Customer Reviews

The Magician [MAGICIAN]

5 star:		(85)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I happened upon this and the first book in the series (The Alchemyst) just before July 4th and have quickly polished them off. For me the use of real historical characters alongside well-researched mythology is nigh irresistible.

The books move along smartly with plenty of action and a narrative that is propulsive and unrelenting. In many ways these feel more like Jim Butcher's Dresden Files books than Harry Potter.

Note that these books are clearly written to be "safe" for a younger audience. No sex, and fairly restrained violence. These are exciting and tense books, but still PG (or maybe barely PG-13).

I am intrigued by the ambiguity around several of the main characters including Machiavelli and Flamel and am eager to see where these books go. Highly recommended.

I usually gauge a book by when I open it and start reading, how far it takes me in a sitting. I literally couldn't put this one down, starting to read around 11 am and done by 10 pm! I have rarely done that since Harry Potter -
I love this premise and the series. Nicholas and Perenelle Flamel, who have had the forumla for eternal life, meet prophecized twins who have the power to either save the world or destroy it. The Codex which holds all the spells needed to do so, including the recipe for the the elixer of life, was taken, but Josh, one of the twins, had the foresight to tear out the last 2 pages, saving the bad guys, Dr. John Dee, from Elizabethan England fame and his minions, from destroying things.
Perenelle is captured and is in Alcatraz. Nicholas and the twins, and Scatty, the vampire warrior flee to Paris.
There they encounter Macchiavelli and Dee. They do find allies there - St. Germain - and his wife - will not spoil the fun by saying who it is.
Sophie, who has been Awakened receives more training, leaving Josh with mixed feelings his twin has more power and is now different with that knowledge - the book deals with those feelings.
Although over 460 pages, the book flies by, and like Harry Potter, leaves you wanting more.
It is great fun for everyone. If you are remotely interested or knowledgeable in history, or historical figures, you will love this book as much as I do.
I had made a notation in the review of the premier book how come the Flamels don't remember the recipe for the elixer for immortality after all this time, and the answer is given in this book. It is an inventive explanation and it works.
Fun for all ages -

The problem with intensive books such as the Magician is that you run out of information quickly and the books tend to lack depth. This is clearly not the case with the Magician. By using history, natural human instinct, and mythology, Scott takes what could be a 500 page story and translates it into a whole new world. Very well written book; it expresses everything and leaves little to imagination.

This book is 464 pages of fun, action-filled adventure. There is not a single dull moment in the book. Even without the fight scenes, something interesting is happening.

Serious kudos to Scott, what a hell of a book.

"Two days ago Sophie Newman had been an ordinary American teenager, her head filled with normal everyday things: homework and school projects, the latest songs and videos, boys she liked, cell phone numbers and Web addresses, blogs and urls." Now, life is drastically different. Her powers have just been Awakened by the Witch of Endor, who taught Sophie the Magic of Air and made her hypersensitive to all sights, smells, sounds, touch, and taste. She's on the run for her life from the immortal magician and necromancer John Dee, and her twin brother Josh wants to be Awakened and equal to his sister. Jealousy is rearing its ugly head.

The immortal alchemist, Nicholas Flamel, leads their small band of fugitives to Paris in search of another Elder to train Sophie and awaken Josh. With them is Scathach, the Warrior, whose "fighting style is at the heart of just about every martial art." Unfortunately, Flamel's wife Perenelle is not with them. Imprisoned by a Sphinx on Alcatraz Island, Perenelle waits, powerless, for a chance to escape. She and Nicholas have less than a month to live. They're ageing fast, their immortality draining from them, and if they do not reclaim the Book of Abraham the Mage back from Dee, they will die.

If only their deaths were the worst of it.

The Book of Abraham holds more than just the formula for immortality; it contains all the history and secrets of humanity, including spells that could heal the world and return it to Paradise, along with ones that could destroy everything, or even worse, hand everything and everyone over to the power of the Dark Elders. The bad thing is that Dee has the Book and wants nothing more than Flamel's death and the rise of the Dark Elders to the rightful place of power. The good thing is that Josh has the two most important pages from the Book, and Dee can't use the book until he gets the pages.

Even better is that Josh and Sophie appear to be the fulfillment of an ancient prophecy -- "The two that are one must become the one that is all." Legend predicts that twins will be born with pure silver and gold auras, and that their powers will bring about the end of the age. Josh and Sophie have those auras, and Sophie's powers have already been Awakened. The question is: what kind of end will they bring with them? Good or evil?

