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A review by marscandy37
The Alchemyst by Michael Scott
3.0
I have one word for you wrong.
I know it's weird to start a book review this way. You're probably wondering what I mean. Is the book strange, or morally incorrect in some way? No, it's not. At least I don't think so.
The reason I started this review like this is because of the hundreds of times the word "wrong" was used in this book. It was used so frequently I actually made it a game each time I read it. Then, after the 10th time, I begun to grow bored and literally rolled my eyes each time the word popped up. It became sooo annoying!
Sentences like this--
"There was something wrong about him."
"Something was wrong with her face."
"The cloud looked wrong somehow."
On and on and on. Until the end, and every time I read it, it made my teeth grind.
But of course that alone wouldn't have bothered me, I can simply ignore that and it wouldn't have been a huge impact on the rating...but there are other things, and those things have contributed to the rating I have given this book.
• The annoying way in which the perspectives kept changing within the same chapter
One second we are in one person’s head, the next second someone completely different is talking and you as the reader are left with a “what the heck just happened” expression on your face as you tried to work out who is who. I was so confused at some parts I had to go back and re-read it just to figure out what had happened.
• The strange relationship of the twins with their parents
I’m a mom, and as such I can tell you that there is no way I would let my fifteen year old daughters go with anyone I don’t know personally for any length of time. I don’t care how neglectful their parents were. Unless they were really stupid, and come on they're archeologist (which was reiterated 30 million times throughout the story) or they really didn’t care about their kids. I don’t care who was sick, who got blown up, or who is in the hospital. Not going to happen.
The fact that their parents just gave in so quickly without any reservations felt so unrealistic, and how easily Sophie lied to them. Yep, couldn’t get over that.
• The slimy character of Nicholas Flamel
I know that Nicholas Flamel is supposed to be portrayed as a hero. But from the beginning I didn’t seem to like the guy. At the end I actually started cheering for Dr. John Dee.
Firstly, I don’t like that he just basically said follow and the twins went with him.
I would have put much more resistance.
No, thanks.
Then there were his motives. He seemed to put the twins in danger for his own selfish needs.
“Just maybe, if I play my cards right, I’ll be able to see Perenelle again – oh, and get my book back, and stay immortal.” (Not a direct quote just my version of what he was thinking)
He kept saying he was trying to keep them safe, but yet forgetting to disclose important information – while info bombing them about completely pointless stuff.
Maybe, just maybe Nicholas it would have been wise to warn the twins about Hekate’s variable personalities – before she almost tried turning them into slime.
Josh: “I didn’t know.”
Nicholas: “How would you?”
Why don’t you tell them!
• Scathach’s supposed emotionlessness
For someone who has very little emotions – she sure gets angry…a lot!
She’s touchy about being called a blood sucker.
Then gets all chocked up when her grandmother tells her she wasn’t going to see her again.
Make up your mind! Is she or is she not a void-less wonder.
• The icky-ness of Josh and Sophie’s twin-ism
This was the strangest sibling relation portrayed in a book (that I’ve read so far). At times I felt more like they were a romantic couple instead of a sister and brother.
I know, you may say—“but they’re twins—they’ve been together their whole lives.”
“It’s a twin thing!”
No, no it’s not.
Not like this.
They tried to justify just that, by saying that though they weren’t identical and didn’t have twin-sense. They had grown closer through their living circumstance and their social life.
At one point the brother says, “Will she love me now that she’s super powerful and I’m nothing but a normal guy?”(Again not a direct quote so please don’t stone me to death)
I wouldn’t think like that about my brother…and he would laugh at me in return if I told him that.
Despite all these major flaws—in my opinion, I still gave the book three stars. Why?
Because I’m a firm believer in a well-executed world, and the world building in this book was top notch.
Any writer who puts this much effort into his world building deserves at least some acknowledgment of his hard work.
I actually learned a lot when I researched some of the things in the book. So now I have some knowledge of ancient Celtic legends and mythos I didn’t know about.
The many different legends coming together were incredibly well thought out. I have to give credit to Michael Scott for the research he did.
But unfortunately the world building alone wasn’t enough to raise the rating of this book to more than a three.
I’m not yet sure if I’ll continue with the series. If I do I really hope he finds a different word for wrong. Anything, anything at all.
