The Alchemyst: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel

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Product Description
He holds the secret that can end the world.

The truth: Nicholas Flamel was born in Paris on September 28, 1330. Nearly 700 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.

The legend: Nicholas Flamel lives. But only because he has been making the elixir of life for centuries. 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. 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.

From the Hardcover edition.

Customer Reviews: Read 75 more reviews...

3 out of 5 stars

Not bad, but there's a lot of missed potential. 2.5-3 stars. June 6, 2007
51 out of 77 found this review helpful

After reading all six of Jane Austen's major novels, I was in need for a change of pace. When I came across this title, I was sure I had found the book I needed. Unfortunately, I was more disappointed than satisfied by the end of the book.

One of the strengths you'll hear about this book from reading the other reviews is how easy the novel is to read. And the language is very easy to get through. But this also became a problem for me once I realized that the narrative is largely told in summary form. In fact, I would say somewhere around 70% is summary like. At certain times, events can progress from point A to point E surprisingly quickly. As far as descriptions and details go, there's a rule many writers like to follow of "show don't tell." Instead of giving vivid or concrete details, there's often just the description of "she was terrified" or "creatures that had no right to exist outside of nightmares" (186). Those particular monsters are never described at all, and little time is usually spent to convince the reader that a character is terrified. This is a large part of why the story can be read so quickly.

Another aspect the book takes credit for is its ability to blend elements like mythology and history. While it's perfectly obvious that the author knows his stuff, it doesn't always translate well into the narrative. Early on, Flamel claims the Great Fire of London revolved around him: "[He] loosed a Fire Elemental after us, a savage, mindless creature that almost devoured the city. History calls it the Great Fire" (43). Flamel says nothing more on that particular event. With a statement that short and general, it would be easy to make the same claim about how Rome burned under Emperor Nero. But that doesn't mean Michael Scott has "blended history." More often than not, the ties to myth and history are that general.

What I found to be a true disappointment is the fact that alchemy itself has almost a nonexistent role in the book. Considering the symbols on the book, the title on the cover, and the presence of Nicholas Flamel, I was very surprised. To be fair, Flamel does specifically state how alchemy is a scientific discipline. But most of the book just has plain old magic. "Magic" and "magician" appear more frequently than "alchemist" and "alchemy." This became fully apparent once one of the characters asked if they'll be trained as "magicians." Flamel replies, "As magicians and sorcerers, as necromancers, warlocks and even enchanters" (225). (But not as alchemists.) Essentially, every other form of magic is employed in this book as if the magic users' abilities are one big wild card. Flamel himself has amazingly weak abilities. Instead of showing why he's the greatest alchemist of all time, he chooses to dial a cell phone and call someone to send in a magical wind and save the day. The main protagonists also spend virtually no time actually learning anything. A powerful god/elder simply "Awakens" one's power or just outright transfers all of their own powers to one of the twins. A particularly annoying aspect dealt with each person having a distinct smell when they used their magic; some had vanilla, and others smelled like eggs. Any of the smells made it difficult to be very terrified in a confrontation scene.

Flamel himself just didn't seem like what one would expect. He's wiser than the rest, but his speech rarely convinces the reader of that. And even though his main adversary spent centuries chasing and trying to catch him, learning new and more deadly tactics each time, it never crossed Flamel's mind to train himself in the arcane arts to try and defend himself: "[He] has spent the past five centuries developing his powers; I've spent that same time hiding mine, concentrating only on those few little things I needed to do to keep Perenelle and myself alive" (41-2). Yet later on, Flamel claims that he "had spent most of his long life studying the elemental forces" (163). Those elemental forces are referring to the basic earth, fire, wind, and water elements. It wouldn't take much imagination to picture the sort of power coming from mastering those elements. So there's inconsistency in Flamel's character as well. The inside of the front cover and the letter written by him just prior to the first chapter are about as intriguing as Flamel gets in this story. The real story centers around two twins and the "Prophecy" of their great powers.

There are some positive sides. The main antagonist began making the plot interesting once he blurred the lines between who was and wasn't trustworthy. Little strengths like this did occur at times but usually faded. The trustworthy issue only took about seven lines to be resolved once the character was confronted with having to make a choice, pointing back to the summary problem.

Although it has an "ages 12 and up" rating, I would guess this book might have been actually geared towards a younger audience. It certainly wasn't what I was hoping for, and the excerpt from the sequel doesn't promise that the book's style will develop any either. I'm undecided about whether or not I'll stick with the series. It could take several years, but I may just wait it out and see what the final book sounds like before I commit to the rest of the novels. I wouldn't call it a particularly bad book, but I wouldn't really recommend it considering the sort of drawbacks it has and the kind of expectations one would have when the book has a title like "The Alchemyst."

