The Alchemyst

The Alchemyst by Michael Scott has the usual mixture of contemporary tween and YA fantasy: a pair of siblings, historical figures, mythology, monsters and magic. Unfortunately this recipe fell flat for me. The book opens with Josh and Sophie on summer vacation at work in cool jobs in San Francisco. Josh works at a book store and Sophie works at an exotic tea shop. All that comes crashing down with a golem attacks the book store! Soon Josh learns that his kindly bosh is actually the immortal alchemist Nicholas Flamel. Knowing this has put the teens in danger, and they are now being sought out by the EVIL Dr. John Dee. Their adventures take them to Mt. Tamalpais, where I kept hoping they'd run into some characters from Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson series because they would have livened things up. Nick is dishwater dull for a magical figure from history — so dull in fact that I started to call him Nick Flannel and imagining a Dudley Doright voice for him. Dr. John Dee is no better. Every time he's introduced we are reminded that he is DOCTOR JOHN DEE. Lest we forget between page turns. He, the Snidely Wiplash baddie of the book, gets lots of mustache twirling evilness. He is as evil as Nick is good. Yawn. Boy, girl, sibling duos are all the rage right now. I suppose it's a way to get boys and girls to read the same book (because heaven forbid that a girl read a book with a boy protagonist or vice versa). Josh and Sophie though bicker more than the usual pairs and by chapter two were already on my nerves. The setting had me hopeful at first: San Francisco and the surrounding Bay Area. Alchemy afoot in the City? Cool! Except not. It didn't feel like San Francisco. Nor did Mt. Tam or any of the places in between. But the final blow for me was the vampires and werewolves. By then there was just too much going on and none of it was gelling well. Had the book stuck with just alchemy and maybe some related magic or the myths it would have been a tolerable book.

I remember reading this back when I was a kid and I absolutely LOVED this series. For some reason, reading the first book now I had to fight through it. I know the series as a whole has a truly amazing plot, but the first book was just…meh.

I've been on this little quest to see if the books that I loved in high school still hold true to my impossibly high standards today. I lied, I don't really have high standards. You all are in luck. I still really liked this book. Although past Lacy would have rated this 5 stars while present Lacy is now rating it 4 stars. It was still really good! I will also let you in a secret. When I was in high school, I picked this book up because I had heard of Nicholas Flamel in Harry Potter and got way too excited about it. In case you guy don't know, Nicholas Flamel was the creator (for lack of better words) of the Sorcerer's Stone which can make the user immortal. We follow the life of twins, Sophie and Josh, over the span of two days. They, with the help of Scathach (A warrior), help Nicholas Flamel rescue his wife from John Dee and attempt to save the world. The Book of Abraham, which Nicolas and his wife use to stay immortal was also stolen and they must get it back before Nicolas and Perry die. I liked Sophie more than Josh. Josh was incredibly immature but that might also be because of his age. The twins are both 15 years old so they still have a lot of growing up to do. It also doesn't help that they were thrown into this mess and were simply at the wrong place at the wrong time. Even with all this in mind, I still couldn't fully like Josh. I also didn't care for his sometimes irrational anger at Nicholas Flamel. I'm hoping both of them grow up a little more as the series progresses. Overall, this book would be more better suited for younger YA but that doesn't mean adults, like me, can't still enjoy it. It's an easy breezy read and perfect for if you are in between books or just wanting something nice and chill.

This still holds up pretty well.

Scott's handling of mythological lore is unquestionable. At its heart, the Alchemyst is a grand chase of ancient beings and a raw display of power and fantastical elements. But where it excels in action and sorcery, it lacks in the human touch.

I remember reading this back when I was a kid and I absolutely LOVED this series. For some reason, reading the first book now I had to fight through it. I know the series as a whole has a truly amazing plot, but the first book was just…meh.

** spoiler alert ** I must admit, I picked up the first two books of the series purely out of curiosity and because the covers were so beautiful. I was curious because of the name in the series title- Nicholas Flamel. I think a lot of people heard that name in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. This book has nothing to do with Harry Potter by the way- the story is its own. As the backcover suggests the book centers around the adventures of Nicholas and Perenelle Flamel, The Book of Abraham and the twins Sophie and Josh Newman. The Newman twins are important to the story because they are mentioned in the Prophecy the Book of Abraham speaks about and therefore are humanity’s only hope of survival against Dr. John Dee and the Dark Elders who wish to return to the old ways. In order to save human kind and the rest of the world Sophie and Josh must awaken their magical powers and learn the five elements of magic. Will they succeed as the saviors of man kind? I really enjoyed The Alchemyst. I thought Michael Scott’s rich knowledge of mythology and folklore made this book an interesting read. I especially liked how the author intertwined relationships between various mythological characters. An example is of Hecate and Bastet being sisters and both are the aunts of the Morrigan. Scathatch (Scatty)- a female Celtic Warrior is also one of the most entertaining characters in the book. As for the Newman twins, character wise Sophie is the more logical and patient one where as Josh is more hot-headed and out spoken. I think Scott’s decision to awaken only Sophie’s powers really changed the relationship between the twins. I think Josh’s reaction to Sophie’s awakening brought fourth a human aspect to it. While the twins lack character development in this book, for all Josh’s faults I think I like him a bit more because he had the most realistic reaction to this newly discovered secret. Josh was terrified, confused and most of all alone by all of what is going around him. As for the plot, because all characters were inter-related it sometimes left you confused as to who was related to whom. However that was only a minor flaw in it. It was rich in detail and the element of humor in it was perfect. Another aspect that I liked was Scott’s vivid imagery- it literally made the reader believe that he/she was standing and watching as the events in Hecate’s shadowrealm or as the battle in Ojai took place. While The Night Circus was rich in detail and imagery it was flawed because there was too much descriptive, here in The Alchemyst I felt there was a perfect balance of plot development and imagery and therefore it was enjoyable. Overall The Alchemyst was a really enjoyable read. As a former Classical Studies and Mythology student, I liked the incorporation of familiar mythological characters in the story. While the twins characters weren’t particularly developed throughout the book, I’m going to assume that they will be as I read the rest of the series. My rating 4.5/5 Would I recommend it? Absolutely

Not bad!