It all depends on who controls the twins, doesn't it? If John Dee gets his way, the Dark Elders rule the world and humanity as we know it will end. If Nicholas Flamel gets his, he and Perenelle will survive, the twins will save the world, and the Humani will continue to flourish. But even that depends on whose story they believe.

Who is, in fact, telling the truth? Is Flamel really working for the good of humanity or does he have some other motive? Who really does he serve? After all, just a couple days ago, Josh and Sophie were regular teens and living regular lives. This whole world of magic and myth didn't even exist! How are they supposed to know who to believe?

Picking up right where THE ALCHEMYST left off, this 2nd of 6 books does not disappoint. Conspiracies, magic, and battles mix with friendships, doubts, and betrayal to make for good characters and an entertaining read. As with the first installment, this book plays with myths and legends, combining them all into a single storyline that makes sense of everything. Remember, at the heart of every myth and legend lies a grain of truth. King Arthur and Excalibur, Joan of Arc, the great battle Ragnar'k, the disappearing islands, and the dark secrets of ancient Paris, along with legendary creatures like the Sphinx, dragons, oni, vampires, trolls, wyverns, boggarts, minotaur, and more. THE MAGICIAN is a mythological thrill ride you won't want to miss. You'll want to read the first installment before picking up this second part.

Enjoy them both . . . this ride is just getting going.

--- Reviewed by Jonathan Stephens
--- Copyright 2008 TeenReads

After finishing the Harry Potter series, I was desperate for good fantasy fiction, and there's just not a ton out right now. His Dark Materials went south (yeah... deep south) by the middle of Amber Spyglass. Magic Bites, Dresden Files, and the other magic/mystery series failed to lure me. Luckily, I found The Alchemyst.

I liked the first book, and the second, thoroughly. Michael Scott draws action sequences very well and it's fun to glimpse some of the personalities he has implemented: Dr. John Dee is a great villain, and Saint-Germain is a fun addition to the party. The drama is self-sustaining, as the main characters are constantly moved and moving in and out of danger.

As with most action fiction, characters thoughts and feelings are usually limited to analysis of the situation at hand and reacting to previous events: there's no internal interaction going on, and that's okay. Scott, however, has stumbled across a couple problems and hasn't fixed them in his 2nd book of the series.

1) Scott has a bad case of the one-uppers. Remeber when wereboars were considered the best warriors in history during the battle at Yggdrasill? No, now the Disir are the best. Except for Nidhogg. And Mars. And whomever they meet next. It's going to be tough for Scott to continue introducing more and more characters who are supposed to be more and more dangerous (literary escalation) when he starts out at such superlatives (Scathach is the best warrior there ever was... period). One "superbly powerful" character towards the end of this book barely made it thirty pages past his introduction, and was killed by what seemed like a relatively simple attack by Dr. John Dee. Where will Scott go from here, given that the only possible direction is up?

2) Joan really needs more definition as she seems to be the same character as Scathach.

3) We also seem to be missing a major theme here: Sophie and Josh aren't too emotionally invested in what's happening, and for a long time simply wanted to return home. It's almost like Scott's releasing the books in teen-sized serials, rather than a long epic that might prove imposing to the novice reader. Very little attention has been paid by any character that Flamel's motivations are primarily based around getting his wife back and returning to immortality. I'd really like to see Scott begin to tie together action and an overall morality. He's touched on it a couple times, usually involving Dee's attempts to lure Josh away, but there really needs to be a full addressing of the issues awaiting our heroes.

Overall, very good, and worth the relatively quick read.

With this second entry in the series, Scott has marvelously succeeded in maintaining the feel that was introduced in the first while simultaneously bringing it to the next level. The exploration of the cities that he chooses (which are natural on many levels), adds a great deal to the atmosphere as well as grounding the historical and ahistorical figures he chooses to introduce. I'm looking forward to new entries in this series as well as to explore his other works in the future.

The story is very interesting and enjoyable. However, the characterization of the main protagonists(the twins) is so awful that it kills the book. The twins have no redeeming noble quality. Worse than that, their thoughts and feelings don't even make sense most of the time. It makes me really dislike the characters since I feel no connection to their persona, unlike Harry Potter.

