it, I promise you won't regret it, even if you are way beyond the YA age group, as I am! I hope we get more books set in this world by this wonderful author.

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A fantastic story of romance, intrigue, and destiny

Cybele's Secret is the unabridged audiobook version of the historical fantasy novel by Aurealis Award-winning author Juliet Marillier. Paula looks forward to accompanying her father to Istanbul on a special mission to acquire a one-of-a-kind artifact, but a hostile cult makes their trip a deadly serious affair when her father's colleagues is found murdered. Furthermore, Paula is drawn to figure out the mysterious riddle behind Cybele's legendary treasure - can she discover the secret before it's too late? A fantastic story of romance, intrigue, and destiny, Cybele's Secret is highly recommended for listeners of all ages as well as public library fantasy collections.

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Over the moon for this Book!

Just as good if not better than the first book, Wildwood Dancing! Kept me on the edge of my seat from the start. Descriptions made you feel like you were there in the story, like a ghost as Cybel's tale unfolds! You'll want to read it again and again!

Very enjoyable reading

I liked reading this book. I am an adult reader rather than a young adult reader, but it works for adults as well. I would describe this novel as fantasy-romance-adventure set in a historical backdrop.

Paula, the lead character behaves like a young lady of her age, albeit very well educated and from a trading family where the women of the house worked in the family business. A good many stories of this genre concentrate on ladies from very wealthy households, setting this one apart. The heroine works and has business aspirations.

It was predictable and yet un-predictable in terms of the romance aspect of the story. The fantasy was original and the adventure part of it was good. The story moves. It is not action packed but it really moves, like an intellectual thriller. Paula could be described as nerdy, she's certainly very academic, but this is something I liked about the character. Why shouldn't smart, semi-nerdy girls have romantic adventures in exotic far-away places?

The cover art on this book is exquisitely beautiful and really suits the story. It is also an extremely good reflection of the contents of the book. I would read a chapter and then match the figure on the cover to what I just read.

Cybele's Secret can be read as a stand-alone book. It is not a sequel to Wildwood Dancing. There are a few passages in the book that give you the background to the events in Wildwood Dancing and how it ties in with the story in Cybele's Secret, but you do not need to read the earlier book to gain an understanding of the characters or plot of Cybele's Secret. This is a new story, but with some of the same characters in it.

The one small negative I would comment on would be the contrived romance scene when Paula was on the "name of ship" in rough seas.

The villain of the story was also kind of obvious. This did not detract from the story for me but some readers might have a lot to say about this.

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Angieville: CYBELE'S SECRET

CYBELE'S SECRET is the sequel to Wildwood Dancing--Juliet Marillier's first young adult novel. I have been a huge Marillier fan ever since picking up her first novel, Daughter of the Forest (The Sevenwaters Trilogy, Book 1), to take with me on a trip to Italy. The wonderful thing about Marillier is that her sequels are always as good as, if not better than, her first books. So even though I liked Wildwood Dancing well enough (it didn't wow me), I was really looking forward to CYBELE'S SECRET to see where she took her characters and what peril they got themselves into.

The story follows Paula, the next to youngest of the five Brasov girls, and the one most noted for her scholarly bent and lack of interest in pretty much all things mundane. Fluent in both Greek and Latin, Paula accompanies her merchant father on a trip to Istanbul to serve as his assistant in his attempt to acquire a most unusual, legendary artifact known as Cybele's Gift. The artifact is a remnant of a long dead pagan cult and is said to bestow upon its owner fortune and blessings untold. Once in Istanbul, Paula's father finds he is just one of several merchants set on purchasing Cybele's Gift. Shadowed closely by her Bulgar bodyguard Stoyan, Paula puts her wits to work ferreting out the history behind the artifact and just why potential buyers keep turning up dead or fleeing town without explanation. Oh, and there's also a dashing pirate and adventure on the high seas.

I enjoyed this sequel quite a bit more than its predecessor. That may have been because I related more to Paula and her struggle to stretch beyond the comfortable boundaries of her introverted nature. I also loved the setting in Istanbul. Marillier's research and immersion in her chosen locale is always evident in her stories and it particularly shone in this one. The twisty markets, the call to prayer, the artfully layered clothing swept me up along with Paula, Duarte, and Stoyan. Though some outcomes were fairly predictable, I always appreciate the loyalty Marillier's characters show one another. Even in the face of extreme doubt and fear. The good, the bad, the gray in between characters are each depicted with their individual virtues and vices and forced to move outside their accustomed circles. No one is perfect and everyone has their less-than-admirable moments as well as their moments when they prove themselves more than they seem. In short, they are all so human. And that's what brings me back to her books over and over again.

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reviews: page 1, 2

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