The Sorceress

Star Wars was the first movie, that was not a cartoon, that I saw in theaters. My dad saw it and decided that it was something his five-year-old needed to see. I remember being completely blown away by it. It would be something that I would watch time and time again and it would never grow old.

When The Empire Strikes Back came out in theaters, my dad took me with him sight unseen. I loved it and hated it although I couldn't have expressed why. While I have watched Star Wars countless times, I have watched Empire probably not five times. It was too dark and sad and painful and gory and gut-wrenching. But of course it was proclaimed by critics as the best of the three because it advanced the action among other things.

I believe I was in 6th grade when Return of the Jedi came out and I went with my best-friend Allison to see it first. Then I managed to get my dad to take me again and again every Thursday night - his night after my parents divorced. It more than made up for Empire in every single way. It might be my favorite of the three.

So why am I talking about Star Wars? Because The Sorceress: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel by Michael Scott is my Jedi. I liked The Alchemist. I hated The Magician. I love The Sorceress. I'll confess here that I am concerned about The Necromancer. I fear that it will be Empire all over again.

There are still no more kids introduced in the series. Sophie and Josh are it. Billy the Kid is a new character, and while he died young, he has lived over 100 years and in my book, that doesn't count.

My favorite new character is The King - Gilgamesh. He is the oldest living immortal and he is insane. I'm concerned because Sophie calls him the Ancient of Days based upon the memories of the Witch of Endor. I'm concerned because although EVERY other culture's gods are represented, the God of Israel is absent. My first thought is that he is avoiding Judeo/Christian theology either because he is neither Jew nor Christian OR because he IS one of the two. I almost wish he was atheist and worked God into the story. I think that would be fun and intriguing!

But Perenelle is truly my favorite. The fact that she is much more powerful than many suspect, leads to many surprises. And I'm hoping there will be more secrets to reveal in the future. The best part is that she has managed to accomplish SO much even though she has been held a prisoner on the island of Alcatraz for the vast majority of three massive books! Perenelle proves that a woman can be the strength behind her man.

I've been a little disappointed with some of the writing. I'm simply tired of every character reverting to their native dialect whenever they become stressed. Every tense situation requires that the author mentions that character starts using the tongue they were raised on. And I've begun to keep a tally of every instance of eye color being not even described, but just stated. Two greens, one brown, and several blue pairs over and over again. This has never bothered me before in other books. So it is particularly grating now. Still this volume is the best of the three!