The Alchemyst: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel
by Michael Scott, Delacorte Press, 2007, 369 pages.
Worldview: Darwinian atheism.
Style: A high-action, imaginative story with memorable characters that will draw your kids in.
Review: An Elder Race used to live on the earth, while humans were still hanging out in trees. These elders, who have magical powers, are divided into Dark Elders and others. The Dark Elders would like to return to power, enslaving or killing the human race. Their puppet is the human villain, Dr. John Dee.
This story has a strong hook: it mentions the Immortal Nicholas Flamel on the cover. Flamel is one of the characters in the Harry Potter stories, but he wasn’t invented by J.K. Rowling. Instead, Rowling took a legend and based a character on it. Scott has done the same. Scott’s cover also looks faintly like one of the symbols featured in the Potter books (the Deathly Hallows).
Nicholas and Perenelle Flamel are legendary French individuals, born in the 1300s, supposed to have found the secret of immortality. In Scott’s tale, Flamel becomes mentor to American teenage twins Josh and Sophie Newman as the result of a struggle described in the opening scene of the book. In the struggle, Dr. John Dee and his henchmen rob Flamel of his magic book, except for two critical pages.
As the story unfolds, Dee is pursuing Flamel and the twins. The twins find out they have powers and are the subjects of a prophecy about powerful twins. Flamel takes Sophie to an Elder One to have her powers awakened. Josh has to wait till the next book (when his powers are awakened by a Dark Elder).
The central characters are clearly the twins. They are motivated by loyalty to friends and to each other, a tribal sort of morality rather than a Biblical one. One of the main themes involves the question of Josh’s attraction to the dark side. We’ve heard this one before. The kids lie to their parents about where they are. The author excuses this by implying the parents wouldn’t believe them.
This book and its sequels will probably draw the attention of your teen at some point. My 16-year-old fantasy fan was drawn to them. Be sure to discuss the atheist viewpoint.–Phyllis Wheeler
I thought this book was very good and quite inspiring.
It clearly shows the battle between good and evil and how if
you do good you will succeed. Children (teens especially) need
to read books that capture the imagination and teach right from
wrong in an interesting and exciting way.
People will find any reason to attatch meaning and connotations to things that have very few. It is one of the greater mysteries and annoyannces of human nature. Indeed it is the very nature of faith… the human desire for something to have more value than what there eyes can see. There comes a time when we have to wonder if things will ever be simply enjoyed again.. as nothing more than what they are. Just something to ponder.
you dont like the book cuz it has an atheist view wich it doesnt just different views
Thank you for your book review. Unfortunately, so many new
books have a similar worldview. It’s subtle, but it’s
definitely there.
Please be careful when recommending this book! It suggests
that good powers can come from evil powers, specifically the
cult. Here’s an excerpt I found most troubling. Sophie is one of the twins who has
received powers to ultimately save the world. She’s with Dora,
the witch who will give her powers.
“Sophie… saw a younger-looking Dora….Somehow Sophie under-
stood that these were the priests and priestesses in the cult that
worshiped the Witch. Dora was passing on a little of her know-
ledge to them so they could go out into the world and teach others.” page 2444