Series: Book 3 in the The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series
Rating: ****
Tags: Fiction, General, Supernatural, Siblings, Flamel; Nicolas, Brothers and Sisters, Dee; John, Alchemists, Magic, Body; Mind & Spirit, Juvenile Fiction, Fantasy & Magic, United States, People & Places, Magick Studies, Legends; Myths; Fables, Family, Twins, Europe, Young Adult Fiction, Political Science, Machiavelli; Niccolo, Fairy Tales; Folklore & Mythology, England, Alcatraz Island (Calif.), History & Theory, Visionary & Metaphysical, Lang:en
Summary
The third book in Michael Scott's "Secrets of the Immortal
Nicholas Flamel" series,
The Sorceress, kicks the action up to a whole new
level. Adding to the series' menagerie of immortal humans
("humani") and mythological beasts, the book picks up where
T) and the twins, Sophie and Josh, have just arrived
at St. Pancras international train station in London. Almost
immediately, they're confronted with a demonic bounty hunter
that immortal magician John Dee has sent their way. At the
same time, Dee's occasional cohort, Niccolo Machiavelli,
decides to focus his energy on Perenelle Flamel, the
Alchemyst's wife, who has been imprisoned at Alcatraz since
the beginning of the series. In this book, Perenelle gets a
chance to show off her sorcery and resourcefulness, fighting
and forging alliances with ghosts, beasts, and the occasional
Elder to try and find a way out of her predicament and back
to Flamel. Scott is as playful as ever, introducing new
immortals--famous figures from history who (surprise!) are
still alive. He also adds to the roster of fantastical
beasts, which already includes such intriguing foes as
Bastet, the Egyptian cat goddess, and the Morrigan, or Crow
Goddess. Raising the stakes with each installment, Scott
deftly manages multiple story lines and keeps everything
moving pretty quickly, making this third book a real
page-turner. More than just another piece in the puzzle of
the whole series,
The Sorceress is an adventure in its own right, and
will certainly leave series fans wanting more.
--Heidi Broadhead
Amazon.com Exclusive: An Interview with Author
Michael Scott
Q: What was your inspiration for the
series—was it the legend of the Flamels and the Book of
Abraham? Did Dee figure in from the start?
Scott: The story really started with Dr.
John Dee and, for a long time, he was the hero of the series.
I had written about Dee before in my horror novels, I know I started to develop the series on May 18th, 1997,
because that is the first time the word
“Alchemyst” with the “Y” appears in
my notebooks. However, it was really three years later, in
late September 2000, when I was in Paris and stumbled across
Nicholas Flamel’s house in the Rue de Montmorency that
the series really came together. I knew a lot about Flamel
and the legendary Book of Abraham and, sitting in
Flamel’s home, which is now a wonderful restaurant, I
realized that here was the hero for my series. Nicholas Flamel was one of the most famous alchemists of
his day. He was born in 1330 and earned his living as a
bookseller (which was the same job I had for many years.) One
day he bought a book, the same book mentioned in
The Alchemyst: the Book of Abraham. It too, really
existed and Nicholas Flamel left us with a very detailed
description of the copper-bound book. Although the book
itself is lost, the illustrations from the text still
exist. Over the course of his long life, Flamel became
extraordinarily wealthy, and used his wealth to found
churches, hospitals and schools. Both he and his wife,
Perenelle, were very well known in France and across Europe.
The streets named after them, the Rue Flamel and the Rue
Perenelle, still exist in Paris today.
Q: I was excited to see
The Sorceress showing off more of Perenelle. How
much does the real Perenelle Flamel influence the character
of Perenelle?
Scott: We know little about the historical
Perenelle. There are a few solid facts however and I have
incorporated them into the story: she was older than Nicholas
(there is even the suggestion that she might have been a
widow when she married him), and she was also wealthier. It
is also abundantly clear that she was the dominant character
in the marriage and there is some evidence to suggest that
she was an alchemist in her own right.
Q: What's coming up next?
Scott: Coming up next... well, book 4 brings
up back to the west coast of America and San Francisco. And
then we head south towards LA (but if I tell you any more
I’ll reveal a couple of big surprises!) However, I will
tell you that I am just back from a weekend in London where I
spent most of Saturday wandering around Covent Garden.
You’ll find out why in
The Necromancer.
Q: The most fun thing about the series, I
think, is how you reveal new immortals as you go along (e.g.,
Machiavelli, Joan of Arc... I won’t spoil your reveals
in
The Sorceress, but they’re surprising). How do
you decide which famous figure from history will be your next
immortal?
