“I was intrigued by the premise of this book and really looking forward to a story revolving around Nicholas Flamel, a person from history with a good deal of mystery swirling around him. The Alchemyst simply did not deliver.
The lack of characterization was, for me, the book's biggest flaw. Not only was Flamel himself dull but, with the exception of Perenelle Flamel (who didn't appear often enough to satisfy me), the other characters struck me as flat and uninteresting. And because I wasn't involved with them, I found myself unable to care about the dangers they faced.
Aside from wondering why on earth Josh and Sophie would agree to the 'Awakening' when they were told it was highly dangerous, even potentially deadly and cringing each time Scathach was refered to as "Scatty", I found myself, fairly early on, distracted by plot issues. Why, I wondered, when there was an explosion that shook the entire building and blew out some windows in a retail area of a large U.S. city, did no cops show up? I know the main characters chose not to call them, but wouldn't someone else? Could we have, at least, heard approaching sirens? Why was there a fire extinguisher in the car? Do lots of people carry these behind the front seat? Were the twins really born only 28 seconds apart? Was it a c-section? When Yggdrasill - which was "the height and circumference of a large skyscraper" - "shattered and came crashing down on the ice statue of Hekate, crushing it to dust" why weren't Dee, Morrigan and Bastet, who were close enough to see Hekate's eyes, buried or struck by any rumble? And if Hekate was crushed to dust - and under something that huge - how was Dee finding pieces of her to work his spell on?
Okay, okay, I'll admit this sounds nitpicky. But once my mind starts asking these kinds of questions, I am totally pulled out of the story. And unfortunately, The Alchemyst never managed to pull me back in.
I had waited to read The Alchemyst until a couple more books in the series were available, planning to make a weekend out of it. Instead, The Magician and The Sorceress will be going back. A disappointment all around. ”
Mary wrote this review Sunday, June 14 2009.
(
reply |
permalink )