Author: Michael Scott

While current fantasy stories are filled with the images of romance between vampires and humans, wizards, and other boring fairy tale, The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series offer something a little bit different.

Up till now there are four books in the series: the Alchemyst, the Magician, the Sorcere, and the Necromancer.

All of the characters, except from the twins, are taken from a mixed of well known legends (such as the legendary Nicholas Flamel himself), gods and creatures (sphinx, bast), and historical figures (the great Niccolo Machiavelli and Dr John Dee).

The story starts one day when a Sophie was working in a coffee shop when a magician (later introduced as Dr John Dee) attacked the bookshop owned by Nicholas Flamel where Josh, her brother, works. Apparently, the magician was after the great Codex, written by Abraham the Mage. I

n the fight, Josh managed to rip out the last two pages while Dee got away with the rest and kidnapped the store's wife - Paranelle Flamel. Later on, Nicholas took Sophie and Josh, whom he beleives to be the legendary twin of gold and silver and had their powers awakened. He explained that there the world used to be governed by the elders whome humani (humans) worshipped as gods. Some of the elders called the dark elders wishes to come back and rule earth once again. To do so, they have helped fro

m various humans whom they made immortals such as Dr John Dee.

The Codex which was stolen enables Dr Dee to summon the elders back to earth. However, the summoning spell is located in the last two pages Josh ripped. In addition, the Codex stores the anti aging speel that makes the Flamels immortal.

In the journey, they are accompanied by Scatnach the Shadow and met incredible gods a

nd legends such as Hekate, Mars, Witch and Endor, etc. They also counter various elders and their humani helpers (Dr Dee, Machiavelli, Billy the Kid).

The overall story is quite common. I felt rather

bored reading the first book. I am especially bored how Josh, Sophie, and Nicholas interact with one another. There is nothing special about their character. However, new characters introduced later on makes the story interesting. I like Paranelle Flamel. She is witty. When she is imprisoned in the Alcratraz, she never loose her calm and always find a way out. She outsmart Machiavelli not by using her magic but by doing a simpler thing - stealing his boat and leave him trapped on the island.

I also like how Machiavelli interacts with Dee and Billy the Kid. Machiavelli the strategist resents Dee the harsh magician. And they can quarrel over the tiniest things like how poor Machiavelli driving is. Billy the Kid is such a laid back person that Machiavelli becomes so confused by him.

I like how the story develop. How one party eventually betray another. I do find some of the characters disturbing (why is William Shakepeare doing magic?). Since the only original characters are the twins, sometimes I feel there is lack of originality and creativity. I also find that the legends are so mixed up (what is Mars - god of the greek doing with Osiris - egyptian god?). But overall, since the story is packed with non stop action and events rapidly unreveal, I think such minor deficiency is forgivable.

I also like the story since it does not offer the usual romance. Usually there is teenange and "gooey" romance between the main characters. Well, in this series romance are seldom but strongly depicted. There are romantic moments where Nicholas misses his wife who are trapped in the Alcatraz. How Nicholas and Paranelle do not wish to live forever without one another, how Machiavelli long for his deceased wife, how Saint Germain went back through time to find Joan, his wife depict romance as loving somebody for so much that the two souls can be together for centuries. Living with somebody one loves is better than being immortally alone. And all of the romantic stuff is described in one sentence or two... per half a book. So, like I said before, this book is rather different than the rest of fantasy novels.