If Someone is looking into getting this book, I would go say for it as is the whole series. I am a very picky fantasy reader. I like coherent metaph..Show More »ysics and people you can genuinely care about or dislike. My one HUGE issue in the 2nd book is the narrator change. To be fair, I did not look to see if this was in response to any bad reactions to the first one, but I would be shocked it that was the case. Also, to be fair it can be said that the replacement is not bad. He is not even close to the other voice actor but I could listen to him. I voice my opinion because I listen to books on audio all the time and I thought book one's reader was truly gifted and he acted out all of the main parts with proper accents, adroitly. So I felt I had to posit my frustration at his loss when the series is so clearly a hit and can afford a quality voice actor. A really dumb mistake made in audio publishing all the time. I have dropped series altogether because 3 books into a series they bring on a horrible narrator. I simply find it appalling that they do not work harder to prevent such things from happening. At least in this book, you can deal with both narrators, or at least I could. So I would say if you liked book one, jump on in the water is fine. I just had to mention the switch of readers because I know that Audible knows the difference. They have made some amazing book on audio. I read "Tales of the Otori" and it was stellar and even more so on audio via audible. And my taste must be somewhat on as I am sure that "Tales of the Otori" series won several awards. Many actors truly do act out each voice and do it well. A good example is the first book in this series with Denis O'Hare. In short this is a good book well done in and it is good for older children meaning 14 and up 12 if your child is precocious There are great cultura references to real places in people that are great at stimulating interest in history.

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Why oh why do they change narrators in a book series? Just when you get used to a style, a cadence, a tone of voice, there's a new one to get used to...Show More » And this guy, is just ssssllloooowwwww. He seems to always be deliberately slowing down his speech patterns. He speeds up a bit, catches himself and slows down again. The second book was wonderful. It was fast paced and exciting and the excitement came through in the voice of the narrator. This guy is putting me to sleep! I am so disappointed that he is the narrator for the next book as well, I will have to switch to the print version and I'm sad.

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This series may or may not be intended for teenagers or the youth. It is a nice fun series. I am a seriously avid reader, and finish a novel per wee..Show More »k. I picked up the first book in the series for my daughter. I ran out of books and picked it up. I have read all of them now. They are fun.
The series has characters that are well wrritten and believable. The goals and problems are very truthful. Michael Scott has to have or had a few teenagers because he has them down pretty well in the books.
Now don't think you are about to read a literary masterpiece but the stories have heart, soul, well planned themes and flow, and realistic well described characters. I love a good book and these are just that. GOOD BOOKS

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The series "The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel" is probably the next Harry Potter. Taking historical characters, Michael Scott writes an inte..Show More »resting story of two twins, Josh and Sophie, who take different paths as predicted by Abraham the Mage, the writer of a codex that contains all the secrets of the world. If you expect historical accuracy, then this book might irritate you, especially Scott's knowledge of early human history (Sumerian and Greek history falls short. I also don't know what to think about the witch of Endor. Scott may use historical figures, but definitely not in character as discribed in early sources.) However, if you are ready for an interesting adventure with some New Age/ eastern religious concepts binding fun, adventure and expectation together, you might just like this series. One thing I find irritating of Scott's writing style is his repetition of certain ideas almost ad infinitum, as if someone is going to jump in at the last book and not listen or read the others, or as if you are putting the book aside to read for two or three years, just to pick is up and read it again. I am not sure if young people has such a short memory span, though I think that might be an insult. Yet, when you travel with Josh and Sophie up to this point where even their aunt doesn't seem to be who she was all along and time travel brings a new dimension to the story, you would be interested in how it is going to end. I recommend this book for its fun and adventure but not for its historicity and sometimes sloppish writing.

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You know, you listen to five books, to the adventures, the twists and the turns and sometimes you just want to scream at the author at the sixth. I c..Show More »ould not have believed that Scott would finish in such a poor, unenlightened, uninspired way. I am heartsick with disappointment. If that is not enough, the ending just doesn’t hold with the universe that Scott himself created begging numerous questions and leaving unforgivable gaffs. Just too bad!

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