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mwgerard's review against another edition
4.0
Fabulous read. Written for the young, enjoyable at any age. Please read my full review here: http://cineastesbookshelf.blogspot.com/2012/01/review-apothecary-by-maile-meloy.html
psal707's review against another edition
3.0
It is 1952, and Janie lives with her parents in LA. When Janie's parents are suspected of being communists, they move to London.
At Janie's new school, she meets Ben. Ben's dad works at the local apothecary. Ben's dad owns a very valuable book, called the Pharmacopeia. When Ben's dad is kidnapped, he stays with Janie. The next day, they bring the book to Mr. Danby, their Latin teacher, to help them translate it. Little do they know, but, he works with the government. He arrests them, and brings them to Juvenile Prison.
They quickly break out, and they go into hiding. Out of their cells, they take a potion, and Janie is turned into a bird. They have an idea of where Ben's dad is, but instead they find Jin Lo, a Chinese scientist. She helps them find Ben's dad.
Back at home, Be, his dad, Jin LO, and Janie go back to their families.
At Janie's new school, she meets Ben. Ben's dad works at the local apothecary. Ben's dad owns a very valuable book, called the Pharmacopeia. When Ben's dad is kidnapped, he stays with Janie. The next day, they bring the book to Mr. Danby, their Latin teacher, to help them translate it. Little do they know, but, he works with the government. He arrests them, and brings them to Juvenile Prison.
They quickly break out, and they go into hiding. Out of their cells, they take a potion, and Janie is turned into a bird. They have an idea of where Ben's dad is, but instead they find Jin Lo, a Chinese scientist. She helps them find Ben's dad.
Back at home, Be, his dad, Jin LO, and Janie go back to their families.
lavoiture's review against another edition
4.0
More like 3.5, but I bumped it up because I thought the story was sweet. But I also want to bump it down because I'm REALLY sick and tired of romantic stories in otherwise great girl adventure stories. Oh well, whatever.
Anyway, if you're a Harry Potter/Hugo Cabret fan, I think you'll find this interesting enough.
Anyway, if you're a Harry Potter/Hugo Cabret fan, I think you'll find this interesting enough.
undervmountain's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
4.0
I have no idea why but from the cover I was expecting more of an alternative old London fantasy vibe, but this story is actually about Post War London, with magic, spies, and secret Russian plots, with a group of teenagers finding themselves in the middle of it.
The combination of magic and science was interesting, but over the course of the story, felt like it started to get more and more convoluted as people revealed themselves to be villains, large plans to do with some sort of bomb were made and yeah, I started to completely lose track of what the story was and where it was going.
The ending was good though, and I think moving the next book on by a year or too will make this really interesting, I didn't initially think I would be continuing the series but I'm now just curious enough to.
The combination of magic and science was interesting, but over the course of the story, felt like it started to get more and more convoluted as people revealed themselves to be villains, large plans to do with some sort of bomb were made and yeah, I started to completely lose track of what the story was and where it was going.
The ending was good though, and I think moving the next book on by a year or too will make this really interesting, I didn't initially think I would be continuing the series but I'm now just curious enough to.
nssutton's review against another edition
5.0
Absolutely darling. Meloy has been on my radar since I put Both Ways Is the Only Way I Want It -- that's a sentiment I can get behind, even if I haven't gotten around to reading that short story collection yet. That should change shortly -- if she writes for adults as well as she writes for kids I may not make it through the rest of this BEA stack without breaking for it. She creates a beautiful cast of characters and has created a page-turner that kept me up against my will late into the night. Janie is a fantastic narrator and her letter on the first page is a fantastic tease that you quickly forget about until the very last chapter, when the inevitable piece of information she reveals suddenly comes to a sad, beguiling reality.
I love the way the fantastical elements are approached from a scientific point of view. Each character connected to the Pharmacopoeia has a skill that could easily sound too spell-book-shtick, but are made to sound like science, real science (or how I imagine real science to be). The prose has a cinematic feel to it -- the time period lending to a picturesque background, the Pharmacopoeia containing tricks so rich with visuals I can't wait to see which studio gets the movie rights. I liked reading the fact that it was a friend's movie idea first, before Meloy nabbed it and ran with it, producing a hell of a story.
Anticipated release October 2011. A must-read for middle school librarians, adults who wish they could turn into birds and adventurous children at heart.
I love the way the fantastical elements are approached from a scientific point of view. Each character connected to the Pharmacopoeia has a skill that could easily sound too spell-book-shtick, but are made to sound like science, real science (or how I imagine real science to be). The prose has a cinematic feel to it -- the time period lending to a picturesque background, the Pharmacopoeia containing tricks so rich with visuals I can't wait to see which studio gets the movie rights. I liked reading the fact that it was a friend's movie idea first, before Meloy nabbed it and ran with it, producing a hell of a story.
Anticipated release October 2011. A must-read for middle school librarians, adults who wish they could turn into birds and adventurous children at heart.
epgr's review against another edition
3.0
Three stars for my enjoyment of it, probably four for it's intended audience, which is YA.
headachesince03's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Alcohol, War, and Deportation
celsius273's review against another edition
4.0
Quick, fun, but definitely not a throwaway read! The Apothecary hits all of my reading and real life interests: chemistry, Latin, teenage sleuthing, and general badassery balanced with entertaining characters. Really, quite nice.
