From the Shelf: The Alchemyst (The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel book 1)

Title: The Alchemyst (The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel book 1)

Author: Michael Scott

Genre: YA, Fantasy, Magic, Mythology

Date read: May 4-15, 2013
Dawn Rates: ★★★☆ (3.5/5)

Summary (cr: goodreads)

Nicholas Flamel was born in Paris on 28 September 1330. Nearly seven hundred 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 and Nicholas Flamel lives. 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. And 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.

My Review: (also in goodreads)

Don't judge me if I finished this in a span of 11 days...I was just busy. Normally I'm not like this. Anyway, I've been curious about this book before but there were too many in my queue so it was pushed aside until now. My brother TJ bothered me to buy the series because he had post-Percy Jackson syndrome so I did (yep, I did this while enduring the House of Hades wait...ugh, 5 months more).

This is the first installment of Michael Scott's Alchemyst series. As I said in my past reviews, the first book is the most crucial one. It can either hook and reel me in or me not giving the next book the light of day. Sophie and Josh Newman are protagonists of the book along with Nicholas Flamel and Perenelle and with the help of their magical friends they have to stop John Dee and other elders to lay chaos upon the world. Typical right? But the author added his own flavor to it. He made a big risk on entwining real and reel events and even mashing different gods together (egyptian, greek, roman and even norse). And I think that big risk was worth it. What I didn't like though is how the author constructed the main prophecy:

The two that are one, the one that is all.

There will come a time when the book is taken,

And the Queen's maid is allied with the crow,

Then the Elder will step out of the shadows.

And the immortal must train the mortal,

The two that are one must become the one that is all.

I mean, say what? While I was reading it...I thought, maybe he could get tips from Riordan or Rowling (I may be biased but for me they give the best prophecies so far) I don't know if this is his first major series (I have a feeling that it isn't) but I really didn't like the main prophecy...I figured it was self-explanatory. He wasn't subtle about it and the words he used were somewhat deep but if I were given that prophecy I might not give it a second look. I wish he was more cryptic about it in a creative way.

All in all, this book made me curious and yes, I'm hooked. I don't know if I'll be reeled in deeper (like Riordan's mythology series: Percy Jackson, Heroes of Olympus and Kane Chronicles) but I will definitely read the second book.

Till the next read...