Wednesday, April 20, 2011

The Secret of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel

Went to Surabaya last weekend.. and were strolling at Gramedia to see new books.
And then, I came across this book..

The Alchemyst, the Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel by Michael Scott.
Have you heard of Nicholas Flamel? If you are a Harry Potter fans, this name must ring a bell.
Nicholas Flamel was mentioned in Harry Potter 1st series, The Philosopher's Stone.. yep! He's the owner of the Philosopher's stone, a stone that can change metal into gold, and more over, he also claims that he discovered the secret of eternal life.

The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel books don't have anything to do with Hogwarts School, his friends Dumbledore (as it is said in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone) or even Harry Potter himself.
It's a story of another kind of magic.. where you don't need wands, all you have is yourself to do magic, story about the Elders (I read the Indonesian version, I hope I got the English term right), god and goddess, and many more magic creatures, good and dark ones that you have never imagine.. (hehe.. am I exaggerating? haha..)

I just read the first book, finished it in 4 days.. hehe..
So far, it is fun, I like it..
The magic in it is like The Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud. Also about wizard world and it's a bit of a dark magic story, power seeking and status-minded wizards. And the same with the Elders in the book The Secret of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel, humani (humans as they call it) or commoner (human's term in Jonathan Stroud's books) are below the wizards, they are supposed to be the Elder's or wizard's slave and not worth a thing.

And now.. a little bit of the book preview..

The Secret of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel, the Alchemyst (book 1).

It all started when Josh and Sophie found out that the owner of a bookstore where Josh works is actually Nicholas Flamel. A French Alchemist, along with his wife, Perenelle, are the guardians of the Book of Abraham. They have been protecting this book for centuries.. the book contains secrets, premonitions and a collection of the most powerful spells in the world. It also contains the secrets to turn metal into gold, rocks into diamonds and also, the secrets to Eternal life.

The Elders have been searching for this book for centuries too in order to restore their power in the world, to conquer and rule the world and everything in it.

Dr John Dee, a humani who has given his life to served the Elders finally discovers the Flamel's whereabouts, he attacks and snatched the book. Josh and Sophie, whose happen to be in the place, intervene to help Flamel. Little they know that they were about to change their whole lives by doing so.

And now, they are being hunted by Dee and other dark magical creatures (you've never heard or seen before).
4 books of the series are available in the bookstores; the Alchemyst, the Magician, the Sorceress and the Necromancer. The 5th book, the Warlock, is going to be released on 22nd or 23rd of May this year.
I don't know whether this is the last book or not, but I heard that it is going to be a series of six books. I'm currently reading the 2nd book now..

It's really interesting, since the character himself, Nicholas Flamel said to be real character. He did exist. And there's also a house that's claimed to be his old house before in France.
Wooow.. great, isn't it?
So, what are you waiting for? Go to your favorite bookstore, Kinokuniya, Gramedia, Gunung Agung or wherever.. grab the whole series and find your nose sticking in to it till the last chapter.. :p

P.S.
hmm.. while writing this book review.. I wonder if I can include it in Angel's contest :p

2 comments:

Angels said...

Yes YOU CANN XD
Gw dari dulu penasaran sama buku ini. Thanks for the review! :D

Jeanne M. Wigoena said...

@ Angel: hahaha..
You're welcome Ngel.
Jadi?! Tertarik beli yg mana dunk? seri nya Nicholas Flamel atau My Milk Toof? hahaha..
Pulang kantor ke toko buku nih? :p