The Sorceress by Michael Scott

Ah, Michael Scott. He's done it again. The "Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel" series of books gets better with each installment. Topping The Alchemyst (2007, Random House/Doubleday) wasn't easy, but he did it with last year's The Magician and followed it with this May's The Sorceress (Random House). I'm a huge fan of this series and highly recommend it to readers 10 and up.

Once again, Scott draws on his vast knowledge of folklore, legend and myth (particularly Celtic) as he continues to expand this story of Nicholas and Parenelle Flamel, the immortal couple charged with protecting the codex of Abraham the Mage, and seekers of the twins of legend.

Picking up where The Magician left off, Nicholas must flee Paris with the twins Sophie and Josh after the destruction of his beloved city by John Dee and Machiavelli. The dark elders have the codex, all but the last few pages, but those pages aren't enough to keep the Flamels from aging. Parenelle is trapped on Alcatraz, Scatty is missing and the sword Josh carries, Clarent (twin sword to Excalibur), is having an odd effect on Josh.

Speaking of the twins, they've both been awakened and need to learn more of the elemental magics and Nicholas must find an elder to teach them before Dee catches up with them again.

Scott weaves well-known characters into this tale such as Shakespeare, Billy the Kid, Gilgamesh and King Arthur, as well as an intense race to Stonehenge and a horrifying twist for two characters that will be tricky to undo.

With three books left in the series (The Necromancer is due out in May of 2010, followed by The Warlock and The Enchantress), there's lots of time to do so, and readers have lots of adventure and fantasy to look forward to.

An enthusiastic 4 1/2 bookmarks.

The Magician by Michael Scott

I am a huge fan of the first book in Michael Scott's series about The Immortal Nicholas Flamel, The Alchemyst, so it's no surprise I thoroughly enjoyed this second installment. The story picks up right where book 1 leaves off, and I was quickly re-engrossed in Josh and Sophie's adventures.

SPOILER ALERT -- if you haven't read book 1, you may not want to read on, because knowing what happens in book 2 will kind of spoil reading the first one, if you ask me.

This book is named for the evil Dr. John Dee (aka The Magician) as he continues to track the kids and Nicholas, trying to capture his nemesis and secure the last two pages of the Codex. The fact that he has the Codex of course means that Nicholas and Perenell have lost their ticket to immortality and are aging -- which lends a critical time element. Even worse, Dee has captured Perenell and holds her prisoner on Alcatraz, where she has only the ghosts to help her. 

The story introduces some interesting new characters: Nicollo Machiavelli (who works for the Dark Elders), the Comte de Saint-Germain (Flamel's former student who can teach Sophie the second elemental magic of fire), and his wife who is a character so great I won't tell you because it will ruin it. 

Will Josh have his own powers awakened? Will we finally find out who Dr. John Dee serves? Will Perenell escape from her island prison? You'll have to read The Magician to find out.

Sidenote: The Sorceress, the third book in the series, is slated for release in May of 2009.