2 out of 5 stars

I am never really sure how to review a book like this. October 17, 2007
40 out of 57 found this review helpful

I didn't hate this book and I will probably read the sequel since this book is not a complete book and ends in the middle of the story (continued, presumably in the sequel.) The problem is, however, that this book is not very good. In fact, it's pretty terrible. The book switches focus so many times that you never get any real sense of the characters so after hundreds of pages, you don't know anymore about the characters then you did at the start so it's very hard to care about them. This book has a very large cast of characters and, by the end, and they are a little more then cardboard cut outs. Perhaps the author could have tried developing a few characters instead of creating hundreds of bland people we never get a sense of? I can also hear my inner English teacher screaming "show me, don't tell me" as he insists on repeating everything over and over instead of just letting you infer yourself. The author is also so concerned with being "hip" that the pop culture references are so peppered as to be both annoying and distracting to the story. I appreciate that the author has a lot of knowledge about the mythology that he wants to showcase, but, with the exception of one battle scene towards the end that I enjoyed, the rest of the book is slow and, frankly, boring, like when the most boring teacher in school tries to be hip and it just falls flat. I also think that, as a reader, it was unfair to make the first book end with no resolution. Thus I am now forced to read a second lackluster book from this author just to see if the story that he was telling was worth it. There are millions of series in the world and others at least give some resolution at the end of each part, if not a resolution to the entire thing. As I said, I am willing to give him a second chance with the second book since, though boring and poorly written, I didn't hate this book, but, so far, this series isn't anything to get excited about.

5 out of 5 stars

Rollercoaster of Magic, Mystery and Myth August 8, 2007
24 out of 30 found this review helpful

Fifteen-year-old twins Sophie and Josh Newman don't believe in legends. What good would it do them anyway? Their parents are away the whole summer on one of their archeological digs, and right now all the twins care about is working hard at their new summer jobs to save money for their own car. By some stroke of luck, they find jobs in San Francisco across the street from each other --- Sophie at The Coffee Cup and Josh at The Small Book Shop. Books and coffee, an ideal combination if ever there was one.

On the surface, Nick Fleming and his lovely wife Perry seem like your typical bookstore owners. But then a strange group of men step out of a limousine at the curb, gray-faced golems lumber into the shop, the air smells like peppermint and rotten eggs, and explosive balls of energy get hurled through the air. Before Josh and Sophie even figure out what's happening, Nick and his wife kidnap them for their own good and flee the scene worried for their lives.

It seems that Josh's boss is not who he claims to be. Nick and Perry are really Nicholas and Perenelle Flamel, and their secrets don't stop there. Records show that Nicholas Flamel was widely regarded as the greatest Alchemyst of all time. His wife died first, and in 1418 he followed her to the grave, nearly 600 years ago. If all this is true, then why are their graves empty?

Somehow, the Alchemyst is still alive.

Rarely have I read a novel that accomplishes as much as THE ALCHEMYST. By the author's own admission, the twins are the only invented characters; everyone else is grounded in history and mythology. The famous alchemyst Nicholas Flamel really married Perenelle. John Dee studied as his apprentice. The mysterious Book of Abraham was a real book made of bark. And to this day, Nick and Perry's graves lie empty. How did they get so rich? What happened to their bodies? Could they still be alive?

A skillful weave of history and legend, the first installment of this story leaves few ancient myths unexplained --- The Greek legend Icarus, the Great London Fire, the Viking god Odin, vampires, the Black Plague of Europe, the Island of Atlantis, the Irish Potato Famine, martial arts, witches, the Philosopher's Stone, and the secret of eternal life --- amazingly, though, none of them feels out of place. They help transform this fast-paced rollercoaster of magic, mystery and myth into a new legend that explains the stories of the past and holds the secret to all the ones to come.

--- Reviewed by Jonathan Stephens

Copyright 1997-2007, Teenreads. All rights reserved.

5 out of 5 stars

I loved this one!!! July 17, 2007
21 out of 29 found this review helpful

I love that Nicholas and Perenelle Flamel lived. I love that John Dee lived during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I - I love that Scott brought them back to life in this wonderful book. I cannot wait for the 2nd book -
Deals with twins, who are part of a prophecy from an ancient Codex that the Flamels have been using to make gold and to make the elixer of life. But Dee steals it - and Josh, one of the twins, tears out the last pages of the Codex, and those are the pages the bad guys need to take over the earth!!!!
Josh's sister, Sophie, was Awakened to great powers and Josh didn't get his chance. Dee is going to use that to try to bring him over to the 'Dark Side' -
Flamel needs to get the elixer brewed - but he needs the book...my question is....after so many years, hasn't he memorized the recipe???
But there are great characters, beings from every lore you have ever studied, and probably more, and it is a great deal of fun.
You will be enchanted in every sense.

1 out of 5 stars

Good story, poorly-written August 17, 2007
17 out of 21 found this review helpful

It's clear that Scott knows what he's talking about when it comes to mythology, however his writing style certainly needs work. It's patterned, over-explanatory, over-dramatic, and uses far too many things that keeps it dated, such as mentions of Ebay, Wikipedia, iPod, etc. I disliked being told the same thing more than once within 10 pages as well as being unable to infer anything.

It's an interesting story, but I was sick of reading about halfway through the book and resorted to skimming. Definitely could be told in 150 pages, as opposed to 391.

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