CBR Book 9: The Alchemyst

The Alchemyst, by Michael Scott

You know how the first Harry Potter book is Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone? (Or Sorcerer's Stone, for us silly Yanks)? If you recall, Dumbledore mentions Nicholas Flamel, who was the owner of the Stone, and his wife, Perenelle, who were six hundred-odd years old. Flamel being the philosopher in question, which in his times was more or less synonymous with a scientist or a magician, practically interchangeably. Well, Flamel is the titular Alchemyst of this book, which is the first of a series of YA fantasy.

Oh, YA fantasy. It gets so predictable after a while. There's magic, and danger, and there's a prophecy, and there's the normal, average person whose life gets turned upside down and they are the key to saving the world ... actually, that's pretty much all fantasy. Bonus points if the hero/ine is an orphan with no knowledge of his/her origins. In this case, the hero/ine is actually one of each (although not orphans) - fraternal twins Sophie and Josh, who get mixed up with the Flamels and suddenly find themselves in the company of immortals, sorcerers, and goddesses. The Flamels are the guardians of an ancient book of magic that contains, amongst other things, the recipe for immortality. More importantly, it contains (naturally) the means whereby to destroy the earth. What the twins learn is that everything we all know as a myth or legend is actually real. The earth was originally peopled by the Elder Race (which includes those entities later worshipped as gods, vampires, were-creatures, and so on and so forth), before the rise of the "humani". Many members of the Elder Race are still around. And many of them don't like humans so much. Dr. John Dee, also apparently immortal, is working for these "Dark Elders," trying to steal the Book of Abraham from Flamel and use it to bring about the destruction of the human race. Obviously, the Flamels and the twins must try to keep this from happening.

It's all pretty standard stuff. The fun/interesting part is the use of real people (the Flamels and Dee were all real) and the use of mythology and legend. It's sort of like American Gods without all the deep thoughts and Gaiman-esque smuggery. Yeah. I made up that word. Anyway. If you're into this type of thing, it's actually pretty good, if a bit busy. Apparently, at least according to the blurb on the jacket, Michael Scott is an authority on mythology and folklore, so he's qualified to bring in everyone from Bastet to Odin as characters. For myself, I just wanted to read this first one out of curiosity, but I've sworn off series (too much commitment) and I am not sure I feel the need to read the rest of the books. I mean, I can guess what'll happen, more or less. The characters are mostly enjoyable, and I always enjoy seeing what each writer brings to the table when working with legends, etc., so who knows? Maybe I'll break my no-series ban for these. If I do, I'll let you know.