The Alchemyst, The Magician, and The SorceressBy Michael Scott
I decided to do a review of all three books at once, because my feelings about each of them was about the same. I love getting recommendations from others on what books I should read - thanks Jill for suggesting this series to me!
A little background for those of you who haven't heard about these books. These three books are the first in a 6-book series about twins Sophie and Josh Newman and there adventures with the immortal Nicholas Flamel. If you click on the picture of the books above, it will take you to Shelfari's summary of the first book, which explains it a lot better than I can.
A little background for those of you who haven't heard about these books. These three books are the first in a 6-book series about twins Sophie and Josh Newman and there adventures with the immortal Nicholas Flamel. If you click on the picture of the books above, it will take you to Shelfari's summary of the first book, which explains it a lot better than I can.
I have mixed feelings on this series. I liked that Scott uses all real people (with the exception of Sophie and Josh), places, events, etc. to build his fictitious story (similar to Dan Brown with The da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons). You can look up all of Scott's characters on Wikipedia and learn more about them, and the same is true for the locations that they travel. I thought it was fun reading about things I had never heard of before or at least had never studied (i.e.The Catacombs of Paris, Stonehenge, Nicholas Flamel, Alcatraz Island, Billy the Kid). Scott uses these real people and places and twists them a bit to fit into his story which was really cool how he made it all fit together. However, towards the middle of the third book, it started to get a little rediculous to me. I'm not a huge fan of fantasy, so consider that when I say that it all was a little much for me - a little too far-fetched (yes, granted Harry Potter is completely out there and I love that series - I'm not sure what makes that series special).
All in all, the storyline is great, but I was never drawn in completely - they were a bit predictable and it wasn't a series that I just couldn't put down - like Harry Potter, Twilight, and Dan Brown's books. The suspense just wasn't there for me I guess. However, they are good enough that I plan to read the other three books when they come out (The Necromancer comes out in May) so I can see what happens to everyone. That is, if Jill will let me borrow her books again ;)
Next Projects:
The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown (one of my Christmas presents!!)
AND
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold (audiobook on my new iPod! - another suggestion from Jill - thanks Jill!)
All in all, the storyline is great, but I was never drawn in completely - they were a bit predictable and it wasn't a series that I just couldn't put down - like Harry Potter, Twilight, and Dan Brown's books. The suspense just wasn't there for me I guess. However, they are good enough that I plan to read the other three books when they come out (The Necromancer comes out in May) so I can see what happens to everyone. That is, if Jill will let me borrow her books again ;)
Next Projects:
The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown (one of my Christmas presents!!)
AND
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold (audiobook on my new iPod! - another suggestion from Jill - thanks Jill!)
2 comments:
I started reading the Lovely Bones for an American Studies class... but after realizing I could write my paper without reading the whole book-I stopped ;) Mostly because I didn't find it intriguing. But I think I only got into it about 20 pages... But I think that I am going to read it again becuase the previews for the movie look really good!! Good Luck!
I kind of got tired of them too, but I think in May I'll be ready to read them again when the next one comes out. I hope you like The Lovely Bones!
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