Saturday, February 2, 2008

A Review from Medeia.... you're shocked, I know


So, finally Aella has convinced me that reviewing a book for our book-reviewing blog might be a good idea. So here it is a review for The Alchemyst by Michael Scott.
The Alchemyst tells the story of twins Sophie and Josh Newman, typical teens who have gotten themselves some typical jobs at a typical coffeshop and a typical bookstore. So this is where things get un-typical. Sophie is working in the typical coffeeshop when she smells something strange. Rotten eggs and mint. Disgusting. She notices a black car pull up in front of the shop and a bunch of creepy looking guys step out. One of them looks straight at her and walks into the bookstore across the street, where her brother works.
Josh returns from the basement of the shop only to find four intimidating men glaring at the owner, Nick Fleming. Josh is also hit with a wave of the vile mix of sulfur and mint. Suddenly he finds himself in the middle of a magical battle between Nick Fleming and these strange men. The men are looking for a book called the Codex and Nick does not want them to find it.
Sophie and Perenelle (Nick's wife who was in the coffeshop at the time of the fight) rush into the bookstore. Nick manages to escape his attackers with Sophie and Josh, but Perenelle is kidnapped and the Codex (save for the last two pages) is lost.
Now the twins are hurled into a world that they do not understand. They discover that Nick Fleming is actually the famed Alchemyst Nicholas Flamel and that he has been alive for hundreds of years. They meet one of Nick's allies, Scathach ( a vampire-like member of the Elder Race) who is a fearsome warrior. Sophie and Josh also find out about a prophecy told in the Codex concerning twins of the sun and moon who could either save or destroy the world.
Now, they rush into danger on their way to Awaken Sophie and Josh's powers. They encounter many mythical creatures and a few goddesses as well (Hekate of three faces, the wicked crow goddess Morrigan, and the terrifying Bastet of Egyptian mythology) while also trying to escape Dr. Dee (the leader of the weird guys in the bookstore, who works for some mysterious forces).
I enjoyed reading this book and especially liked the integration of the mythology of various countries. I would have to give this book a comfortable 5 out of 7 lightnings *thunder crashes in background*

From the Shadows,

~Medeia Senka~

P. S. What is it with all of the book pictures being on the left?

4 comments:

Reese said...

First comment!

Magical Meds. Magical.

Anonymous said...

hey, i've read that one!
it was okay---would be better to read with the forthcoming sequel, i think, cuz this entire book seemed just like the setup for the series, and i'd like to see it get going in the next book.

i did think it was rather ridiculous to assume that post-Harry Potter, teenagers would be all "who's Nick Flamel?", but that's just because i'm a loser.

Anonymous said...

^^ In a book about alchemy, nonetheless.

And Medeia, didn't you say something about making animated lightning bolts? I want to see those! :P

B.

Anonymous said...

They're coming, they're coming.... *is nearly crushed by stack of schoolbooks*