The Alchemyst: filled with a creative mixture of myths, Gods and magic

This archived article was written by: Brady Maynes

What do you get when you mix ancient myths, gods and magic together? The Alchemyst is the first book in the series called The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel.
The book begins with the story of 15-year-old twins, Sophie and Josh Newman. They are in San Francisco for the summer while their parents are on an archeological dig. Josh works at a bookshop owned by Nick Flemming and Sophie works across the street at the coffee shop with Nick’s wife Perry.
Dr. John Dee arrives at the bookstore in an attempt to steal a book called the Codex from Nick Flemming.
Dr. Dee has the distinct smell of sulfur around him as he performs magic. Dr. Dee succeeds in taking the Codex but Josh is able to tear the last two pages from it. Nick Flemming tells Josh that he is really Nicholas Flamel of old.
Though Nicholas Flamel is over 650 years old, he doesn’t look a day over 50. The secret to his immortal life was in the book that Dr. Dee stole. Nicholas’s wife, whose name is really Perenelle, came to the aid of her husband, but because she used a great amount of energy when she used magic, Dr. Dee captured her as well as the book.
Nicholas tells Josh and Sophie that they are in grave danger and must leave at once. Nicholas takes them to an old friend named Scathach. She is a Next Generation Elder, which means she is a daughter of the Elders of old.
Most of the original Elder’s thought of humans as no more than slaves or food. These Dark Elders where beaten and no longer rule on Earth. The human race has forgotten about Elders and magic, turning a blind eye when they see something that they can’t explain.
The Codex, which Nicholas has been able to study for hundreds of years, tells of a prophecy of twins that will either fight together for humanity or fight against each other and destroy the world. Nicholas believes that Sophie and Josh are these twins.
Their powers must be Awakened or the magic within them must be brought out. Nicholas, Scathach, Josh, and Sophie seek refuge with Hekate, an Elder that never saw humans as slaves.
Nicholas hopes that Hekate will be able to awaken the twins powers. Dr. Dee hears of this and recruits two Dark Elder’s to attack Hakate’s realm. Because her world is attacked Hakate is only able to awaken Sophie’s powers. Dr. Dee and the two Dark Elder’s Bastet and the Morrigan succeed in sending Hekate into the Underworld and Dr. Dee uses the sword Excalibur to destroy her realm.
Nicholas, Scathach, Sophie and Josh are able to escape. They go to the Witch of Endor. The Witch of Endor is Scathach’s grandmother and they know she can be trusted. They go to the Witch of Endor so that Sophie can be trained, as the witch is the master of air. The Witch of Endor does even more. She gives Sophie all of her memories as well as her knowledge of power over air.
Josh, who is feeling very jealous, because his power hasn’t been awakened, goes off by himself. Dr. Dee finds him and very convincingly tells Josh why he should come with him. He tells Josh that Nicholas Flamel is the real evil person. Josh is nearly convinced when a battle between Nicholas and Dr. Dee begins.
Even if Josh doesn’t go with Dr. Dee right then, what he said sticks with him.
Who is to be trusted? Nicholas, who says he is protecting them, though they seem to be in even more danger. Or Dr. Dee, who promises to get Josh’s powers awakened and paints a glorious future. The book is continually dealing with the dilemma of who can be trusted and who can’t. Can you trust your gut, or is it lying to you just like everyone else seems to be doing?