The dark magician

Cover of the German first edition

The dark magician (Original title: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel - The Magician ) is a fantasy novel by the Irish author Michael Scott from the year 2008. The book forms the second volume of the series The Secrets of Nicholas Flamel . The German edition was translated by Ursula Höfker and was published by cbj- Verlag on January 19, 2009 .

construction

The elder Mars Ultor is in the catacombs of Paris

The book has 512 pages and consists of a preface by Nicholas Flamel ("from the diary of Nicholas Flamel, Alchemyst"), 55 chapters (dated Saturday June 2nd, Sunday June 3rd and Monday June 4th), one "Author's Note," in which Michael Scott talks about the Paris Catacombs , which are an important plot in this book, and a word of thanks. In addition, the first chapter of the third volume was inserted before the acknowledgment . The dedication of the book reads:

"For Courtney and Piers
hoc opus, hic labor est "

" It is this work, this work "

- Michael Scott

title

John Dee, the book's title character

The title refers to Dr. John Dee , Flamel's opponent.

"Dee had so many talents, he could have been any of the characters - indeed, I have written elsewhere that he was the original hero of this series. ... In his own time, he was always principally known as The Magician. "

“ Dee had so many talents he could have been any of the characters - in fact, I've written elsewhere that he was the original hero on this series. ... In his day he was primarily known as The Magician. "

- Michael Scott

prehistory

→ Main article : “Worldview and Prehistory” in the article The Secrets of Nicholas Flamel

→ Main article : “Action” in the article The Immortal Alchemyst

The plot of the second volume follows on from that of the previous book.

action

At the Eiffel Tower the group meets with the Count of Saint-Germain

John Dee from Ojaj contacts the Immortals Niccolò Machiavelli , who is on the side of the Dark Elders and is the head of the DGSE in France . Machiavelli tries to stop Flamel , the twins and Scathach in Sacré-Cœur with a tulpa made of wax and an army of police officers and people from the secret service (including activating the RAID ), but to no avail. Flamel manages to contact his former pupil, the Count of Saint-Germain , through the witch of Endor , who takes him and his companions into his apartment. He is also supposed to teach Sophie fire magic. Meanwhile , the alchemist gets the elemental sword of the fire Clarent (the sword with which Mordred killed King Arthur ) from his previous apartment , which he hands over to Josh, who is the only one unarmed . Sophie is trained in fire magic by the Count of Saint-Germain, while Josh is taught the use of the sword by Scathach.

Niccolò Machiavelli hires the Disir (also: Valkyries ) to get Scathach out of the world, as he would then have an easy time with the others. The Disir want to set the dragon Nidhogg on Scathach. At sunrise they attack the house of Saint-Germain: While Sophie and Johanna von Orléans (Saint-Germain's wife) fight the Disir, Scathach and Josh have to defend themselves against the dragon Nidhogg, who is causing parts of the house to collapse. Nidhogg manages to wound Scathach; but since he is terrified of Josh's sword Clarent, he runs away and drags Scathach with him. Josh chases him with his sword.

Machiavelli and Dee see that the dragon is out of control. Machiavelli dismisses his servant Dagon so that he too can go in search of Scathach. The two immortals try to follow the dragon that leaves a trail of devastation through Paris. Johanna and Sophie manage to defeat two of the Disir and lock them in a block of ice. Together with the weakened Flamel, they follow the dragon in a car while the Count of Saint-Germain tries to take care of the crowds in front of the house.

With Josh's sword stabs, Nidhogg slowly begins to petrify (the blood reacts with the fire sword to form lava, which solidifies). When the dragon has reached the bank of the Seine , the remaining Disir stands in Josh's way. However, John Dee intervenes and saves the boy in his car. With Josh at the wheel, Dee and Machiavelli disappear from the scene again, while the unconscious Scathach is still in a claw of Nidhogg. A little later Johanna, Nicholas Flamel and Sophie also reach the banks of the Seine. The dragon moves further and further towards the river and threatens to drag Scathach into the water with it. While Johanna fights the Disir and then pushes them into the river, Sophie and Flamel manage to bring the warrior princess to safety; the now completely petrified Nidhogg falls into the Seine. But then suddenly Dagon appears and pulls Scathach with him into the water.

