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as you open the book, you have entered a world of magic and you'll gonna love everything in it. the heat is on as the story continues and i can't wait to read what's gonna happen next. ENJOY. i never had a hard time reading this book because i am always interested with magic and stuff since i was a kid.
it's really a one of a kind book. it is an easy read and you'll get interested as you turn every page. the cover is really great. i can sense his jealousy to his sister and i think that would be a cause of trouble somewhere ahead in the story.Sophie Newman - I liked the way she thinks and decides.
He is always in the move for what he wants. it's a must read. the story is an excellent one. the characters were definitely great.Nicholas Flamel - I liked him being funny but serious, and coward but courageous. I really loved the way the story was written.
She acts as the older sister to his twin brother. i look forward to the moment when she can already master her spells.Dr John Dee - the villain. I like him being the antagonist of the story, it makes much sense with his character and made the story more thrilling.one funny but interesting thing is, the way magic can be smelled - rotten eggs, mint, vanilla ice cream, orange. for me, it's quite funny because it sounds unusual but interesting by the fact that it is a unique touch of the author and kinda made the story more interesting. John Dee. i look forward to get the 2nd book. while reading this book, i have the most magical adventure in my whole life.
it's like an irony but that makes up the great Nicholas Flamel.Perenelle Flamel - I admired her willingness to help her husband and the children despite her being trapped in the arms of Dr. I can see that she's really powerful.Josh Newman - He's funny for being so immature and i liked the way he is described to be the doer and his twin sister is the thinker. i highly recommend this book to all fantasy lovers. ^^,
This summer my Intern, at work, introduced me to the Harry Potter series and the Eragon Inheritence books. I was hooked on page 16. I can usually tell within the first 40 pages of a book whether or not I am going to like the book. I loved them and you will absolutely love this book also. The author brings to life many of our childhood stories of witches, vampires, and things that go bump in the night. I enjoy action thrillers with some science or history thrown in. After only reading a few chapters I went on line and ordered the next two books in the series. Keep up the awesome story telling Michael Scott.
Dee manages to capture Perenelle and the Codex, but in the process Nicholas escapes with Josh and his sister Sophie. The audience. Why. It seems as if all is lost, but then Nicholas learns that--during a struggle--Josh ripped out some of the pages in the book; making the important parts useless.Once Dee discovers this, he pursues Nicholas, Sophie, and Josh to recover the missing pages. (3) Too much needless back story.
)., and second generation Elder Race), the team goes on an adventure of discovery and retreat.My thoughts:OK, so I know this book sounds good. everything. But I had a hard time staying interested. Just something to keep in mind. When swinging over to Amazon to check out the ratings, I was satisfied with the high marks from over one hundred reviews, so I figured I'd give it a shot.Story overview:In the modern world, Twin siblings, Sophie and Josh Newman (teenagers) work across the street from one other.
This is the first in a six book series by Irish author Michael Scott. Among these characters is the underhanded John Dee, whose goal is to capture the owners of the bookstore along with a book that is definitely not for sale on their shelves.This book is called the Codex, which unlocks many of the world's mysteries, including the secret to immortality. A lot of it didn't seem to matter in the forward plot movement. There were a few times where I yelled, "I get it, you don't need to explain it any further." Also, the actions of the characters mostly spoke for themselves, yet the author was always describing them, he described. Nicholas, however, has other plans as he is convinced that these twins are part of an ancient prophecy. I feel as if the author was trying to get into too many heads.
The ratings say it is good. Dee seems to be the representative of an ancient race called the Dark Elders, whose mission is to recapture the world from the humans, and somehow they need the book to do this. One day Sophie notices shady looking characters entering the bookstore where her brother works. Apparently men came from the apes and messed everything up. I didn't like the writing style all that much. So, my conclusion. With the help of Scathach (a vegetarian vampire (yes, really. (1) The use of Third Person Multiple Points of View and Omniscient Point of View is jarring and disjointing.
I know this is fantasy, but it does take place in the "real world" and more than subtly promotes the idea of evolution. A movie version also seems to be in production. But, that said, others did like it, so I suggest you see for yourself.Things to consider:There is mention of an old earth, as the Elders lived many years before man. And the story itself didn't pull me in. (2) It seemed to me as if there was too much needless information. That, and it highly promotes the modern idea that power comes from within each individual. There's no real inappropriate language or sexual situations, and the violence level is fitting for this type of tale (and audience). The owners of the bookstore are Nicholas Flamel and his wife, Perenelle (who both happen to be immortal, and very old).
(Such as: "Humanism believes that man is a part of nature and that he has emerged as a result of a continuous process." And that the universe is self-existing not created). Why. And really, I didn't care about John Dee; he was the bad guy, why did I always need to know his perspective. These and other things mentioned in the story leads to me to wonder if the author's beliefs reside around the modern Humanist Manifesto. Boys and girls, probably around their early teens.
The author puts his own twist on all of the references he incorporates into his book. The book introduces the story of a pair of fraternal twins (Sophie and Josh) who find themselves thrust into an epic and perilous struggle for ownership of a magic book of world-changing secrets, recipes, and prophecies. In THE ALCHEMYST, Scott keeps the story uncomplicated, and even when the book darts between multiple locations and character perspectives, these diverging threads are still strongly linked to the central plot involving this "Book of the Mage." The author employs a writing style that is easy-to-read, but also contains flashes of sophistication in word choice and imagery. There is very little closure for the reader, and I don't really think the book can stand alone as its own story. I suspect this is a theme that continues until the final book.History buffs will either love or hate the many references to historical figures, ancient mythology, and legends. John Dee seeks to usurp the book and its secrets for darker purposes. Now, Dr.
The main plotline is fast-paced and fairly direct. Occasionally, with fantasy literature you come across books with complex, multi-threaded plots with so many characters, places, and events that the story becomes cumbersome and difficult to follow. THE ALCHEMYST is the first book in the "Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel" series. Many of these nods to a character's past are just interjected abruptly in the middle of the main story's progression. I would have liked to see more thought and organization put into their presentation.My other real beef with the book is that the ending is too much of a cliffhanger. With all of the loose ends left after reading the final page, it's basically mandatory that you read the next book to see what happens next. I will say that the author's knowledge of all of these people, philosophies, customs, and locations mentioned in his book is rather impressive. I personally thought that the references were fun, if a bit hokey at times.
Nicholas Flamel, an alchemist (yes, I'm using the modern "American" spelling of the term), has lived for several centuries, protecting the book and using its recipe for the elixir of life to live forever. Even main characters, such as Nicholas Flamel and Dr. It's a style that actually seems to parallel the juxtoposition of modern and magic in the story. One of my only complaints is that some of the "flashback" passages, where the author describes a character's history to provide insight into his/her thoughts or emotions, seem to be inserted rather clumsily into the story. John Dee, were real people in history. Overall, I found the book compelling with lots of fun twists on historical references, but some of the clumsy execution and lack of resolution at the end of the book holds me back from giving it a higher score.
My 14 year old son loved this book and he is NOT a reader at all. Would recommend for any young boy teenager.
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