Review: Michael Scott’s “The Enchantress”

Book description from Goodreads:

The sixth and final book in the New York Times bestselling Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series.
Product Description
The sixth and final book in the New York Times bestselling Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series.

The twins of prophecy have been split. Nicholas Flamel is near death. John Dee has the swords of power. And Danu Talis has yet to fall. The future of the human race lies in the balance – how will the legend end?

 

Michael Scott’s “Enchantress” is the final installment in the Secret of the Immortal Nicolas Flamel series and overall the series was a great adventure to read. What Scott does well is take different myths and legends from different cultures and weaves those threads together into a tapestry that feels natural, almost as if the Celtic gods are long-lost cousins of the gods the Greeks worshiped. After six books the concept has not grown old and I find myself anticipating what legends Scott is going to introduce into the Flamel world because the author’s spins on the legends are fresh. His integration of Atlantis into the story with this installment  is wonderful, the city appears as a polished gem from afar but there is scum underneath that nail, which adds depth. While the gods (the Elders) may roam the streets they are far from perfect and more like the humans the despise than they would admit.

There is a lot of pay off in “Enchantress”. Scott is able to wrap up his story well. He takes a quarter of the book to get the ball rolling but once the action begins it doesn’t stop. All the battles move smoothly and conflicts are not resolved by magic or muscle but the bravery, sacrifice, and wit of the characters. This makes the reader wonder if their favorite characters will survive to the last page.

Speaking of characters, the one thing I could gripe about concerning the “Enchantress” stems back through all the books. Character development. Some of the characters lacked growth and maybe that was because they had lived such long lives their personalities and motives were set–I speak about the Elders and Immortals, all several hundreds or thousands of years old. I would be happy to read about how those people set their personas in stone. Maybe this is the reason why the twins of legend–Sophie and Josh–were so intriguing, they were still growing as individuals and trying to understand why they should make one decision over another. Josh surprised me at the end, his fate is not what I envisioned and I am happy with Josh’s character.

Speaking of surprises, the book contained a lot of unsuspected turns. I didn’t expect a lot of the events that wrapped up the story. Good and bad. I really enjoyed finding out  the fates of the characters and the Shadowrealms. However, I would have enjoyed the revelations more if there were hints throughout the previous five books, little teases to make me go “I knew it!” or “I should have seen that coming!” when I read book six.

Overall, the “Enchantress” is a great read and does well to tie up many of the series’ loose ends. The world Scott created is so large I hope he explores more of it and tells stories concerning the gods/legends–their pasts and futures–and the human Immortals, all of whom had tons of adventures leading up to Flamel book one. Until those books are written (likely they won’t be) I recommend readers pick up the Secrets of the Immortal Nicolas Flamel from book one, strap in and enjoy an adventure because it will be fun and pages will turn.

 

Support author Michael Scott by visiting his website and learning more about the Secrets of the Immortal Nicolas Flamel with a click here.