I know it's weird to start a book review this way. You're probably wondering what I mean. Is the book strange, or morally incorrect in some way? No, it's not. At least I don't think so.
The reason I started this review like this is because of the hundreds of times the word "wrong" was used in this book. It was used so frequently I actually made it a game each time I read it. Then, after the 10th time, I begun to grow bored and literally rolled my eyes each time the word popped up. It became sooo annoying!
Sentences like this--
"There was something wrong about him."
"Something was wrong with her face."
"The cloud looked wrong somehow."
On and on and on. Until the end, and every time I read it, it made my teeth grind.
But of course that alone wouldn't have bothered me, I can simply ignore that and it wouldn't have been a huge impact on the rating...but there are other things, and those things have contributed to the rating I have given this book.
• The annoying way in which the perspectives kept changing within the same chapter
One second we are in one person’s head, the next second someone completely different is talking and you as the reader are left with a “what the heck just happened” expression on your face as you tried to work out who is who. I was so confused at some parts I had to go back and re-read it just to figure out what had happened.
• The strange relationship of the twins with their parents
I’m a mom, and as such I can tell you that there is no way I would let my fifteen year old daughters go with anyone I don’t know personally for any length of time. I don’t care how neglectful their parents were. Unless they were really stupid, and come on they're archeologist (which was reiterated 30 million times throughout the story) or they really didn’t care about their kids. I don’t care who was sick, who got blown up, or who is in the hospital. Not going to happen.
The fact that their parents just gave in so quickly without any reservations felt so unrealistic, and how easily Sophie lied to them. Yep, couldn’t get over that.
• The slimy character of Nicholas Flamel
I know that Nicholas Flamel is supposed to be portrayed as a hero. But from the beginning I didn’t seem to like the guy. At the end I actually started cheering for Dr. John Dee.
Firstly, I don’t like that he just basically said follow and the twins went with him.
I would have put much more resistance.
No, thanks.
Then there were his motives. He seemed to put the twins in danger for his own selfish needs.
“Just maybe, if I play my cards right, I’ll be able to see Perenelle again – oh, and get my book back, and stay immortal.” (Not a direct quote just my version of what he was thinking)
He kept saying he was trying to keep them safe, but yet forgetting to disclose important information – while info bombing them about completely pointless stuff.
Maybe, just maybe Nicholas it would have been wise to warn the twins about Hekate’s variable personalities – before she almost tried turning them into slime.
Josh: “I didn’t know.”
Nicholas: “How would you?”
Why don’t you tell them!
• Scathach’s supposed emotionlessness
For someone who has very little emotions – she sure gets angry…a lot!
She’s touchy about being called a blood sucker.
Then gets all chocked up when her grandmother tells her she wasn’t going to see her again.
Make up your mind! Is she or is she not a void-less wonder.
• The icky-ness of Josh and Sophie’s twin-ism
This was the strangest sibling relation portrayed in a book (that I’ve read so far). At times I felt more like they were a romantic couple instead of a sister and brother.
I know, you may say—“but they’re twins—they’ve been together their whole lives.”
“It’s a twin thing!”
No, no it’s not.
Not like this.
They tried to justify just that, by saying that though they weren’t identical and didn’t have twin-sense. They had grown closer through their living circumstance and their social life.
At one point the brother says, “Will she love me now that she’s super powerful and I’m nothing but a normal guy?”(Again not a direct quote so please don’t stone me to death)
I wouldn’t think like that about my brother…and he would laugh at me in return if I told him that.
Despite all these major flaws—in my opinion, I still gave the book three stars. Why?
Because I’m a firm believer in a well-executed world, and the world building in this book was top notch.
Any writer who puts this much effort into his world building deserves at least some acknowledgment of his hard work.
I actually learned a lot when I researched some of the things in the book. So now I have some knowledge of ancient Celtic legends and mythos I didn’t know about.
The many different legends coming together were incredibly well thought out. I have to give credit to Michael Scott for the research he did.
But unfortunately the world building alone wasn’t enough to raise the rating of this book to more than a three.
I’m not yet sure if I’ll continue with the series. If I do I really hope he finds a different word for wrong. Anything, anything at all.