Reviewed by Cody Manning
The Alchemyst is about twins Josh and Sophie Newman who accidentally got caught in between two immortal magician’s duel. Once the duel ended and Dr. John Dee had stolen the Book of Abraham that Nicholas Flamel had been protecting for almost 600 years, the twins begged for their questions to be answered. Now the twins, Nicholas Flamel, and their new vampire friend head out on a life threatening adventure to learn the four magics and reclaim the book that is said to destroy the world if in the wrong hands.
Josh and Sophie Newman decide that they would like to get their own vehicles since they have just started to learn how to drive. The only problem was that they had to save for their cars themselves. The twins decided to get summer jobs in San Francisco, but that was when they caught a hint of some very peculiar scents: mint and rotten eggs. They soon find out the reasoning for this atrocious mixture of smells was due to the evil magician Dr. John Dee’s and the “good” alchemist Nicholas Flamel auric scents. When the alchemist lost the book of Abraham to Dee, he could no longer tell lies to the twins who witnessed the incident. Nicholas must explain to them the world of myths, magic, and evil the Newmans found themselves in the midst of.
The Alchemyst is a book of action, adventure, and mystery, and personally those are all the bells and whistles a book has to have to captivate me. So far, I have read 3 of the 6 books in this series and can wholeheartedly rate this as one of my favorite book series. In the few series of books I’ve read, I would gladly put this one in the same ring as the Harry Potter book series in terms of suspense and action. If anyone enjoys books that are filled with any of these categories, this is the book for you.
Cody Manning was a junior in the Gifted program at Hahnville High. He enjoys video games and art.
Editor’s note: Book reviews are published throughout the summer and fall in agreement with Hahnville High School gifted English teacher Deborah Unger in conjunction with the Brown Foundation Service Learning Program and Unger’s “Adolescents Advocate Literacy” Brown Service Learning Grant.
Be the first to comment