The Alchemyst: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel

The Alchemyst: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel

File:Alchemyst Nicholas Flamel.jpg First Edition cover of The Alchemyst: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel
Author	Michael Scott
Language	English
Genre	Fantasy, Thriller, Fiction, Mythology
Publisher	Random House (U.S.) Random House (U.K)
Publication date	22 May 2007 (U.S)
Publication place	Ireland
Media type	Print (Hardback)
Pages	375 p. (U.S. hardback)
ISBN	ISBN 978-0385733571 (U.S.)
Followed by	The Magician: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel
Website	[1]

The Alchemyst is a 2007 novel by Irish author Michael Scott, the first part in the six-book series The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel." Scott draws on a wide knowledge of world mythology to stage a battle between the Dark Elders and their hired gun—Dr. John Dee—against the forces of good led by Nicholas Flamel and the twins, Sophie and Josh Newman.

Characters

• Sophie Newman - The elder of the twins. Sophie worked at a coffee shop - The Coffee Cup - before Dee attacked. Her aura is pure silver (very rare aura)and smells like vanilla ice cream. In the first book, Sophie's powers are awakened by Hekate (an Elder) and she is trained in the Magic of Air by The Witch of Endor. The witch also imparts all of her all her knowledge to Sophie during the process. Sophie is agoraphobic, the opposite of her brother. She is less impulsive than her brother.

"A silver glow had appeared around Sophie. Like a thin second skin, it hovered just above the surface of her flesh, winking in and out of existence. When she blinked, her eyes turned to flat reflective mirrors."

— Michael Scott, The Alchemyst, p.65

• Josh Newman - Younger than his twin sister by only 28 seconds. Josh's pure gold aura is slightly rarer than Sophie's aura and smells like oranges. He worked at a book store - The Small Book Shop - under Nicholas Flamel before the encounter with Dr.Dee. He isn't awakened in the first book by Hekate because Dee attacks the Yggdrasil world tree that Hekate inhabits. Josh is undecided on his trust of Flamel; he believes he is putting Sophie in danger.He is quietly jealous of Sophie's powers. He has claustrophobia, opposite of his sister's agoraphobia. He is smart but impulsive and is scared of snakes.

"The glow that covered Josh was a warm golden hue. It was concentrated mainly around his head and hands, throbbing and pulsing in sync with his heartbeat.The irises of his eyes were like golden coins."

— Michael Scott, The Alchemyst, p65-66

• Nicholas Flamel - While disguised as "Nick Fleming", Nicholas owned a book shop while he protected the Codex (a.k.a. The Book of Abraham the Mage). His aura is green and smells like peppermint. Now that Dee has most the Book of Abraham (except for the two pages that Josh ripped out of the book), he has lost his immortality recipe that was on page 7, and becomes older by the day, and faster if he uses his aura in any way. One of the twins, Josh, dislikes the fact that the Alchemist doesn't always reveal all the truth.

"I discovered the secret of the philosopher s stone hidden deep in that book of ancient magic: I learned how to turn ordinary metal into gold, how to change common stones into precious jewels. But more than this, much more, I found the recipe for a formulation of herbs and spells that keeps disease and death at bay. Perenelle and I became virtually immortal."

— Nicholas Flamel, The Alchemyst, p.21

• Perenelle - Disguised as "Perry Fleming" until she was kidnapped by Dr.Dee. She is married to Nicholas. She is a powerful sorceress with an ice white aura that attracts ghosts of all kinds. She is a seventh daughter of a seventh daughter, who can see and communicate with ghosts.

"Opening her eyes wide, Perenelle concentrated on her own aura. Her natural aura was a pale ice white, which acted like a beacon for the dead, drawing them to her."

— Michael Scott, The Alchemyst, p.77

• John Dee - For centuries, Dr.Dee has been chasing Nicholas and Perenelle to get his hands on the Codex and return the Dark Elders to power. His master is unknown and thought to be very powerful. Dee has failed many times to retrieve the Codex and capture the Flamels. Dr.Dee, like the Flamels, is immortal. His immortality was bestowed upon him by his Dark Elder and could be revoked at any time if he continues to fail in his mission. Has his own business, Enoch Enterprises. His aura is a sickly yellow and smells like brimstone. He has in his possession the sword Excalibur, the brother sword of Clarent.

"I rather like the smell of brimstone. It is so," He paused. "So dramatic."