Scott: Thank you for not revealing some of
the surprises! Once I had plotted the series, I had a rough idea of the
type of characters I wanted to include. My settings—the
United States, France and England—suggested certain
types of characters. I could not write about Paris, for
example, and not include Joan. But there were other
characters—Scathach is the perfect example—who
was there right from the very beginning. Again, she was
someone I had written about before in my early collections of
Irish folklore and knew that I wanted to use again. Also, because this series is based upon legend, mythology
and history, it put in place certain rules: the only
“created” characters in the series are the twins,
Sophie and Josh. Everyone else existed.
Q: You’ve written for adults and young
adults—and this series certainly seems to have crossed
over into an adult readership. Is the experience any
different when you’re writing for younger readers? Do
you find that younger readers have a stronger connection to
the work, for example?
Scott: I have always written for both adults
and young adults, but you are right, the Flamel series has
crossed over in an extraordinary way. Writing for young
adults requires a certain precision in language. Adults have
a body of shared knowledge and information that young adults
do not. I can make allusions and references in my adult
writing that young adults might not get. My young adult
writing tends to be much more descriptive and I will take the
time to describe people, places and situations to allow the
younger readers to become fully involved in the world. Younger readers are certainly attracted to the adventure
and are thrilled to realize what when they go online they can
find out all sorts of additional information about all the
characters. The older readers tend to ask more specific
questions about the mythological characters.
Q: How is this series different from other
young adult books that you’ve written?
Scott: This is the most intricate and
ambitious work I’ve done. The six books will take place
in less than a month so everything has to knit and mesh
together. The notes for this series are now bigger than the
books themselves. I have said before that there is nothing
accidental in the books. What might look like an
inconsistency, for example, is often a clue to something that
will happen later on. Because I’ve plotted the entire
series, it gives me huge freedom to plant seeds and clues to
later events.
Q: Of all the forms you write
in—novels, scripts, nonfiction—do you have a
favorite?
Scott: Novels. It is the only one of the
three where you are in complete control. With a script, for
example, everyone has a say and what you see on screen only
vaguely resembles what you’ve written.
Q: What’s your favorite genre (to
write and to read)?
Scott: I love writing fantasy—and
it’s what I read most. However, my rule is when
I’m writing fantasy, I will read anything but fantasy.
So I end up reading a lot of crime—I’ve got the
new John Connolly on the desk to read next—and
I’m a huge John Sandford fan. The research for this
series is huge (but it’s the part I really enjoy), so I
do find myself reading some terribly odd non-fiction.
Q: Have all six of the books in the series
already been written? If so, what are you working on now? Is
it strange to revisit each of the books as they come out?
Scott: They have all been plotted, but not
written. I’m close to the end of
The Necromancer now and little bits of book 5,
The Warlock, and even the end of book 6,
The Enchantress, have been written. I am also writing and researching a new series, not linked
to the Flamel series, which I’m having a lot of fun
with. All I’ll say is that it also has its roots in
myth. The oddest part of revisiting the books is when I tour.
Usually I am touring and reading from a book I finished many
months previously. I have to be careful not to reveal any of
the forthcoming surprises when I take questions. Grade 6-10–The third book takes up immediately where
The Magician (Delacorte, 2008) left off, and the
events described occur over the course of a week. Having fled
a destroyed Paris, Nicolas Flamel and the twins are now in
England with their every move being tracked by John Dee, the
Dark Elders, and their denizens, who are now convinced that
Sophie and Josh are the twins of legend. In the meantime,
Flamel's wife, Perenelle, the titular sorceress, is
attempting to escape Alcatraz. Joined first by the knight
Palamedes, and then by William Shakespeare, Flamel and the
children try to stay ahead of their pursuers in an attempt to
reach Stonehenge, where they hope to find a gate that will
allow them to get to San Francisco. In the midst of evading
pursuit, Josh finally gets the knowledge of an elemental
power, Water Magic, from the insane Elder Gilgamesh, which,
of course, conveniently becomes valuable. The chase and
escape plots are rather thin and highlight the fact that this
series feels bloated, and probably doesn't need the six long
volumes the author is planning to tell the story. The
inclusion of historical characters such as Shakespeare and
Billy the Kid seems primarily a gimmick, and these two
characters in particular feel oddly anachronistic. This book
is a must-read for fans of the series, but even they will
tire if the author doesn't get to the point with reasonable
dispatch._–Tim Wadham, St. Louis County Library, MO_
Amazon.com Review
From School Library Journal
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