The Sorceress by Michael Scott

June 2009
Doubleday Children's Books
512 pages Hardback

Review copy

Young Adults Fantasy

Magical Violence and Suspense

Dr John Dee has destroyed Paris in his mission to find Nicholas Flamel and Sophie and Josh Newman. The two missing pages of the book of Abraham the Mage are still with them and the Dark Elders need them for the Final Summoning. They will not rest until they are in power and the human race has been destroyed. Nicholas Flamel knows he must protect Josh and Sophie and the pages from the Dark Elders. For this he must rely on Clarent - the sister sword to Excalibur - and the sword's evil power makes it nearly impossible to use without darkness seeping into the soul of whoever wields it. What will be the price to pay for the twins to remain protected and the Dark Elders to be defeated?

The third book in the series and the story starts as fast paced as when we left book 2. The Alchemyst started the story for us when the date was 31st May and 1000+ pages later we are starting book 3 on 4th June. That is the pace of the books. We left Paris in ruins at the end of book 2 to start book 3 in London. A significant change between the books though is that now Sophie and Josh are starting to rebel against being told what they must and must not do and start to try to take a controlling stake in their futures. Needless to say, London does not go unscathed and the pace is maintained to the end of the book. Some old friends don't continue while we are joined by some more and those are rather surprising names that join us. This book is called The Sorceress and we pick up more of what is happening to her but we do not, in any way, neglect the twins.

This book cannot be taken in isolation and must be read in sequence but I recommend that you just read from book 1 to book 2 and then book 3 and then stop for tea!

This book is very similar in content and must appeal to Harry Potter fans.