— Dr. Dee, The Alchemyst, p.15

• Scathach - Nicknamed "Scatty". One of the Next Generation Elders. Scathach has trained many warriors over the past millennia. She is also a vegetarian vampire. She is commonly known as the Warrior Maid or the Shadow. Her aura is gray.

"In mythology she is known as the Warrior Maid, the Shadow,the Daemon Slayer, the King Maker, the.."

— Nicholas Flamel, The Alchemyst, p.35

"Oh, just call me Scatty," the young woman said, her cheeks turning the same color as her hair.

— Scathach, The Alchemyst, p.35

• Hekate - The Goddess Elder of the three faces, whose life was inter-weaved with the ancient Yggdrasil tree that she nurtured and grew in her shadowrealm. She Awakened Sophie's powers. Hekate grows and ages throughout the course of a day, starting young in the morning and growing older as the day progresses, only to be renewed again the next morning. She was a powerful elder until Dee turned her into ice and shattered her with the ancient and mythical sword of ice, Excalibur.

"There is no daughter or granddaughter. The mature woman you saw this afternoon was Hekate. The old woman you saw this evening is also Hekate, and in the morning, you will meet a young girl who is Hekate as well."

"The Goddess with Three Faces," Flamel reminded them.

"Hekate is cursed to age with the day. Maiden in the morning, matron in the afternoon, crone in the evening. She is incredibly sensitive about her age."

— Scathach, The Alchemyst, p.86

• The Witch of Endor - Is living as Dora Witcherly, running her antiques shop in Ojai (pronounced Oh-hai), California and has been alive for millenia. She gave all her knowledge and memories to Sophie when she awakened her. Dora is Scathach's grandmother. She uses mirrors to see, having sacrificed her eyes for the ability to see the strands of time.

"The Witch of Endor had no eyes. There were just hollow empty sockets where eyes should have been, and nestled in the sockets were perfect ovals of reflective glass."

— Michael Scott, The Alchemyst, p.168

• The Morrigan - The Next Generation winged Dark Elder (the Crow Goddess)- she has the ability to control crows. She is Bastet's niece. The Morrigan has three personalities after incorporating her sisters Macha and Badb into herself, the sisters are not heard from in The Alchemyst.

"The ancient Irish had called her the Crow Goddess, and she was worshipped and feared throughout the Celtic kingdoms as the Goddess of Death and Destruction. Once there had been three sisters: Badb, Macha and the Morrigan, but the others had disappeared over the years Dee had his own suspicions about what had happened to them and the Morrigan now reigned supreme."

— Michael Scott, The Alchemyst, p.52

• Bastet - The Dark Elder with a cat head - has the ability to control felines.

"One of the most powerful members of the Elder Race, Bastet had been worshipped in Egypt since the earliest ages of man. She had the body of a beautiful young woman with the head of a cat, and Perry had absolutely no idea of the magical forces she controlled."

— Michael Scott, The Alchemyst, p.76

Plot summary

Sophie and Josh are working at a bookstore and a cafe when Dee comes for the Codex. Here, they witness Nicholas and Perenelle using magic, and discover that Nicholas is not a bookseller, but is indeed an ancient alchemyst being kept alive by making the elixir of life (a secret from the Codex) for him and Perenelle. He can use magic. He needs the Codex back to make the elixir of life again, or he and Perenelle will die before the month's end. Also, if Nicholas does not retrieve the Codex, Dee will summon the Dark Elders to destroy the world and return to an age in which humans are but slaves and food.

Flamel quickly takes them to a Dojo to enlist the aid of Scathach, an extremely powerful ally. Dee assaults the Dojo, but is thwarted by Flamel and Scathach. Flamel then leads the twins and Scathach to attempt to secure the aid of Hekate, who can awaken the twins' magical potential. Dee discovers this, and enlists the aid of Bastet, and the Morrigan. The trio mount a massive assault on Hekate's shadowrealm, attempting to destroy the Yggdrasill that is the heart of Hekate's power.

While the Yggdrasill is attacked, Hekate Awakens Sophie; she does not Awaken Josh, as the Yggdrasill is then lit on fire and she rushes to defend her home. After a long, grueling battle, Scathach clears a path for the twins and Flamel. While escaping, they encounter Dee, and witness the power of the ancient sword known as Excalibur, which he draws. They see him transform a wereboar into pure ice, then shatter the statue. Scathach remarks that she thought that Excalibur had been lost when Artorius died.