Michael Scott, an Irish authority on mythology and folklore has created a new series of books that masterfully creates a new series that masters fantasy, science fiction, horror, and Folklore. The Magician is the second book in the series. Based on two real Alchemists, who are working for opposite sides of an ancient civilization of elders.

The Book of Abraham holds more than just the formula for immortality; it contains all the history and secrets of humanity, including spells that could heal the world and return it to Paradise, along with ones that could destroy everything, or even worse, hand everything and everyone over to the power of the Dark Elders. The bad thing is that Dee has the Book and wants nothing more than Flamel's death and the rise of the Dark Elders to the rightful place of power. The good thing is that Josh has the two most important pages from the Book, and Dee can't use the book until he gets the pages.

Even better is that Josh and Sophie appear to be the fulfillment of an ancient prophecy -- "The two that are one must become the one that is all." Legend predicts that twins will be born with pure silver and gold auras, and that their powers will bring about the end of the age. Josh and Sophie have those auras, and Sophie's powers have already been Awakened. The question is: what kind of end will they bring with them? Good or evil?

It all depends on who controls the twins, doesn't it? If Dr. John Dee gets his way, the Dark Elders rule the world and humanity as we know it will end. If Nicholas Flamel gets his, he and his wife, Perenelle, will survive, the twins will save the world, and the Humani will continue to flourish. But even that depends on whose story they believe.

In The Magician, the immortal alchemist, Nicholas Flamel, leads their small band of fugitives from Ojai, CA to Paris through a ley line. The planet is crisscrossed with invisible lines or cursus--where two or more lines intercept, a gateway exists. They were used by the Elder to travel.

While in Paris, Flamel recruits The Compte de Saint Germaine, another alchemist who he trained and is married to Joan of Arc, while Dr. Dee recruits Niccollo Machiavelli, another immortal who also works for the Dark Elders.

Germaine continues Sophie training who was awoken in the first book. With them is Scathach, the Warrior, whose "fighting style is at the heart of just about every martial art." Unfortunately, Flamel's wife Perenelle is not with them. Imprisoned by a Sphinx on Alcatraz Island, Perenelle waits, powerless, for a chance to escape. She and Nicholas have less than a month to live. They're ageing fast, their immortality draining from them, and if they do not reclaim the Book of Abraham the Mage back from Dee, they will die.

If only their deaths were the worst of it.

The Book of Abraham holds more than just the formula for immortality; it contains all the history and secrets of humanity, including spells that could heal the world and return it to Paradise, along with ones that could destroy everything, or even worse, hand everything and everyone over to the power of the Dark Elders. The bad thing is that Dee has the Book and wants nothing more than Flamel's death and the rise of the Dark Elders to the rightful place of power. The good thing is that Josh has the two most important pages from the Book, and Dee can't use the book until he gets the pages.

Who is, in fact, telling the truth? Is Flamel really working for the good of humanity or does he have some other motive? Who really does he serve? After all, just a couple days ago, Josh and Sophie were regular teens and living regular lives. This whole world of magic and myth didn't even exist! How are they supposed to know who to believe? Josh is very suspicious and jealous of his sister's powers and this is exploited by Dr. Dee who kidnaps Josh and takes him to the Paris catacombs where he is awaken by the god Mars.

As soon as Josh is awaken, Sophie arrives and saves his brother from both Dr. Dee and Machiavelli. Dr. Dee kills the God Mars and after a battle the group heads for London. Perenelle has escaped Alcatraz, unbeknownst to the group. And we have no idea of the final fate of Scathach, the Warrior who was attacked while trying to save the twins and was last seen at the bottom of the River Seine.

Picking up right where THE ALCHEMYST left off, this 2nd of 6 books does not disappoint. THE MAGICIAN is a mythological thrill ride you won't want to miss. You'll want to read the first installment before picking up this second part.

Amazing imagery and thoughful writing for this second book. I am looking forward to The Sorceress next...bring it on! Just the right balance of action, fear, intensity, and hope for what is to come. The imagery of Paris and the places that exist beneath the city are creepy intense which adds to this story. Not frightning, but compelling - Josh and Sophie have to learn quickly, but also get to learn a thing or two that the elders didn't know and that makes me wonder what else they will discover that the elders weren't prepared for...

This book was a roller coaster of action from beginning to end. I was very impressed with the first book and I'm amazed the author succeeded in making the second book even better. I highly recommend it for all ages, adults included!