Unusual story about 3 immortals and magic, nature and balance. The beginning interested me enough to begin the novel, the middle dragged, but redeemed it self at the end. It was rather though provoking and the thoughts of immortality, and what would one really do with all that time, has lingered with me.
Helpful Score: 2
Compared to The Promise & The Passion, I found The Alchemist to be slow and somewhat watered down Anne Rice-ish. The characters were too one-dimensional to hold my interest.
Helpful Score: 1
Plot Summary: 3 children in Ancient Egypt, skilled Alchemists, become immortals. The story details their relationship, their morality, their ambitions, their dreams for themselves and the world.
Main characters: Han- the narrator of the story. Complex, intellectual, cold and calculating. Nefar- the female "lead" of the story: self absorbed, ambitious
Akan- a poet/ dreamer/ somewhat nuts.
Best About this Book: the story, the writing. The story is original, huge in scope but also managing to capture me completely in the small details. When this author describes a place/ an event, I SEE it. I flew through the pages, needing to know what came next.
Worst About this Book: oddly enough, the characters. None of them were particularly sympathetic and I was cheering against them as much as for them, much of the time. They were really hard to relate to, but at the same time, fascinating.
Summary: I got this book from the library but am debating whether or not to put it on my wishlist anyway. It is not a favorite book of mine, but I really think that I will want to read it again sometime. More slowly. There is so much to absorb. If you like books that make you wonder, make you think twice, with lots of twists and turns and moral gray areas... you will enjoy this book. DEFINITELY worth a credit!
Main characters: Han- the narrator of the story. Complex, intellectual, cold and calculating. Nefar- the female "lead" of the story: self absorbed, ambitious
Akan- a poet/ dreamer/ somewhat nuts.
Best About this Book: the story, the writing. The story is original, huge in scope but also managing to capture me completely in the small details. When this author describes a place/ an event, I SEE it. I flew through the pages, needing to know what came next.
Worst About this Book: oddly enough, the characters. None of them were particularly sympathetic and I was cheering against them as much as for them, much of the time. They were really hard to relate to, but at the same time, fascinating.
Summary: I got this book from the library but am debating whether or not to put it on my wishlist anyway. It is not a favorite book of mine, but I really think that I will want to read it again sometime. More slowly. There is so much to absorb. If you like books that make you wonder, make you think twice, with lots of twists and turns and moral gray areas... you will enjoy this book. DEFINITELY worth a credit!
