Review : The Sorceress by Michael Scott

Title : The Sorceress Author : Michael Scott Reading Dates : 1 Oct - 6 Oct 2011
The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel The Alchemyst The Magician The Sorceress The Necromancer The Warlock
From Amazon : The third book in Michael Scott's "Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel" series, The Sorceress, kicks the action up to a whole new level. Adding to the series' menagerie of immortal humans ("humani") and mythological beasts, the book picks up where The Magician left off: the immortal Nicholas Flamel (of The Alchemyst) and the twins, Sophie and Josh, have just arrived at St. Pancras international train station in London. Almost immediately, they're confronted with a demonic bounty hunter that immortal magician John Dee has sent their way. At the same time, Dee's occasional cohort, Niccolo Machiavelli, decides to focus his energy on Perenelle Flamel, the Alchemyst's wife, who has been imprisoned at Alcatraz since the beginning of the series. In this book, Perenelle gets a chance to show off her sorcery and resourcefulness, fighting and forging alliances with ghosts, beasts, and the occasional Elder to try and find a way out of her predicament and back to Flamel. Scott is as playful as ever, introducing new immortals--famous figures from history who (surprise!) are still alive. He also adds to the roster of fantastical beasts, which already includes such intriguing foes as Bastet, the Egyptian cat goddess, and the Morrigan, or Crow Goddess. Raising the stakes with each installment, Scott deftly manages multiple story lines and keeps everything moving pretty quickly, making this third book a real page-turner. More than just another piece in the puzzle of the whole series, The Sorceress is an adventure in its own right, and will certainly leave series fans wanting more. --Heidi Broadhead

Book Review of The Sorceress.

The Sorceress is a better read than the first 2 books in The Secrets of the Nicholas Flamel series and the ending definitely has me wanting to read on but I still wouldn’t put it in my list of favourite books.

The pacing in The Sorceress is uneven. There are plenty of exciting parts interspersed with boring bits. The problem being that the story is unnecessarily prolonged. And so, the boring bits are simply gap fillers until the story progresses to the next stage.

Also, while I initially enjoyed the world building, especially with all the different myths and historical figures popping up here and there, some parts of it soon became irritating. I mean how many undefeatable warriors or monsters can there be ? With so many around, I’m amazed that they found anyone to beat.

In the end, what drives me to read on are the mysteries left unsolved at the end of the tale. How will Scatty and Joan escape from the trap laid for them ? What is the true meaning of the prophecy and what has Nicholas Flamel been hiding from the twins ?

So, while I’m interested to read the next books in the series, at this point I doubt that I’ll want to re-read them sometime in the future. Once I know the story, there wouldn’t be much else to attract me to read the series.

My conclusions :

• Would I re-read the book ? Not really.
• Would I want to read the next book in the series ? Yes.
• Would I want to own my personal copy if I didn’t already own it ? No, not really.
• Who would I recommend this too? Fantasy readers.
• For those looking to read the book, would I recommend buying or borrowing the book? Borrow it. This is more a one time read.

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