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A review by ceciliacb
The Alchemyst by Michael Scott
4.0
Are you tired of love triangles, or just romance in general? Do you love mythology of shape or size? Then this is the book for you!
What I Liked
Omniscient POV. It was great! This is one of the only books where I can honestly say that it was omniscient. I love being able to know what any given character is thinking at any given time.
The Mythology. All sorts of world mythologies and legends were woven together in this book to create this one all-encompassing mythology (for lack of a better word). It was amazing! Now, you might be thinking, its probably just Greek and Roman and Egyptian, because that's what popular. BUT IT'S NOT! Most of the Elders were unrecognizable. Yes, I knew Hekate and Bastet, but the Morrigan? Scathach? The Witch of Endor? They're completely new, and trust me it just gets better.
HISTORY! Forgive me, I'm kind of a history nerd. So, when all the immortal humans were prominent historical figures, I rejoiced! Nicholas and Perenelle Flamel (you might know them from Harry Potter, I know I did) and John Dee (who admittedly, I had never heard of, but I looked him up and he's real) who was THE FIRST 007! How awesome is that? Yes, he's the villain. But, still. The only made-up people are Sophie and Josh. EVEN THE BOOK OF ABRAHAM THE MAGE IS REAL!!!!!
What I Didn't Like:(
SLEEP I know the book takes place over two days. But did anyone sleep? NO. Did they talk about sleeping? Yes. But it never happened. When Sophie and Josh were supposed to be sleeping in Hekate's tree/house/thing, they were trying to escape to go back home and meeting winged feathery lizard things. Now, I get homesickness. But to me, sleep outranks that by A LOT!!
Pacing Yes, there was a lot of action and some really cool battle scenes. But. (There's always a but) It took awhile to get to the really cool battle scenes. At times it got slow, with everyone just kind of meandering around and talking and walking in circles and stuff.
Josh. I loved his relationship with Sophie most of time. It was somewhat unrealistic, because who actually likes their brother/sister that much? But it was still sweet. After Sophie was Awakened though, Josh kinda got weird. Apparently he smelled, he was jealous of his sister's powers even though she was in extreme pain and kept passing out, and he kept saying he didn't know her anymore just because they were different. I don't know if that's just a twin thing, having to be exactly the same or what, but it was annoying.
Overall, really good. This was a reread and it was just as good as the first time. The rest of the series gets even better, with more mythology, more magic, more history (hint: Billy the Kid!) and other cool stuff like that. So, basically, just go read it. I guarantee you will like it.
What I Liked
Omniscient POV. It was great! This is one of the only books where I can honestly say that it was omniscient. I love being able to know what any given character is thinking at any given time.
The Mythology. All sorts of world mythologies and legends were woven together in this book to create this one all-encompassing mythology (for lack of a better word). It was amazing! Now, you might be thinking, its probably just Greek and Roman and Egyptian, because that's what popular. BUT IT'S NOT! Most of the Elders were unrecognizable. Yes, I knew Hekate and Bastet, but the Morrigan? Scathach? The Witch of Endor? They're completely new, and trust me it just gets better.
HISTORY! Forgive me, I'm kind of a history nerd. So, when all the immortal humans were prominent historical figures, I rejoiced! Nicholas and Perenelle Flamel (you might know them from Harry Potter, I know I did) and John Dee (who admittedly, I had never heard of, but I looked him up and he's real) who was THE FIRST 007! How awesome is that? Yes, he's the villain. But, still. The only made-up people are Sophie and Josh. EVEN THE BOOK OF ABRAHAM THE MAGE IS REAL!!!!!
What I Didn't Like:(
SLEEP I know the book takes place over two days. But did anyone sleep? NO. Did they talk about sleeping? Yes. But it never happened. When Sophie and Josh were supposed to be sleeping in Hekate's tree/house/thing, they were trying to escape to go back home and meeting winged feathery lizard things. Now, I get homesickness. But to me, sleep outranks that by A LOT!!
Pacing Yes, there was a lot of action and some really cool battle scenes. But. (There's always a but) It took awhile to get to the really cool battle scenes. At times it got slow, with everyone just kind of meandering around and talking and walking in circles and stuff.
Josh. I loved his relationship with Sophie most of time. It was somewhat unrealistic, because who actually likes their brother/sister that much? But it was still sweet. After Sophie was Awakened though, Josh kinda got weird. Apparently he smelled, he was jealous of his sister's powers even though she was in extreme pain and kept passing out, and he kept saying he didn't know her anymore just because they were different. I don't know if that's just a twin thing, having to be exactly the same or what, but it was annoying.
Overall, really good. This was a reread and it was just as good as the first time. The rest of the series gets even better, with more mythology, more magic, more history (hint: Billy the Kid!) and other cool stuff like that. So, basically, just go read it. I guarantee you will like it.