The Alchemyst: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel (Hardcover)

by Michael Scott (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Twin 15-year-old siblings Sophie and Josh Newman take summer jobs in San Francisco across the street from one another: she at a coffee shop, he at a bookstore owned by Nick and Perry Fleming. In the vey first chapter, armed goons garbed in black with "dead-looking skin and... marble eyes" (actually Golems) storm the bookshop, take Perry hostage and swipe a rare Book (but not before Josh snatches its two most important pages). The stolen volume is the Codex, an ancient text of magical wisdom. Nick Fleming is really Nicholas Flamel, the 14th-century alchemist who could turn base metal into gold, and make a potion that ensures immortality. Sophie and Josh learn that they are mentioned in the Codex's prophecies: "The two that are one will come either to save or to destroy the world." Mayhem ensues, as Irish author Scott draws on a wide knowledge of world mythology to stage a battle between the Dark Elders and their hired gun—Dr. John Dee—against the forces of good, led by Flamel and the twins (Sophie's powers are "awakened" by the goddess Hekate, who'd been living in an elaborate treehouse north of San Francisco). Not only do they need the Codex back to stop Dee and company, but the immortality potion must be brewed afresh every month. Time is running out, literally, for the Flamels. Proceeding at a breakneck pace, and populated by the likes of werewolves and vampires, the novel ends on a precipice, presumably to be picked up in volume two. Ages 12-up. (May)
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From School Library Journal
Starred Review. Grade 6-9–Scott uses a gigantic canvas for this riveting fantasy. The well-worn theme of saving the world from the forces of evil gets a fresh look here as he incorporates ancient myth and legend and sets it firmly, pitch-perfect, in present-day California. At the emotional center of the tale are contemporary 15-year-old twins, Josh and Sophie, who, it turns out, are potentially powerful magicians. They are spoken of in a prophecy appearing in the ancient Book of Abraham the Mage, all but two pages of which have been stolen by evil John Dee, alchemist and magician. The pursuit of the twins and Flamel by Dee and his allies to get the missing pages constitutes the book's central plot. Amid all this exhilarating action, Scott keeps his sights on the small details of character and dialogue and provides evocative descriptions of people, mythical beings, and places. He uses as his starting point the figures of the historical alchemist Nicholas Flamel and his wife, who have found the secret of immortality, along with mythical beings, including the terrifying Scottish crow-goddess, the Morrigan; the three-faced Greek Hekate; the powerful Egyptian cat-goddess, Bastet; and Scathach, a legendary Irish woman warrior and vegetarian vampire. While there is plenty here to send readers rushing to their encyclopedias of mythology and alchemy, those who read the book at face value will simply be caught up in the enthralling story. A fabulous read.–Sue Giffard, Ethical Culture Fieldston School, New York City
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers (May 22, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385733577
• ISBN-13: 978-0385733571
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.9 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (128 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #16,710 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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• This is item 1 in The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Magic, mystery, and mayhem, May 2, 2009

By	Nelson Councill - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Many compare Michael Scott's The Alchemyst to Harry Potter, and that is a fair comparison. Both books contain well-developed characters, mystical environments, and a completely entrancing plotline. The book protagonist, Nicholas Flamel, must struggle with good and evil in a modern society where magic exists, but hidden, throughout the world.

Nicholas Flamel and his wife are the guardians of a magical book called the Codex -- this book holds the secrets to ever-lasting life. One can only imagine the number of people after this book. Well, it doesn't take long for the book to be stolen. After the attack, Flamel suspects something odd about the mysterious twins he just met. Are they the ones the Codex referred as the ones who will destroy the world? Or are they here to save it? The action ensues as the four are of to discover the answers to these and many other questions.

The story flows smoothly and engages the reader at every turn. There are some low points, however. The book does get tedious at times, and makes the story predictable, but overall it is a great novel for the young-at-heart.........I also would highly recommend reading "Ashes Divide" by Clarence Cage: Ashes Divide I just finished reading it and it was spectacular...don't miss it.

17 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Pot of Stew, April 28, 2008

By	Jeannie Mancini "vernefan" (Northborough, MA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book is not a great book, but it's not a bad book either. Teen twins Josh and Sophie are working part time jobs right across the street from another and are happily going about their days when they are soon swept up into a world of magic and mayhem they never dreamed existed. I loved the aspect of the author creating fictional characters out of Flamel and Dee, but as one other reviewer mentioned, to title the book the Alchemyst, and then not have much alchemy in the book was very disappointing. If you are a reader who likes non-stop action and lots of cool magic, you'll love this book. But for me I felt it was all flash and bang, one action scene after another that just doesnt stop to take a breath, and in between there was no substance. The characters are well developed and all likeable, however I felt that the bad guy of John Dee, wasnt really a great evil enemy, he was a bit of a wimp if you ask me. He should have been much more terrifying, and like Flamel, he used minions to do his dirty work. In fact, I found both the characters of Dee and Flamel very lame. The magic used however is very creative and fun and used not in the ways that other YA fantasy stories use it. My major gripe with this book is that the author threw in way too many myths and legends, gods and goddesses and mythical beasts from around the world. It was too much and there were too many. The author had this big stew pot where he just tossed in every legendary myth and creature and then stirred it around and ladled out muck. I think if he had geared the story around one featured myth from one culture, say Norse, or Egyptian, or Celtic, it would have had much more depth to it. We find Egyptian sphinxes and cat goddesses, Excalibur, vampires, Odin, golems and ghosts, Babylonian, stories of Atlantis, Greek, African....it was just too much to throw all these elements in the pot to come out a polished novel. The other thing I found hard to swallow was that all the events in the book took place in two days. There was too much action and too much travel from one spot to the next, too many rollercoaster ride events to make a two day time span believable. But, if you are into thrill books that are fast paced and don't care too much about substance or a well developed background story, you might like this. There were aspects that I did like, some I didn't like, but on the whole I cant give this a rave review. I might pick up the sequel to see if the story develops more or just to see how it ends, but I cant say I'll be running right out on the release date to get it. It's a fun book but not fabulous.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars For teens, probably great. For adults, mediocre and annoying, May 19, 2009

By	sykospark (los angeles) - See all my reviews

If you ever read Harry Potter, you will remember the name Nicholas Flemel who apparently was a real person in the world's history.

Here, Nicholas Flemel is the alchemyst, and him and his wife have roamed the earth, protecting a book (lamely named the codex) for about 500 years.

Throw in the mix a huge slew of mythical caharacters from goobal mythology in some good vs evil tacky story line.

Still sounds salvageable , right?

Now throw in a pair of fraternal twins, who apparently have 'rare auras' and get crazy supernatural powers and will 'save the world' (and you have to read about the angst of one of them losing their ipod, no joke).

gaaaag

Now, when I hit the last page, I was like 'DARN' but it wasn't worth it enough to pay the $ to download the next in the series on my kindle. The good news is, this book is free to download for your kindle. For FREE, it's worth reading. If you get it from the library, and don't pay for overdue fees, it's worth reading.

Buying , though? Not for anyone over 18 years old. if was 14 and read this, I'd think it was teh [sic] awesomest book since Harry Potter. But fortunately, I am not 14 any longer. The question is - are you?