Collected Miscellany

I thought it would be appropriate to look back over the books I read in 2009 and pick out a few of my favorites.  Keep in mind what follows is my list of favorite reads in 2009 not books published in 2009. And the list is not in particular order or rank.

1) John the Baptizer by Brooks Hansen:

No matter your faith background, or lack of it, or your knowledge of the Bible, or lack of it, I highly recommend John The Baptizer.  Its blends the historical and the literary in ways that defy genre and subject matter to create a powerful story.

2) Right Time, Right Place by Richard Brookhiser

For anyone wanting to understand the conservative movement, and its flagship magazine, Right Time, Right Place is a must read.  And anyone interested in becoming a journalist/writer would do well to read it. But at its heart is a more humane vision: that being true to your ideals and friends is what’s important.

3) The Everafter War by Michael Buckley

With the Everafter War Michael Buckley again shows why this series has won the acclaim and popularity it has.  Each book has just the right amount of humor and seriousness; of plot and character development mixed with satire and slapstick.  He keeps the reader guessing – although both the traitor and the master are pretty easy to spot – and despite all the silliness (and the YA audience) the characters are surprisingly well developed. It is just an ideal light read for me and for kids of all ages.

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Cover via Amazon

I will fully admit that I can be far too derivative in my reviews. I think that I can write some thoughtful and detailed reviews when I have the time and energy.  But I also post a number of “here is the publishers blurb and here is my reaction” type posts.

This doesn’t bother me too much because one function of this blog is simply to track what I read; and not every review is, or has to be, a thoughtful masterpiece.

I bring this up, because I would be hard pressed to add much to Heidi Broadhead’s Amazon.com review of The Sorceress by Michael Scott:

The third book in Michael Scott’s “Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel” series, The Sorceress, kicks the action up to a whole new level. Adding to the series’ menagerie of immortal humans (“humani”) and mythological beasts, the book picks up where The Magician left off: the immortal Nicholas Flamel (of The Alchemyst) and the twins, Sophie and Josh, have just arrived at St. Pancras international train station in London. Almost immediately, they’re confronted with a demonic bounty hunter that immortal magician John Dee has sent their way. At the same time, Dee’s occasional cohort, Niccolo Machiavelli, decides to focus his energy on Perenelle Flamel, the Alchemyst’s wife, who has been imprisoned at Alcatraz since the beginning of the series. In this book, Perenelle gets a chance to show off her sorcery and resourcefulness, fighting and forging alliances with ghosts, beasts, and the occasional Elder to try and find a way out of her predicament and back to Flamel.

Scott is as playful as ever, introducing new immortals–famous figures from history who (surprise!) are still alive. He also adds to the roster of fantastical beasts, which already includes such intriguing foes as Bastet, the Egyptian cat goddess, and the Morrigan, or Crow Goddess. Raising the stakes with each installment, Scott deftly manages multiple story lines and keeps everything moving pretty quickly, making this third book a real page-turner. More than just another piece in the puzzle of the whole series, The Sorceress is an adventure in its own right, and will certainly leave series fans wanting more.

I wasn’t blown away by The Alchemyst but each book since has ratcheted up the intensity.  The Amazon review matches my reaction perfectly.  The action is kicked up a notch, the pacing is great, and the characters – both old and new – are fun and well done.

If you have been living in a cave and haven’t stumbled on this series yet, and you like fantasy adventure, I highly recommend it.

This is one of those great series where each book seems to get better and each wait for the next one to come up seems more intolerable.

Cover via Amazon

Here is how I descirbed the first book in Michael Scott’s The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series (The Alchemyst):

It turned out to be a grand adventure.  Not the most believable story, for sure, but imaginative and entertaining.

I think that was an accurate statement, but interestingly enough, this series has really grown on me.  The second book, The Magician, turned out to be a even faster paced and more engaging read.

