While working at pleasant but mundane summer jobs in San Francisco, fifteen-year-old twins, Sophie and Josh, suddenly find themselves caught up in the deadly, centuries-old struggle between rival alchemists, Nicholas Flamel and John Dee, over the possession of an ancient and powerful book holding the secret formulas for alchemy and everlasting life.
I think most people first heard of Nicholas Flamel from the first Harry Potter novel, but he was an actual person. (So, no, Michael Scott did not steal from J. K. Rowling.) Nicholas Flamel was a French alchemist who lived in the 14th century. He did search for the philosopher's stone which would change lead into gold. He died in 1418, but there are those who say that he achieved immortality. The other alchemist in this story, John Dee, also was an actual person though he lived over a hundred years after Flamel. Dee was the court astrologer for Queen Elizabeth I in England and prospered during her reign. However, her successor, James I, did not believe in astrology so Dee lost his position at court and died in poverty.
So on those bare bones, Scott has come up with this story of human immortals, mythological creatures, and the forces of Light and Dark, and the future of everything resting on the shoulder of twins 15-year-old Sophie and Josh. It's a lot of fun, but I think I may be suffering from a bit of fantasy fatigue. My heart actually sank a bit when I hit the line "End of Book One." There were some sequences that I really liked--a big chuck of the book takes place in Hekate's home, Yggdrasill, the great World Tree. It is a beautiful place and its wanton destruction just illustrates Dee's villainy. But two little newspaper items near the end that "explain" the odd events as being a special effects movie being filmed seem a bit lame.
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