There are a lot of interesting things in the world that Michael Scott has built in The Alchemyst, but I feel that sometimes, as an author, a sacrifice must be made. No matter how much you want to tell everyone about this awesome thing that exists in your world, sometimes it's just not relevant. It must be left out, or saved for another day. It's okay to indulge in these diversions every now and then -- it can be fun for the reader to know these little bits. But when an author consistently gives in to the urge to tell all the irrelevant details of their world, it tends to become more distracting than interesting. It is into this unfortunate trap that Scott falls. Because it is a children's book, I could make allowances for the fact that Scott explains every mythological reference. It's slightly irritating, but I can move past it. But his tendency to stop the plot to drop this or that bit of unnecessary information made it incredibly difficult to immerse myself in the story. 
 I did love that the women in this book are really the most powerful. Even better, Scott writes this matter-of-factly, never hinting that this power should be surprising in the least. Even aside from the Elders and the Next Generation, Sophie and Perenelle can clearly hold their own. Nicholas rejoices in the fact that Perenelle is stronger than he is; her strength is a source of joy, not jealousy or insecurity. While Josh is envious of Sophie's power, it stems from a manner of sibling rivalry, not a supposition that Sophie is unworthy of it or unable to handle it. 
 Scott's characters are unfortunately a bit one-dimensional and difficult to connect with. The character that felt the most real to me was Dora, the Witch of Endor, and her time on the scene was tragically short. There is potential in his other characters, but it has not been quite realized. I am willing to wait this out -- he may just need to get into the swing of things with his characters, considering the time scale of this book. 
 My final thought on the novel involves that time scale. The book spanned the course of two days (and apparently the other books in the series follow the same pattern). As readers, we get the play-by-play of almost every event that occurs involving our characters throughout the day. It's definitely an interesting approach, but it also leads to a certain feeling of drudgery. I found myself reading impatiently, hoping to finish the book, not to find out what happens next -- never a good sign. Because a friend is currently working on these, I'm going to give the next one in the series a shot. If it doesn't wow me a little more than The Alchemyst, though, this series may be one of the few that I drop. 
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 Rating: Solidly 3 Philosopher's Stones. 
 Favourite Quote: "The Witch pinched Scathach's cheek. 'The last person who mocked me was a tax inspector. I turned him into a paperweight,' she said. 'I still have it here somewhere.'" 
 Recommend: I'm going to hold off on deciding this until I read the next book in the series.