Jenn's Review: The Sorceress

 Blurb:  Nicholas Flamel's heart almost broke as he watched his beloved Paris crumble before him. The city was destroyed by Dee and Machiavelli, but Flamel played his own role in the destruction. Sophie and Josh Newman show every sign of being the twins of prophecy, and Flamel had to protect them and the pages from the Dark Elders.

But Nicholas grows weaker with each passing day. Perenelle is still trapped in Alcatraz, and now that Scatty has gone missing, the group is without protection. Except for Clarent—the twin sword to Excalibur. But Clarent’s power is unthinkable, its evil making it nearly impossible to use without its darkness seeping into the soul of whoever wields it.

If he hopes to defeat Dee, Nicholas must find an Elder who can teach Josh and Sophie the third elemental magic—Water Magic. The problem? The only one who can do that is Gilgamesh, and he is quite, quite insane.

Review:  Michael Scott has a cliffhanger habit that pulls you from book to book.   So it's no surprise that I am returning to the Nicholas Flamel series so soon.  I have to say that although I love this series, my frustration level is mounting, perhaps because this book focuses on Josh learning to control his newly awakened powers.

Thus far in the series Josh has always been my least favorite character.  However now Sophie is beginning to get whiney too.  Josh finally came to the realization that if they weren't the twins of legend the world would have ended by now, which I have been shouting at them through the pages from my comfy reading chair since the adventure started.  That has improved Josh's attitude somewhat and given Sophie reason to suffer in silence, but I still feel a huge disconnect from these characters.  Their insistence on trying to see the world in black and white is aggravating especially knowing what they now know and seeing what they have seen.  I'm starting to wish the books were about Nicholas and Perenelle because they are far more interesting.

Aside from Sophie's interaction with Gilgamesh, the parts of The Sorceress I enjoyed were about Perenelle.  Her ingenuity and strength are amazing.  The more I know Perenelle, the more I adore her.  She is fascinating and I hope there will be more of her in the next few novels.  I would be captiavted by a novel of just the Flamel's backstory.  Even Dee's story is becoming more interesting and three dimensional.

Will I continue this series?  Absolutely.  Michael Scott's ability to draw from different mythologies and spin a web of a tale are what make this series hard to put down.  I just wish he hadn't chosen such whiney teens for the protagonists.

Final Take:  3.75/5

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