Dee promises Josh to awaken his powers. The boy then follows the magician and Machiavelli into the catacombs of Paris , where a first-time man is staying: Mars Ultor . The alchemist, Johanna and Sophie also climb into the catacombs together with the Count of Saint-Germain. In an underground chamber Josh meets the sleeping god Mars and his servants, the satyrs , Phobos and Deimos . The god awakens Josh's powers and also gives him an additional "gift" that should be of use to him in the future. Then Flamel and the others appear in the chamber. They take the weakened Josh back with them; when Mars refuses to let that happen, Flamel liquefies the bones that are in the chamber. The god sinks into it. He then wants revenge on Dee, who solidifies the bone fluid again and traps Mars Ultor in it.

The twins, Flamel, Johanna and her husband come back to the surface of the earth on the parvis , the forecourt of Notre Dame. There, Dee and Machiavelli bring the church's stone gargoyles to life and incite them against the group. But the twins unite their forces and can use it to grind the entire stone figures to dust. The next day, the alchemist and the twins set off for London, where he wants to visit King Gilgamesh, who is supposed to teach Josh and Sophie water magic. Finally we learn that Scathach wasn't drowned by Dagon: As a vampire, she didn't have to breathe. In the meantime she is back with Johanna von Orléans.

Perenelle, trapped on Alcatraz , uses her innate ability to contact spirits and speaks to the poltergeist Juan Manuel de Ayala , who distracts the Sphinx and helps the sorceress to escape. In the dungeons of the island she discovers an army of monsters that Dee must have assembled. Finally she finds the spider woman Areop-Enap trapped there and frees her. Together with her she fights against the Morrigan , who have since come to the island. They lock the crow goddess in the original dungeon of Areop-Enap.

characters

The Count of Saint-Germain

→ Main article : Characters from The Secrets of Nicholas Flamel

New in the second volume are:

• Count of Saint-Germain , or Francis for short: He was a student of Flamel whom the witch of Endor contacted to help Flamel. The immortal is a master of fire; hestolethis secret from the brother of the witch of Endor, Prometheus . He madea name forhimself as a rock musician with five number 1 hits in the United States. It is not known how he became immortal. Francis is married to Johanna von Orleáns.
• Johanna von Orléans : She is one of the few beings with a silver aura. Scathach saved her from the stake that time.
• Niccolò Machiavelli : Another immortal. Like John Dee, he serves the Dark Elders and has now made it to the head of the secret service in France, one of the most powerful men in the country. According to Flamel, he's a lot more dangerous than Dee. It was he who first desecrated Flamel's grave in hopes of finding the Codex.
• Dagon : This fish-like creature has served Machiavelli for a long time. As the story progresses, the Italian fires him so that Dagon can look for his archenemy Scathach, who once killed all his people.
• The Valkyries ( Disir ): Machiavelli hires the three Norse warriors to incite them against Scathach, their mortal enemy who destroyed many of their sisters. They are strongest at sunrise.
• Nidhogg : This dragon, called "the corpse-devourer", wastrappedin the roots of Hekate's world tree Yggdrasil for a long time. After this has been destroyed by Dee, the Disir use him against Scathach. But when they lose control of him, he rages through Paris and finally falls into the harbor,petrifiedby Josh's sword Clarent .
• Mars Ultor : This first person lives in the catacombs of Paris , together with his servants, the satyrs Phobos and Deimos . He used to be known by other names, Huitzilopochtli , Nergal , Ares , Horus . The god was placed under a curse by the Witch of Endor, who once loved him, which turned his aura into solid armor. It therefore looks like a statue at first glance. Dee ends up locking him up in bone mass.
• Areop-Enap : The spider elder is on good terms with the Humani, so she is kidnapped on Dee's orders and held on Alcatraz. After Perenelle resolves the spells, Areop-Enap allies with the sorceress against the Morrigan.

reception

See also : “Reception” in the article The Secrets of Nicholas Flamel

Reviews

The book was awarded a star by Kirkus Reviews for “exceptional achievement”. Although Scott's efforts to blur the line between the good and the bad have sometimes seemed obsessive (emphasizing the "stubborn suspicion" of Josh Flamel when the opposite is always evident), readers would be drawn to an elegant plot guided through history. A broad trail of destruction would be left behind and revelations would come at well-considered times. It is unusual for matters to have been somewhat resolved by the end of the book, although the series is far from over.

