Book Review: The Magician by Michael Scott

Reading level: Young Adult
Hardcover: 496 pages
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers (June 24, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 9780385733588
ISBN-13: 978-0385733588

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 teeming with enemies. Nicollo Machiavelli, immortal author and celebrated art collector, is working for Dee. He’s after them, and time is running out for Nicholas and Perenell. For every day spent without the Book of Abraham the Mage, they age one year—their magic becoming 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.

My Review

I read the first of The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel, The Alchemyst and it was great. You can look at my review for it here. So, I had both The Alchemyst and The Magician on my bookshelf for the longest time and never picked them up. I see now that this was a huge mistake. These books are awesome! I really enjoy them for many reasons.

• Greatly written
• The mythology
• Awesome characters
• The mythology
• One of the most fast paced series I've ever read
• Did I mention the mythology

Okay, I'll break it down for you folks. Michael Scott (Not from The Office) really knows how to write a book. I'm pretty sure he could get just about anybody hooked to his books. Each book (all fairly long) only goes over the time of a few days, so you're getting a lot of details. The heroes of the story are never safe, constantly on the move. Even though I've only read four days of their adventure, the character development is great. You really get to know the characters really well and when it seems like someone is about to die (Not a spoiler, it seems like they're always about to die) the book gets really stressful.

Okay in the paragraph above, you might have noticed that I didn't mention the mythology. I seriously think Michael Scott is an Extractor, (Nerdy Inception reference) got into my mind, and pulled out all the stuff I like. He puts in sorcery. Monsters. No, not just the average boogie man. No, he puts in stuff from Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Chinese, and more. He grabs some historical figures throws 'em in there. And then, just for kicks, grabs gods from Greek/Roman (Pretty much the same thing, right?) mythology. Yep, they are characters. Not only that, Scott continues and gets gods from many other myths. Bastet, Ares, Cronus, all make appearances, as do many others. And it's awesome.

Yeah, so this is an extremely cool book. Honestly, Mr. Scott pretty much put something for everyone in this story. It might seem like he's trying to hard, packing these books with so much stuff, but he really pulls it off. Michael Scott created a great world, filled it with interesting things, wrote a captivating story, and put it on these pages. And for these reasons, this is a great read for any teen who likes any fantasy books.



*A note to the parents, this book is very clean, only containing mild violence.