Jane (Janie) is perfectly content with her life in LA, but it’s 1952 and McCarthyism is in full effect. Her parents are being monitered for communist sentiments and in order to get away from the constant scrutiny, they decide to move to London - without discussing with Janie first. She’s 14 years old, just getting into high school and this news obviously distresses her. This is the first point of this book that I quite enjoyed: how the new school experience was convincingly portrayed. She hates everything at first: the awful uniform, the lack of butter, learning Latin and more ofc, but then she befriends Benjamin Burrows, the son of the apothecary, and an aspiring spy.
Benjamin hates everything about becoming an apothecary He thinks it’s boring, useless, and - being a teenager - is also annoyed that he is following his father into the business. Turns out though, that the life of an apothecary isn’t as drab as he thinks of it and he and Janie are quickly thrown into a whirlwind of revelations when they find his father conversing with Soviet immigrants, and then mysteriously disappearing. The book then dives straight into the secret world of alchemy, and suddenly Benjamin isn’t so turned off by the prospect of becoming and apothecary! See it turns out there’s this magical alchemy book that Benjamin’s father has and is coveted by a lot of nasty people. It’s up to Benjamin, Janie, and their allies to keep it safe from Soviets, ex-Nazis, anyone who would want to use it for harm.
See, doesn’t it sound so fun already? I love it when alchemy is the basis of magic in a book like in bloodlines - and my go to harry potter class is obviously potions! And this book is packed with fun stuff. There are invisibility baths that require melting down an ounce of gold, elixirs that turn people into birds or salt, distillations that force anyone who inhales the vapors to state only the truth, and way way more. There are magical plants, moon cycle timed rituals, but also magic that is woven in with chemistry, biology, and all sorts of other sciences. Love love love this part of the book!
Janie and Benjamin end up teaming with another boy, Pip who is a pickpocket but has a heart of gold, when they are all forced to turn into birds to escape a deranged Latin teacher chasing them down at juvie. They also meet up with Jin Lo, a chinese chemist who has been working with Benjamin’s father, and is herself also an accomplished alchemist producing copious amounts of orange smoke from a vial in order to escape from captivity and in general helping the children with their alchemical projects. She was my favorite character of the whole book probably. A no nonsense attitude and dry humor combined with general amazingness - what’s not to admire!
Around the half-way point, I remember being really frustrated with Janie - hence the four stars - but it isn’t really memorable. On the whole, this book was jam packed with stuff, really really fast paced and I never once got bored. The characters are awesome, the concept fascinating, and the plot moving. The one part I’m apparently missing out on are the illustrations. Based on how nicely done the cover is, I’m not really sure how much this would have affected my reading, but the audiobook was fantastic anyways. Now if only I could find the second book on overdrive...
Jane (Janie) is perfectly content with her life in LA, but it’s 1952 and McCarthyism is in full effect. Her parents are being monitered for communist sentiments and in order to get away from the constant scrutiny, they decide to move to London - without discussing with Janie first. She’s 14 years old, just getting into high school and this news obviously distresses her. This is the first point of this book that I quite enjoyed: how the new school experience was convincingly portrayed. She hates everything at first: the awful uniform, the lack of butter, learning Latin and more ofc, but then she befriends Benjamin Burrows, the son of the apothecary, and an aspiring spy.
Benjamin hates everything about becoming an apothecary He thinks it’s boring, useless, and - being a teenager - is also annoyed that he is following his father into the business. Turns out though, that the life of an apothecary isn’t as drab as he thinks of it and he and Janie are quickly thrown into a whirlwind of revelations when they find his father conversing with Soviet immigrants, and then mysteriously disappearing. The book then dives straight into the secret world of alchemy, and suddenly Benjamin isn’t so turned off by the prospect of becoming and apothecary! See it turns out there’s this magical alchemy book that Benjamin’s father has and is coveted by a lot of nasty people. It’s up to Benjamin, Janie, and their allies to keep it safe from Soviets, ex-Nazis, anyone who would want to use it for harm.
See, doesn’t it sound so fun already? I love it when alchemy is the basis of magic in a book like in bloodlines - and my go to harry potter class is obviously potions! And this book is packed with fun stuff. There are invisibility baths that require melting down an ounce of gold, elixirs that turn people into birds or salt, distillations that force anyone who inhales the vapors to state only the truth, and way way more. There are magical plants, moon cycle timed rituals, but also magic that is woven in with chemistry, biology, and all sorts of other sciences. Love love love this part of the book!
Janie and Benjamin end up teaming with another boy, Pip who is a pickpocket but has a heart of gold, when they are all forced to turn into birds to escape a deranged Latin teacher chasing them down at juvie. They also meet up with Jin Lo, a chinese chemist who has been working with Benjamin’s father, and is herself also an accomplished alchemist producing copious amounts of orange smoke from a vial in order to escape from captivity and in general helping the children with their alchemical projects. She was my favorite character of the whole book probably. A no nonsense attitude and dry humor combined with general amazingness - what’s not to admire!
Around the half-way point, I remember being really frustrated with Janie - hence the four stars - but it isn’t really memorable. On the whole, this book was jam packed with stuff, really really fast paced and I never once got bored. The characters are awesome, the concept fascinating, and the plot moving. The one part I’m apparently missing out on are the illustrations. Based on how nicely done the cover is, I’m not really sure how much this would have affected my reading, but the audiobook was fantastic anyways. Now if only I could find the second book on overdrive...