Here is Booklists take:

The Alchemyst (2007), the first book in The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series,  introduced a wide-ranging group of historical figures who have achieved immortality and are engaged in a present-day struggle for the fate of the world. This second entry picks up exactly where the first left off. Allied with the legendary Nicholas Flamel  on the “good” side are teenage twins Sophie and Josh, who are supremely gifted but with powers that are untrained. Countering them is a new archvillain, Niccolò Machiavelli, who, along with other figures from history and legend (Joan of Arc, a trio of Valkyries), swells the already impressive cast. Plundering every imaginable culture of their heroes and heroines is a clever feat, sure to draw all manner of historically and mythologically minded readers. One weakness starts to show through, however. In a six-book series such as this, each installment begins to feel like a lengthy, glorified chapter rather than its own book complete with a satisfying story arc and resolution. That said, this keeps the pace as an exciting and impeccably thought-out fantasy, well suited for those left in the lurch by Harry Potter’s recent exeunt.

I think Booklist captures the pros and cons of this series well.  As noted, the overall plot is of course ridiculous – as any conspiracy that purports to explain the history of the universe and involves mankind being kept in the dark for millenia is bound to be.  And the books have the feel more of large chapter books rather than stand alone novels.

But once you plunge into them and accept these limits they are really great entertainment.  You are just focused on the characters – the reoccurring ones and the ones that Scott keeps blending in – and the race to capture Flamel and the twins.  Scott keeps enough murkey that there is good tension – wondering where everyone’s loyalty lies and what trap might be sprung when you aren’t looking.

Scott has taken a clever hook and managed to keep both the pace and the interest in the characters and the larger story line over the course of a number of large books.  That is not as easy as it looks.  It would have been easy for the creativity to dry up and the story to bog down – or for the reader to get tired of the chase – but I found myself furtively reading every chance I get to find out what was going to happen next and to find some clues about the larger mystery at the heart of the battle for the fate of earth.

But at its most basic it is really just a good fantasy action adventure story.  Interesting good guys and bad guys – and somewhere in between – battling it out across the world using magical powers and the knowledge gained from immortality.  Basic stuff: good versus evil on an epic scale.

My wife and I have both now plowed through the series and are annoyed we have to wait until May 2010 for the next book.  So if you haven’t yet discovered it, I recommend the series for those that love fantasy action adventures (young or old).

For more information also see the Random House site.

Note to authors and publicists: giving away the first book in order to entice readers to read and purchase the whole series works.  This is exactly how I came to be a fan.  Free Kindle version of the first book led me to buy the next book.

Cover via Amazon

Never one to pass up free books, I downloaded a Kindle version of The Alchemyst: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel for free.  But it was far down the TBR list.  My wife, however, read it and enjoyed it.  This piqued my interest and one night I started reading it to “see what it was all about.”

It turned out to be a grand adventure.  Not the most believable story, for sure, but imaginative and entertaining.

Here is the PW review to give you a flavor:

Twin 15-year-old siblings Sophie and Josh Newman take summer jobs in San Francisco across the street from one another: she at a coffee shop, he at a bookstore owned by Nick and Perry Fleming. In the vey first chapter, armed goons garbed in black with “dead-looking skin and… marble eyes” (actually Golems) storm the bookshop, take Perry hostage and swipe a rare Book (but not before Josh snatches its two most important pages). The stolen volume is the Codex, an ancient text of magical wisdom. Nick Fleming is really Nicholas Flamel, the 14th-century alchemist who could turn base metal into gold, and make a potion that ensures immortality. Sophie and Josh learn that they are mentioned in the Codex’s prophecies: “The two that are one will come either to save or to destroy the world.” Mayhem ensues, as Irish author 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 Flamel and the twins (Sophie’s powers are “awakened” by the goddess Hekate, who’d been living in an elaborate treehouse north of San Francisco). Not only do they need the Codex back to stop Dee and company, but the immortality potion must be brewed afresh every month. Time is running out, literally, for the Flamels. Proceeding at a breakneck pace, and populated by the likes of werewolves and vampires, the novel ends on a precipice, presumably to be picked up in volume two.

To me this was not one of those works where the author creates an amazingly complex and believable world or worldview that sucks you in.  Instead, it was an imaginative conceit – the existence of Elders, the truth of alchemy, etc. – that set up and action adventure series.  The hook works because you don’t think about it too much; you just accept it and follow where the action leads.

The battle between good and evil is interesting and keeps the story moving at a nice pace.  And there is just enough mystery and new characters to keep the reader wanting to know more.  And if you enjoy mythology it is fun to see how Scott ties it all together.

This kind of young adult adventure series is perfect for bedtime reading after a stressful day.  I have already started The Magician and plan to read the whole series.  If, like me, you were not aware of it I recommend it as a fun read.