Book 1 of The Secrets Of The Immortal Nicholas Flamel series
Read by Denis O'Hare
Genre: YA urban fantasy
Format: hardback & audiobook
About The Alchemyst:
He holds the secret that can end the world.Source: Info in the About The Alchemyst was taken from GoodReads at http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1035910.The_Alchemyst on 25/06/2013.
The truth: Nicholas Flamel was born in Paris on September 28, 1330. Nearly 700 years later, he is acknowledged as the greatest Alchemyst of his day. It is said that he discovered the secret of eternal life.
The records show that he died in 1418.
But his tomb is empty.
The legend: Nicholas Flamel lives. But only because he has been making the elixir of life for centuries. The secret of eternal life is hidden within the book he protects—the Book of Abraham the Mage. It's the most powerful book that has ever existed. In the wrong hands, it will destroy the world. That's exactly what Dr. John Dee plans to do when he steals it. Humankind won't know what's happening until it's too late. And if the prophecy is right, Sophie and Josh Newman are the only ones with the power to save the world as we know it.
Sometimes legends are true.
And Sophie and Josh Newman are about to find themselves in the middle of the greatest legend of all time.
From the Hardcover edition.
This book has it's pros and cons just like any other book. What I liked about it is the magic and the tone of familiarity which resonated with me. This book is chuck full of mythologies and other known and historical fantastical elements. And since they are already known they make a connection with the reader as soon as they are mentioned. This made the book easy to get into. Having said that, it took me sometime to get over the mundane-ness of the first chapter or so. This book did not start with a high note, so to speak. The mundane start, I guess, is the other side of the familiarity. It was so mundane though that after two sentences or so I unconsciously put the book down to do something else and only realised that I wasn't reading anymore after a few minutes of not reading anymore. And it kept on like that, me putting it down again and again, until I bought the audiobook version. I listen to it on my way to work and on my way home until I finally finished the book. That is how I cheat into finishing a book, by the way. In the end, it wasn't bad. It was only a truggle at the beginning, then the book ran on an even tempo. What I didn't like was the small tendencies of some characters to act stupid. But thank god, none of them is ever out and out too stupid to live (TSTL)! It is pretty obvious that the character acting stupid (who is otherwise wise, practical and with very good sense of self-preservation) was the author's obvious manipulation to create a situation in the story so that the heroes/heroines could save the world. Unimpressive plot development. Another thing which did not endear this book to me is the cliffhanger ending. So my advice to those thinking of reading this book, is to have all books in this series handy before starting so that you can dive straight into the next book as soon as you hit the cliffhanger ending.
Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 3
Character development = 3
Story itself = 3
Ending = 1
World building = 3.5
Cover art = 4
Pace = hardback: 3 / audiobook: 10hrs & 2mins
Plot = 1.5
Narrator = 4
Overall Rating: 2.5 out of 5 cherries
Books In The Secrets Of The Immortal Nicholas Flamel Series:
Thank you to RCT Library for lending me the hardback copy of this book.
FTC Disclosure:
The hardback copy of this book was borrowed from the library. The audiobook format was purchased with personal funds. No money recieved for this review.
Odd side note: In the top of the first picture it almost looks like it says Juju. ;)
ReplyDeleteSorry this one didn't work for you.