Review: The Alchemyst by Michael Scott

title: The Alchemyst

written by: Michael Scott

series: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel #1

genre: Young Adult, Urban Fantasy

page count: 375

publication date: May 20th, 2007

publisher: Delacorte Press

rating: 4/5

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.

The Alchemyst was a book I was really looking forward to. I had heard amazing things about it from lots of friends, so I was sure I'd love it before I even started reading. And as always, high expectations only lead to enormous disappointment. I was expecting this would be one of my favorite books of all-time. But it surely wasn't...! I still liked it, it just didn't have that 'wow' effect on me.

The story begins with a short introduction to the normal life of Sophie and Josh Newman, just 2 ordinary twins living a normal life. But of course, as always when books start like that, there are some major changes about to take place. They find out who the owner of the book shop (Josh's boss) really is, and they discover both of them are special. They have pure aura's, one gold, the other silver. They set out on an epic adventure.

Scott's writing style was very pleasant to read. I can't really comment on the choice of vocab and all of that because I read the entire novel in Dutch. However, all events described in this book took place in only 2 days, which seems kind of incredible to me. Still, the novel was very fast-paced!

The plot of this novel was not as interesting as I expected it to be. Ever since I read the first Harry Potter novel, Nicholas Flamel  has beenone of the most interesting people in history to me, so I was hoping for a lot of Nicholas Flamel. I didn't get it, and to me that was the biggest disappointment of this entire novel. Too much of the twins. I have not many problems with the twins, I just prefer Nicholas Flamel... Still, the plot was really interesting, and this novel was a page-turner. I really liked it and think people slightly younger than I am will enjoy this one thoroughly!

I rate this book 4 stars and will recommend it to everyone who is looking for something like Harry Potter, 'cause I really feel like those two are very much alike. This novel was full of suspense and magic, two amazing things.

Love,

Mar