The Magician (The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel, #2)

by Michael Scott

California: In the hands of Dr. John Dee and the Dark Elders, the book of Abraham the Mage could mean the destruction of the world as we know it. The most powerful book of all time, it holds the secret to eternal life. A secret more dangerous than any one man should ever hold. And Dee is two pages away from the knowledge that would bring the Dark Elders into ultimate power. His only obstacle? Josh and Sophie Newman - who are 8,000 miles away. Paris: After fleeing Ojai, Nicholas, Sophie, Josh, and Scatty emerge in Paris. The City of Lights. Home for Nicholas Flamel. Only this homecoming is anything but sweet. Perenell is still locked up back in Alcatraz and Paris is burning - with it, the last hopes for the human race. Niccolo Machiavelli, immortal author and celebrated art collector, is working for Dee. He's after them, and time is running out for Nicholas and Perenell. Every day spent without the book they age one year - their magic becomes weaker and their bodies, more frail. For Flamel the Prophesy is becoming more and more clear. It's time for Sophie to learn the second elemental magic. Fire Magic. And there's only one man who can teach it to her.
Flamel's old student The Comte de Saint Germain--alchemist, magician, and rock star. Josh and Sophie Newman are the world's only hope. If they don't turn on each other first.

• ISBN10: 0375849084
• ISBN13: 9780375849084
• Publish Date: 24 June 2008 (first published 5 June 2008)
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: Delacorte Press
• Format: eBook
• Language: English

Reviews

[sa090]

I want to read all of this series back to back but I think that taking my time with it would leave a more memorable experience.

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Continuing immediately from the previous book we are now in France and it's getting even more dangerous. I love this world, the mix of mythology, alchemy, famous real people and magic on top of all that make for one fantastic world to be in for a person like me who's insanely in love with these things. The book is very fast paced, the first book was told on the expense of two days, this one was almost the same (they did go to the third day for a little while but it was only one chapter so meh). But because there were some more resting periods if you will, Michael Scott got a little bit of a bigger chance to get to world building this verse that had to be sacrificed in the first book thanks to the pace.

It wasn't extensive mind you but I still learned more about the formula, magic, controlling said magic either through explanations or very awesome practical application and got hints that might explain a few things about the auras and their smells which was greatly appreciated. The plot of the book, despite the flare of an original aspect, is seemingly insanely basic (bad guy wants to resurrect evil beings of higher power and take back what they think is their rightful place while enslaving mankind and the opposing heroes who have to get stronger to stand up to the threat, see? Pretty basic) so something too deep in the lore and secrets could end up killing the tension IF it was given this early in the series so I do understand the logic behind this scarcity based move.

This world can be very huge because of the doors Michael Scott opened when he incorporated all of these elements together so I really enjoyed seeing the new characters in this book, regardless if they were real or just myths. Partly because I know of them previously and partly because it's very interesting to see what the background I know of will affect their actions in this book. It's not that big of an affect mind you but he does add small things to them that make relating them to their real world counterparts easier than expected which I loved very much and it leaves me insanely excited for the next books. The ones I didn't know provided me with a very nice topic to learn up on online so that to me is also a bonus.

What I didn't enjoy in the book, character wise, was Josh, just like in book one but for an entirely different reason this time. I do understand why he'll be whining when he sees his awakened twin and all that but constantly having to be reminded of his new found inferiority complex got tiring very very quickly and it's even worse when it actually became a noticeable/mentioned point in the book, granted it tie in to something else later on in the book but again, still tiring to read about. Other than that Scatty was awesome (wish she had more scenes) and especially Perenelle, my goodness the latter is always a treat to read about.

I do however worry that it could get too much at some point, many characters will logically come into play in this and I'm sure it could easily get way too confusing if not handled at a slower pace. A background in mythology and history would surely come in handy for this case and although I'm confident about my knowledge in some areas, I'm nowhere near being good enough to be called an expert. Extra readings for unknown names is very easy with something like Google around but consider it a small concern 🙃

Final rating: 4/5

[Terri M. LeBlanc]

A good continuation of the series.

[wyvernfriend]

The motley group escape to Paris where Sophie deals with power, it's consequences and the memories she has to deal with; Josh deals with jealousy and trust issues and the others deal variously with other immortals trying to kill them all.

Occasionally seemed to drag a little but overall interesting and fun and pretty well done, I like how the various immortals interweave and I look forward to the next book in the series to see how Josh fares with power!