How's it going, everyone! It's back to book blogging business for me! After a month-long read, I have finally finished The Alchemyst: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel. I would like to apologize for that book review hiatus, by the way. Since it's July already and there is just a whole month to go before my 4-month-long vacation ends, I will try my best to blog actively within this month. I'm more than sure that when I go to college I'll have lesser time to blog. Now without further ado, let's get down to business.
- Title: The Alchemyst
- Author: Michael Scott
- Genre: fantasy, thriller, mythology, fiction
- Pages: 375 pages
- Published: 22 May 2007
- Series: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel
"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."
Quick info: I have actually read The Alchemyst about a couple of years ago although I did not really enjoy it that much since I was reading it along with another couple of books. But this time I was able to focus on this book more. My first impression when I saw this book (and yes, I still remember haha) was "Bummer, no pictures". Just kidding! (On a totally unrelated topic, am I the only one around here who's getting tired of the YouTube ad with that lady who goes: "Wanna hear a cat joke? Nevermind. Just kitten."? I always end up skipping that ad on the "Meow you doin'" part haha. Just wanted to get that off my shoulders. Now back to the review.) I was amazed by the cover itself. The cover is intricately detailed and there is a bunch of symbolism sprawled all over the front. On the down side though, it does not have anything that can help you visualize what you are reading. But who cares. I've enjoyed lots of other books with no graphic art of a scene/character on their covers. (e.g. Hunger Games, Lorien Legacies) I am just saying that the cover helps a lot.
Now before I talk about the content, I'd like you to know a couple of things about me. 1. I despise long narration. Especially when dialogue could have replaced it and it would have been much better. 2. I tend to freak out when a character does something out of human nature (or at least my nature). For example, in horror movies the person who clearly feels that something wrong is going on in his kitchen still proceeds to go into the kitchen. Alone. Unarmed. If I was in his place, common sense would make me run the hell out of my house and call the cops. Did you get number 2? Number 2 is about my "If I was in his place" thoughts. But lucky me, The Alchemyst managed to annoy me with these two things.
What I disliked about The Alchemyst was its never-ending supply of narration. Or the opposite. Its supply of dialogue is seriously low. This contributed to the reason why it took a long time for me to finish the book. I was getting tired of all the narration and the descriptions and the narrator's voice that I was imagi-hearing in my head. (For this book, my narrator sounds like an old Hugh Grant. I don't know why.) The old Hugh Grant voice in my head was putting me to sleep every time I came across a dialogue-less page. On the other hand, I found some characters to be a bit out of human nature. SPOILER ALERT! A normal human who just witnessed a battle between two powerful magicians would freak out and go as far away from the battle as possible, right? Heck, they would not believe what they are seeing at all or would want to have nothing to do with it. Our main characters, Josh and Sophie, did the opposite thing. They went to the battleground, helped a magician out, and in return were forever doomed of the dangers of the magic world. If a person would introduce himself to me as the immortal Nicholas Flamel, I wouldn't trust him right away, even if he shows me his powers. I would go away and contact my therapist.
What I loved about The Alchemyst was its mythology. This is a mythology-lover's book. Everyone is here! Not just the Greeks or Romans. Everyone! We have Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Norse was cited, and there could be a lot more! This is just the first book after all. I simply loved how all kinds of mythology was put together in this book, being a fan of mythology and all. Also, even though I ranted about long narrations, I appreciated how Scott describes everything vividly. I think that caused his over supply of narration. He was busy describing every little detail for us to visualize.
My Rating:
I can honestly say that I did not enjoy The Alchemyst that much. Although it was very interesting. It is definitely worth a shot. Who knows, maybe it gets better with every succeeding book. I'm reading The Magician right now and I am getting hooked! From the first few chapters it's a lot better than The Alchemyst for me already. I'm thinking that The Alchemyst was just a taste of what we will experience throughout the series. Way to make a good first impression, though. -_- But seriously, The Alchemyst is worth a shot.
