Reader´s Choice Review: The Alchemyst

THE ALCHEMYST

By Michael Scott

Amazon prices: 13 GBP (Hardcover)/ 9 USD (Paperback)

As this week´s vote was tie, and I was in doubt about which book to choose, anyway, I´ve decided that this simply means I´ll have to review both of them. Eventually, if it comes to a tie between three or more books, I´ll figure another solution out. Until then, here´s the books you´ve told me to review today.

And which book is this, anyway? The Alchemyst is the first part of an amazing and intriguing story about the world we never knew we inhabited.

The classic recipe for a Fantasy novel is to take some kind of well-known legend, shape it into whatever story you think would be a good read, and add a few of your own, original ideas.
What Michael Scott has done here, however, is a rather ultimate attempt of doing basically the same, but at a far larger scale. Within the six books of the series The Secrets Of The Immortal Nicholas Flamel are gathered most of the ancient legends, gods and myths that the average person could think of – and likely, many more.

Now, as for the book itself. When at first we´re presented to the twins Josh and Sophie Newman, they appear to be very realistic, likeable characters. They have their flaws, but not on the tragically oversized scale that even the most experienced author can fall into the trap of using. They also, of course, have skills and qualities, but still nothing to suggest that they were about to get thrown into the adventure of a really long lifetime.

That is, of course, if you actually met and talked to them. When they´re in a book with a cover like this, the adventures are pretty much unavoidable, no matter what character you are.

The Alchemyst does not have a thought-provoking plot concerning a bunch of philosophic characters, but that´s perfectly fine, because it isn´t aiming for one. If anything, I admire Scott for his ability to choose which parts of the story to write, and what to be left unsaid, and the ethical speculation goes in the last category. It´s a book that won´t take long to read, and if you have it nearby at the time, you won´t be able to wait even ten minutes before reading the next book of the series... or at least, I wasn´t. Obviously, I can´t guarantee anything about you.

And that is, despite the very brief mention (now to be prolonged into a fairly long mention), a main point: You get addicted to these books, as it´s not as much of a series as it´s a single story shattered into six books. This book is worth nothing, absolutely nothing, if you don´t intend reading the rest of the series – so don´t pay the 13 GBP for this if you´re not prepared to pay 65 GBP more for the rest of them.

As a last word, Michael Scott knows what makes a character interesting, and which setting to place him/her in to get the right sides to show. Even the characters that he didn´t invent himself – nearly all of them, that is – are soaked through with his seemingly intuitive grasp of drama, without being spoiled at all. In my opinion, of course.

THE CONCLUSION:

Are you the target audience for The Alchemyst?

If you know a few, or a lot, of folklore, fairytales and mythology, this is just the series for you. A few things are a bit out-of-character for the original ideas (don´t get me started on what he did to vampires – I like the new species, but its completely different from the classic ones), but personally I don´t mind. I just enjoy recognizing them, and so, probably, will you.

That, or you might just enjoy following the neatly organized plot and the pleasingly complicated backstory.

What are, respectively, the best and worst parts of The Alchemyst?

The best part is finishing a book, and not being able to breathe properly again until you´ve obtained the next book in the series – and the same goes for the worst part. Luckily, the first four books are now released, but for those of us who´s already read them, the wait is a trial in itself.

For me specifically, was The Alchemyst worth buying?

Well, my copy is a Danish hardback, and it´s incredibly neat, so at first I didn´t even consider getting the English copies of these books. Then I coincidentally found an English book from the series in a bookstore, and discovered that the English book has dustjackets, neater cover printing, deckle-edges and comes out about a year earlier than the Danish versions – and adding on to that, they´re even cheaper!

So, well, I do in no way regret getting this, and I wouldn´t even regret it if I´d bought it for my own money (instead of getting it for christmas, which is what I did). But be prepared – get one, and you must have them all.