This Just Read: The Alchemyst

I read a lot of books. I re-read a lot of books. I start some books and don't finish them. I've decided to try to post about the books I do finish, as I finish them. Not full-on reviews, but a few words about what I thought. So here goes.

I just finished The Alchemyst: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicolas Flamel by Michael Scott. It's the first volume in a series of books. I'd seen them in bookstores for a few years and though about eventually giving them a go.

Let me start out by saying that I love good young-adult fiction, emphasis on the good. I re-read The Hobbit constantly. This winter I re-read Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy and think it might be my favorite YA fiction ever. I love me some Harry Potter.

The Alchemyst isn't really on the same plane. It's not bad. I found it to be a pretty predictable normal-kids-discover-magick story. It didn't have the depth or quality of writing that could really engage me as an adult reader. I haven't read any of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians books, but I've seen the first movie. The Alchemyst has the same sort of feel.

The Alchemyst starts the reader off on a large story arc. You have to get the next volume to find out what happens next. This is different than the Happy Potter books, for example, which have an overarching plot, but each book has a self-contained story and can be read alone.

So, I don't feel I wasted my time or my money. I'd recommend The Alchemyst to an interested teen, but I'll not be getting the next volume.