You should!
My English teacher Mrs. Maupin, whose opinion I respect greatly, called it one of her favorite book series – creative, engaging, and highly original.
I thought it was a lot of crap (with just a bit of bacon bits on top).
This will not be a single blog. It will carry on as more thoughts come to mind. In the process, I will attempt to avoid spoilers as much as possible. All potential spoilers will be marked. Read at your own risk.
Book 1, The Alchymist
The story starts off strong, in very Rick Riordan style. Stuff is happening and we don't know what it is, but we can tell it's cool.
The first thing that caught my attention is questionable. I felt that as the twins question Flamel about the basics of who he is, what the Codex is, what Golems are, who John Dee is, etc., there's something stiff about it.
Compared to Riordan's "Percy Jackson" series, the dialogue seems very unnatural. As if the twins are asking questions just so that the writer can tell us readers things about the world he has envisioned in his mind, rather than because they genuinely have questions.
But maybe that's just me.
Then there's Perenelle. Ooooh Perenelle.
Lemme explain something to you that I reference a lot – deus ex machina. Literally means, "god from the machine". It's a writing flaw in which characters do things or have abilities beyond their control, rather than developing or using their resources to find the solution. An example is in the simple story where Jim gets lost in the woods.
A good way to write the story would be that Jim realizes his potential danger, scavenges for firewood, builds himself a suitable shelter, wards off the night, and uses the direction of the Sun to hike to safety.
The deus ex machina way to write the story would be that Jim just happens to find a walkie talkie in his pocket and calls for help.
-- Spoilers exist beyond this point! Skip if you plan on reading the series for yourself! --
So Pernelle gets captured by Dee, who puts restraining seals on her hands. But a Golem just happens to splash a little on her, washing away the seal. Not so bad, right? Except that she blows up the car as a result. The story is driven by something that just happens to happen.
Oh no, Pernelle is being held prisoner by Dee! Then it sure is a good thing that she has a power to talk to ghosts who can give vital messages back and forth between her and her husband.
Sophie is in trouble, along with the rest of the crew! The Morrigan, Bastet, and Dee are attacking the tree. If only Pernelle could help. Well, why doesn't she control Sophie then from her prison? How? How about through the conveniently-placed GOSH DARN (imagine stronger British language here) oil spill on the floor?!?
--End of spoilers--
AAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUGGGGGHHHHH! The entire flipping story is driven by deus ex machine baloney sandwiches.
My point is, if I have to explain a story by saying, "it just happens that...", then it's a bad story. I absolutely hate deus ex machina stories, especially ones that drive the plot. They are bad stories. Period.
More deus ex machina unfortunately exists elsewhere in the story. And you know what? To make matters worse, I have to mark all these as potential spoilers. Why is that bad? Because. It's one thing to have deus ex machinas that aren't major story elements. But these are all major story elements. Bad. Writing.
-- Spoilers exist beyond this point! Skip if you plan on reading the series for yourself! --
(Although I imagine you'll probably guess what'll happen before it does – I did, and I'll talk about that a little bit further down.)
Oh look, Josh (the story character) saved two of the most important pages in the Codex from Dee. What a lucky coincidence!!(?!?)
The crows are about to destroy the car that has our heroes in it! But fortunately for us, Flamel just happens (those words again) to have a collectable favor from an all powerful being who can send a convenient wind to blow away the crows. Greeeeat.
An epic battle is being fought for Heckate's tree. Sophie is being super cool, Flamel is using his magic, and the Morrigan and Bastet are on the hesitant run. It seems that the bad guys are about to lose. Oh wait. Dee has a super ice sword that takes 10 seconds to STAB AND COMPLETELY FREEZE A GOSH DARN ANCIENT TREE AND KILL SOMEONE WHO IS BASICALLY A GODDESS OF LEGEND.
Sophie is talking to the Witch of Endor. Unfortunately, Josh must leave. Upset, he goes outside. How emotional (no not really. I'll talk about character development or the lack thereof in a bit). How convenient that it just so happens that Dee is arriving there to talk to Josh and make him question Flamel. This isn't a big deal you say? No, it's a huge deal, because it leads to all of Book 2 with Dee, Josh, and Mars Ultor (remember?).
Josh is about to die at the hands of a zombie bear! Good thing Sohpie's screams are both good for breaking twins out of semi-conscious states as well as obliterating the incoming zombie threat, huh?
The Witch of Ojai. The only one who can help Sophie. But now everyone is in danger. Dee is closing in on them. Suddenly, the Witch's decision to have her shop at the intersection of three ley lines seems like such a good thing, doesn't it?
--End of spoilers--
Again, the point is that this book is absolutely riddled with plot-moving deus ex machina (DExM) moments. I'd compare it to the old Disney movie The Emperor's New Groove. Think about it and let me know how many DExM's you find there. I'll give you as many as I can think of later.
Alright, this is getting pretty long. And I'm not even done ranting about this first book. So we'll put it off till next time.
On the next installment of "All that's wrong with this book series":
Lacking character development.
Cliche lines for lifeeee!
Too much being done with too little.
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