The twins, Scathach, and Flamel escape the shadowrealm rapidly after, shortly before the destruction of Hekate, the Yggdrasill, and the entire shadowrealm. As they escape, Dee uses Excaliber to freeze the Yggdrasill, and Hekate, whose life and power is linked to the tree, transforms to ice as it does. As this occurs, Dee is informed that Flamel and Scathach have escaped with the twins. In his rage, he shatters the Yggdrasill, which crushes Hekate into dust, killing her. At this point, they travel to Scathach's grandmother, the Witch of Endor (also called "The Mistress of Air"), who teaches Sophie her magical secrets quickly by giving the girl all her memories.

While they are there, Dee has found out that the prophecy in the Codex speaks of Sophie and Josh. He tempts Josh to join him, while practicing necromancy and raising thousands of corpses to assault the Elders and Sophie with. Josh almost agrees, but at the last moment he realizes he will lose Sophie if he agrees, and distracts the necromancer long enough to escape with Scathach, Sophie and Nicholas using a leygate (where lines of energy, or ley lines on the globe cross) to escape to Paris, where the book ends. The book ends with the conclusion that the Witch has survived and Dee is still searching, leaving the book with a cliffhanger.

Book of Abraham

Also called the Codex, The Alchemyst centers around a prophecy in the Book of Abraham. The Book of Abraham is an actual book, but the prophecies described in the The Alchemyst are the fictional work of Michael Scott. The prophecies describe the return of the Elders - a race of magically powerful beings that seek to return to power and rule the Earth - and contains a spell that will achieve just that. Nicholas Flamel is the protector of this book and seeks to ensure the Elders never get their hands on it. When attacked by John Dee, the book is stolen. Luckily, Josh Newman manages to rip the two most important pages from the book - the Final Summoning, the one spell to summon the Dark Elders to take back Earth, and possibly raise Danu Talis (Atlantis) up from the waves.

Also contained in the Book of Abraham are the secrets of immortality and the philosopher's stone. The secret of immortality is held on page 7, according to Michael Scott. It is believed that Nicholas Flamel learned the secrets of the Philosopher's stone from the Book of Abraham in 1382. And in the book it refers to him as the last keeper of the book. And Sophie and Josh as the Twins (as said in the book) Either to Destroy or Save the world. Nicholas thinks one has the power to save and one has the power to destroy.

Mr.Scott has stated that he is not referring to The Book of Abramelin, as that book came into existence much later.

Sequels

The series continues in the sequel The Magician: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel which was released in the UK on June 5, 2008 and on June 24, 2008 in the US. The third book The Sorceress: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel was released on May 26, 2009 in the U.S. and on June 25, 2009 in the U.K. Three more books, The Necromancer: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel has been said to be released on May 25th 2010 on the official site www.dillonscott.com, The Warlock: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel and The Enchantress: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel have yet to announce a release date or book cover.

Film Adaptation

Film rights for this book have been sold to New Line Cinema and Mark Burnett Productions. The film is currently in pre-production. This has been reported at IMDb. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the writer hired to pen the script is Eric Bress. He is well-known for writing the scripts for the popular television show Kyle XY. It has been reported the producer is Mark Burnett and that he bought the rights to the book in an auction many months before the book was published. The movie is TBA 2009 (To Be Announced)so most likely another year.

On November 19th 2009 it was announced in Variety Magazine that Lorenzo di Bonaventura had bought the film rights to the series. Michael Scott and Barry Krost will be the executive producers. The script writer has yet to be announced.

"Well, I have been promising news of the Flamel movie. Here's the press release. The movie was set up with New Line, but New Line were absorbed by Warner and the rights reverted to me. There has been tremendous interest in the series and eventually, it went to Lorenzo di Bonaventura, who is the man responsible for bringing HP to Warner when he was there. He genuinely loves this series. The next step now is to attach a writer - I will not write it, I have 3 more books to do!"

-Michael Scott, Posted by him, on his Flamel's Secret Fan Forum. "Link to his full post".

Give Away

In April 2009 American publisher Random House offered free copies of the book online as a PDF, but this offer was only valid for one month and has since expired.

FAQ

The title Alchemyst refers to the title character, Nicholas Flamel.

References

External links

• Authors site Authors site
• Publishers Website Publishers Website
• Japanese Website Japanese Website
• Spanish Website Spanish Website
• German Website German Website
• Approved Flamel Forum Author endorsed fan forum visited daily by the author.