This is the first of a series all of which I've read. Anyone who follows this blog (and I know there's one of you!) will know that I am down on series as opposed to down with series. They're almost universally disappointing, unimaginative, and downright boring, but once in a while one comes along that is different and has originality, and engages me throughout. This was one of those rarities. There are problems with it, but I enjoyed it despite those because it does have some interesting stories to tell and Michael Scott, for the most part, tells them well.
Sadly, he doesn't know what an archaeologist is, which is a problem since he likes to remind us that that the parents of the main two Characters, Sophie and Josh Newman, are archaeologists, when in fact they are paleontologists. Archaeologist don't go digging up fossils, which is what the parents do (so we're told in this novel). Paleontologists do that (among other things!).
The subtitle of the novel is "The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel," which has led some people to believe this novel is about him, but it's not. He's in it, but as the subtitle makes quite clear, it's about his secrets, not so much about him. So if you first learned of his name in Harry Potter, first of all, shame on you, and secondly, no, Michael Scott isn't Jo Rowling and this isn't Harry Potter and Hermione Granger. Don't expect it and you won't be disappointed. Besides, you're older now, and you should be demanding something more sophisticated! This book goes beyond that, into gods and goddesses from across the world, and as well as famous characters form history such as Flamel and Shakespeare, nearly all of whom seem to come from the same sort of historical era for some reason! There are osme form other time periods and not all of them make much sense, but this is fiction, remember?!
The basis of the novel is founded upon two things: a dangerous codex (note that it has to be a codex or a scroll - 'book' just doesn't have the oomph!) and twins with secret powers. Yes, Sophie and Josh are fraternal twins - why fraternal and not sororal? Pure genderism! But their twin-ness means they are important to the powers that be.
The main antagonist is John Dee, a charlatan and a scholar from the English Elizabethan era. This is a tired trope, but it's not too bad here. On Josh and Sophie's side is Nicholas Flamel, a seven hundred-year old Frenchman. He has charge of the codex, which can be used to end the world. Why he has not completely destroyed this book goes entirely unexplained. This kind of thing constitutes a huge weakness in this sort of a story. It's like Dr Strange hanging on to the time stone and claiming it's critical, but quite literally doing nothing with it (not after the first movie), and refusing to destroy it despite it being the thing which allows Thanos to destroy half the universe's living things (a flawed plan but let's not get into that). Of course, if this codex were destroyed, then the series would never have got off the ground, so that's really a poor position for a writer to put himself in.
Some might argue that Flamel needs the codex because he uses it to make gold from base metals, and to create a potion for himself and his wife Perenelle, which is what grants them immortality, but then you're arguing that after seven hundred years, he still hasn't memorized these 'recipes' - things he does once a month? For seven hundred years? You're arguing that he has never once thought of simply tearing out just those two pages, or copying them, and destroying the rest of the book?? This tells me that Flamel is a moron and every bit as evil as Dee is supposed to be.
The story begins with Sophie and Josh working for the summer in San Francisco, staying with their antiquated aunt, and working summer jobs down town while their "archaeologist" parents are off on a dig. Sophie works at a coffee shop which happens to be directly across the street from where her brother works - in a book store. Everything is fine until one day John Dee turns up with a couple of golems in tow, having finally tracked Flamel down (his mistake was to keep opening bookstores and using names like Nick Fleming!). Now Dee is demanding the codex. He gets his wish, but as Nick, Sophie, and Josh escape, Josh realizes that he has the last two pages of the codex, without which Dee cannot complete his sorcery. Really? But the chase is on!
Dee manages to capture Perenelle, and the other three resort to a friend of Nick's named Scathaich, a warrior woman who teaches martial arts. She's kick-ass, but she's in the story - and the series - far too little for my taste. The story pursues Dee and the codex and is very entertaining if you don't take it too seriously. I commend it.
