“Ok–answer me this: why would anyone want to wear an overcoat in San Francisco in the middle of summer?”

From Michael Scott’s The Alchemyst: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel.

Fifteen-year-olds twins Sophie and Josh Newman are spending the summer with their aunt in San Francisco, working at shops across the street from each other; Sophie at a coffee shop and Josh at a bookstore.  Josh works hard to do well and impress the bookstore owners, Nick and Perry Fleming, and Sophie easily connects with them while filling their coffee orders.  However, the twins’ lives are forever changed when a group of large, bundled-up men accompany a man named John Dee into the bookstore and Josh witnesses Nick engage in an unexplainable magical fight.  When they witness Dee take a special book and Perry, Josh and Sophie jump in to help Nick, so the bookseller gets them out of the city to keep them safe.  The twins quickly learn that the world is not as it seems as Nick tells them the truth about his past, including his real name (Nicholas Flamel), that he is an Alchemyst, over 600-years-old, immortal but dependent on the powerful Codex book that Dee stole, and that he is the last defense against the evil Dark Elders.  In an attempt to keep them safe, Flamel introduces the twins to Scathach (Scatty) and Hekate, mostly-benevolent members of the Elder Race.  Believing Josh and Sophie to be part of an ancient prophecy, he soon turns his attention to not only keeping them safe but also helping them realize, awaken, and develop their inner magical abilities.  As Flamel begins to teach them about the magic in the world including sorcerers, magicians, and alchemysts, Sophie and Josh will face unbelievable dangers that will either separate them or drawn them closer than ever before.

As the first book in Scott’s fantasy series, it is quick, surprising, and captivating.  Readers will be drawn into the story and kept interested by the development of the characters.  Fans of the Percy Jackson or Artemis Fowl books need look no further than The Alchemyst for a fun, magical adventure.