The Necromancer by Michael Scott

5th August 2010

Paperback
416 pages

Review Copy

Children's Fantasy

Content: Fantasy violence, Tension

Summary from Random House

 
Sophie and Josh have returned to San Francisco. They must protect themselves from the Dark Elders, but they've not yet mastered the magic they'll need to do so. Their trust in Nicholas Flamel is shaken, and their friend Scatty is missing. Unbeknownst to the twins, John Dee has amassed an enormous army of foul creatures, with which he plans to battle Nicholas and his wife, Peronelle. In order for his plan to work, he must train a necromancer to raise the Mother of the Gods from the dead. The twins of legend will make the perfect pupils in his diabolical scheme.

 The Mole's thoughts

The 4th book in the series and we see a welcome change in direction. In book 1 - The Alchemist - we meet the main characters including Josh and Sophie Newman and start to understand what they are to face and who they are to face and they finish the book running, almost powerless, from their enemy. Book 2 - The Magician - sees their powers increased but they still are running from their enemies. Book 3 - The Sorceress - and we saw the exact same formula. Frankly it started to get a bit tiresome and I am sure the series was starting to lose some readers. We now come to The Necromancer and at last the style has changed and we start to take an offensive instead of just being chased. While this book does bring a welcome change of direction, I finished it feeling that not enough had happened and that the plot is being drawn out to fill a certain number of books. This is very much a shame as The Alchemist set us up for what promised to be a very exciting adventure. 

While this series of books started by putting the HP books in the shade, I am afraid they have started to leave me cold. If you have read so far then read on though as this book is far better than book 3.

If you are into fantasy then I would recommend "The Star of Sakova" by Richard S Tuttle.