I finished reading The Alchemist by Michael Scott last week and forgot to post about it because I went right into Pride and Prejudice, which I'm completely addicted to and will tell you all about when I am finished reading it. The Alchemist I truly enjoyed reading and I can't wait to read the rest of the series, a fourth of which is coming out in May I believe (The Necromancer). I found that the library nearest me has the second and third ones so I'll have to go get them.
These particular stories are of great interest and entertainment to me because it is precisely the type of stories that I write so, naturally I get alot of great ideas from reading them. Being a huge Harry Potter fan, what appealed to me about this book in the first place was the subject of Nicholas Flamel, who is part of the first book of Harry Potter (The Sorcerer's Stone). I love the idea of taking real myths and legends, like Michael does through the whole book, and making fictional stories out them (it's also a great love of mine to see movies based on real myths and legends like The Clash of The Titans, which I saw last Saturday and really liked!).
I think the only negative thing I can say about the book is that Michael Scott didn't really seem to develop his characters as much as he could have. I realize he's writing in third person and so he skips around from each character's POV quite a lot, but having well developed characters always makes for a better story. I think what really keeps the main characters from being more developed too is how fast paced the actual story is. The first book alone only covers two days, and the first three books cover a week I believe. It's a lot of information that gets thrown at you really fast, but it's a very exciting read! (And I personally appreciate authors who don't feel the need to explain everything to the reader, especially right away. It's how I write and I don't mind having to think a little while reading a story. It's more like watching a movie.)
Anyway, great book and now I'm nearly done with Pride and Prejudice so you'll be hearing about that one soon!
3 comments:
I'm SO happy you read it! Finally, someone else I can talk to about this series. I have read them all and I'm really looking forward to the newest one coming out. Actually, I may re-read them to refresh my mind. But I definitely agree with you about the lack of character development, though it is a children's book. (Harry Potter was something special I think.)
And I think I need to read Pride and Prejudice -- I love the movie and story so much, I don't know why I haven't read the book yet.
I read that last month for my book club!!!!! I really liked it. At first I was kind of bored by it but once I realized it was going to be an applicable life lesson book, I had more fun reading it. There's a lot you can take away from it and I thought it was really well-written.
I will have to read it. I am almost done with my current book!
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