Thursday, June 7, 2012

Review: The Enchantress by Michael Scott

The Enchantress by Michael Scott
Book Six of The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel
Published May 22, 2012


Review: 3/5

Cross reviewed on Goodreads

Our journey with this series began in 2007 with The Alchemyst. Six years later, the series comes to an end with The Enchantress. I fell in love with this series from the first book and I craved each summer for the next one to be released.

I realized however that I never posted reviews of the first three books, so for those who might just be entering the series, take this review with an extra grain of salt because it will have a slew of things I was bothered by at times and then all my praise, too.

There is so much terminology in this series that, after the second book, I started becoming confused at times. Here is your run down of characters in terms of hierarchy: Earthlords, Archons, Great Elders, Elders and Dark Elders, Immortals and Humani. Whew! And that doesn't even touch on some on the insanity that comes with trying to pronounce these character's names. So, with all of these big players throughout the series, you continuously read about Immortals and Elders. We never meet a Great Elder or an Archon, and only at the very end, do we meet an Earthlord. It's pretty cool, but it's also very much a cop out. You meet them, they turn out to be the big bad of the whole series (No spoiler there. Trust me!), and then they die just like that from a well placed sword strike from one of the protagonists, Josh Newman. Yeah, so huge disappointment there. I wanted more epicness, as the whole last book essentially takes place on the equivalent of Atlantis (called Danu Talis in the series).

Aside from a few grammatical errors I ran into, I can't help but wonder why there were so many plot hitches in this book. In the other books, there were few if none. Here, a lot of things are left unanswered at the end, such as the Archon and Great Elder thing I touched on. Other things include the future of some of the characters. When a series ends, it must wrap up. And here, there were just a few things that bugged me. I can't say too much for the sake of keeping this spoiler free.

That said, the book is also very slow. This is primarily because of what happened in the fifth book, The Warlock, leading into The Enchantress. Now, because most of the book takes place on Danu Talis, we have to be brought back to modern day San Francisco where the city is about to be run over by the darkest and most feared mythical monsters in legend. Two of the other big heroes of the series, Nicholas Flamel and his wife, Perenelle, are trapped in San Francisco with some Elders and other Immortals that have sided with them to stop the monsters and by time for Josh and his sister, Sophie, to figure out their destiny back in Danu Talis. I really, TRULY expected them to eventually get back to Danu Talis toward the end of the book and assist Josh and Sophie in the final conflict, but that also doesn't happen. Again, sort of a let down.

The final revelation in the book, which in Kindle time is in the last 10% of the book (because it's lame and this book didn't have page numbers) is pretty cool. It's actually very cool and I didn't foresee it at all. I read other reviews on the book and some wrote that they weren't surprised at all by Josh's fate. Uh, sorry. I was very surprised. From The Alchemyst, we learned of the prophecy that involved Josh and Sophie as the Twins of Legend, the fabled Gold and Silver, who would be "One to save the world, One to destroy it." As the series progressed, most of us got the idea that either Josh or Sophie might go Dark Side on everyone and become an enemy. Again, not true and the exact meaning behind the prophecy is deeper than the surface leads to believe.

So, I feel like I ranted a lot of negativity on this book, but don't get me wrong: I LOVED EVERY BIT OF THIS SERIES. Do not let the rating at the top fool you. Could it have been better? Yes. Could I have done better? Probably not. So kudos to Michael Scott for finishing off this series with a touching ending. For those of you who are looking for a great YA read, this is the pick for you.

Peace and Writing Love,

JWP

16 comments:

  1. So who exactly is the enchantress? I can't figure who, Tsagaglalal or Virginia dare? And if either, they are not the biggest part, so why the title?

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    Replies
    1. why I think the enchantress is sophie newman?

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    2. I think its either Sophie or Tsagaglalal, because they are both masters of all the elemental magics, and they also know that all elemental magics are equal to each other.

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  2. I'm listening to the book on CD and I have to say that while I love the story, I'm a little perturbed by inconsistencies. Like when Palamedes is telling Shakespeare about the Emerald tablet and what he saw in his...except that Palamedes and Shakespeare weren't even at the garden party! I hope this turns out to be a plot twist.

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    Replies
    1. Hi, Palamedes and Shakespeare were given their tablets after they arrived on Danu Talis

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  3. *Warning* Spoilers are included, even if slight!

    I don't know if I am really blind or am just being completely oblivious, but what has always confronted me mostly after reading this serious a countless number of times is Sophie's true fate. Yes, we are told that she helps form the new world with the rest of the survivors from Danu Talis when Josh glances in the Codex. However, I don't know if I am the only one, or everyone appreciated Sophie staying her own true persona, but I really needed more on the Sophie future part. What Josh became was quite extravagantly woven into the storyline, but not once was anything mentioned about Sophie would become. I don't know if I am the only one here that thinks any of this is of slight annoyance though.

    However, as usual of the Nicholas Flamel series, The Enchantress is a beautifully crafted masterpiece that will undoubtedly provide constant entertainment in many years to come!

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  6. So...i just want to throw out there that you do meet a couple of Archons in the story..I feel as if you didn't actually read the books through and through? Cernunnos and Coatlicue were both archons within the book.

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  7. You do meet Archons. You also left out the Ancients, which came after the Earthlords but before the Archons. All the terms can be searched up as mythical or deduced from the story. The last battle was epic, if you took in the entire picture. The story is wrapped up at the end, because you will have learned enough to understand everything. You don't need to know what happened to Sophie and the others, because the main story is over. Your criticism is based on missed and inaccurate information, and I advise you to actually read the books before blogging about it.

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  8. You casual readers wouldn't understand anything

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  9. The enchantress is confirmed to be Sophie

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"Little by Little, One Goes Far." -- J.R.R Tolkien.

I believe this as a philosophy, from a man who saw war and setback, and conquered all to bring us the greatest fantasy series that has ever been published. Leave your little comment and I'll get back to you.