A combination of all the myths in the world --- exactly my type. The characters are rich and colorful.

So a friend of mine recommended this saying that it includes everyhing that I like in a book - and that of course was correct!! It was magically thrilling and the use of history and the different mythology was brilliant, perfect leisure read, fast-paced to the point of slightly superficial, but cant wait to see what these fun dudes do next xd - AMAZING

fast paced quick read fantasy, easy to understand, great background info about historical and mytological characters :)

not the best one of the series but loved these books and all the historical characters in them!

This was such an interesting book! I loved the incorporation of history and mythology. Plus the magic and delightful characters certainly helped too! I'd highly recommend giving this a read if you like mythology and fantasy books. It's really good!

I'll say that this was an intriguing story, even if I find the character of Josh to be a bit grating. So far, so good, though; on to the next book in the series!

That was fun!

Have you ever read a book and you can really tell it was written in the 2000’s? Well you can really tell it was written in the 2000’s.

2.5 stars It’s not a bad book but it wasn’t for me. I didn’t particularly like any of the characters, they felt very basic, and it was repetitive, telling the same stories and explanations multiple times. It was also too slow, the whole book takes place in 2 days and I could tell you what happened in 5 sentences. I know it’s the first book in the series so it’s not meant to be a whole story but I still needed more from it.

Loved it !! The story is really interesting and the fact that some of the characters really existed makes it even better. I love the links with mythology as well.

Reviewed for Blue Egg Books This was a fun, run of the mill YA book! It was good and a quick read. Was it one of my favorites? No. But I enjoyed it for the most part! The characters were interesting- I loved Sophie and Nicholas Flammel. Scott did an awesome job of incorporating historical elements into the book and I love how he intertwined them the present day! Flamel was really interesting to me; heck, I wish it had been a whole book about him and his wifey Pernelle. I gotta say, though.. I wasn't sold on Sophie and Josh's relationship. I know they were "extra close" because they were twins but it just seemed unrealistic to me. Now, I will say that I don't have a twin-- actually, I'm an only child so maybe I just don't get the "sibling love" thing. But, they're 15 years old. I guarantee that things aren't that wonderful for siblings all the time. Scott is a pretty good YA writer. I loved all of the descriptions of settings and I thought his ideas translated nicely. Not much beats an immortal teaming up with teenagers t0 try to save the world! But, this book just didn't thrill me. I think it's because there was just too much going on in the middle of the story-- there seemed to be a lack of focus like Scott tried to cram everything into the book. The worst part? The story didn't grab me, honestly. And, I really thought it would have. Again, what is cooler than realizing that magic does exist? Don't get me wrong, there were some neat parts but I wasn't hooked. I could put the book down. It even took me longer to finish than I expected because I just wasn't that into it. I'll be honest, dear readers, I don't know if I'll bother to read the rest of this series. The best parts were the historical elements and, if anything, this book just made me want to know about John Dee and Mr. Flamel. Maybe that will be my next step with Flamel- a biography, perhaps. Overall, this was a fun, easy read that I'd recommend to any YA lover looking for a "quickie". That said, I think my students (middle schoolers and early high schoolers) would love this book! It would definitely sit on my classroom shelf and I would absolutely recommend it to them.

I was encouraged to read this by some of my colleagues, but doubted that I would like it. I was wrong. The story was about twin brother and sister Josh and Sophie who accidentally stumble on a magical battle occurring between Nicholas Flamel and Dr. John Dee. Nicholas's wife is kidnapped by Dee. What follows is a series of events and the appearance of several characters all based in some form of international mythology. Josh and Sophie find themselves playing a large roll due to the fact that they are the magical twins whose coming was foretold in a prophecy. Along with Flamel's wife, Dee manages to steal the Codex or magic book that he will use to bring forth the end of the human world allowing the Dark Elders to return to rule the planet forcing humans to be slaves or food. I enjoyed the pacing of this story and the ability of the author to incorporate so much mythology from all around the world. I look forward to reading the next book in the series, The Magician.

The concept for this book sounds amazing but I felt the ending was a bit rushed. I did enjoy this book since it took me away from all the media about the Coronavirus, but it wasn't my favorite. If you did enjoy this book then great! Me personally I wish the villian was more terrifying than portrayed. If you put Dee, the Morrigan, and Bastet together then he's terrifying. But by himself Dee isn't that scary.

I only started to read this series b/c J.K. Rowling mentions Nicholas Flamel in the Harry Potter series and Deborah mentions the philosophers stone in her all souls trilogy as well. This series is more for young readers, but it was somewhat interesting and kept me entertained for a while.

my review can be found here https://www.instagram.com/p/BFAfzmEwf...