The Daily Telegraph ruled that Scott perfectly mixed the modern world with magic; the book was nicely written, the story enchanting, and the basics of storytelling well applied.

The Main-Echo describes the story as a "gripping adventure" that pulls so many fearless readers under its spell.

Deanna Romriell reviewed the audio book in the School Library Journal . She speaks of an "edgy journey" full of "speed and tension".

Nominations

• The Dublin Airport Authority Irish Children's Book of the Year (Snr) - 2009

Placements

The book reached number 31 (hardcover / fiction) and number 14 (young people's books) on the book report bestseller list . The original edition reached number 123 on USA Today's bestseller list ; # 4 on the New York Times youth bestseller list .

particularities

When Nicholas Flamel calls the Ojaj Valley News in Chapter 9 , he is speaking to a reporter named Michael Carroll . This is an allusion to the author of the same name, who is a good friend of Michael Scott.

In the original, the book was reissued on November 28, 2010 (the birthday of Nicholas Flamel and Michael Scott) together with The Immortal Alchemyst and The Mighty Sorceress in a Slipcase under the title The First Codex . These are the paperback editions.

Book editions

• Michael Scott: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel - The Magician . Delacorte Press, New York 2008, ISBN 978-0-385-73358-8 .

• Michael Scott: The Secrets of Nicholas Flamel - The Dark Magician . cbj, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-570-13378-1 .
• Michael Scott: The Secrets of Nicholas Flamel - The Dark Magician . cbj, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-570-40120-0 (paperback edition).

Audio book

The audio book was published on January 19, 2009 by cbj audio . The speaker is Andreas Fröhlich , it is an abbreviated reading of approx. 420 minutes.

The English audio book is unabridged and will be read by Erik Singer. It was released on June 24, 2008 by Listening Library. Deanna Romriell praised the narrator in the School Library Journal for convincing all characters, from American teenagers to old Italians, who alternate between old and new ways of speaking. The language of the various mythical monsters also appears authentic. Thus, Singer creates a wonderful listening experience.

Web links

• Official German website for the series
• The book in the publisher's online catalog
• Official American website for the series
• Official website of Michael Scott

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Michael Scott: Message in the official FanForum. In: Flamel's Secret Fan Forum. Accessed January 27, 2016 . 
2. ↑ Review of The Magician ( English ) Kirkus Reviews. May 15, 2008. Retrieved September 14, 2012.
3. ↑ Toby Clements: Mages, sages, spooks and ghouls - Toby Clements falls under the spell of the latest in magical storytelling . In: The Daily Telegraph . July 12, 2008 ( online [accessed November 13, 2012]).
4. ↑ Martina Jordan: Tension is dosed according to age . In: Main-Echo . May 17, 2011 ( online [accessed November 12, 2012]).
5. ^ ^{A b} Deanna Romriell: Multimedia Reviews ( English ) School Library Journal . January 10, 2008. Retrieved September 14, 2012.
6. ↑ Irish Book Awards ( s ) Archived from the original on May 25, 2009. Accessed September 14, 2012 found.
7. ↑ Book on the book report bestseller list . Archived from the original on March 7, 2014. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved March 25, 2012. 
8. ↑ Volume 2 at USATODAY ( English ) Retrieved on August 10, 2012.
9. ↑ youth book bestseller list (English) , New York Times . July 13, 2008. Retrieved July 22, 2012. 
10. ↑ About Michael Carroll (English) , Flamel's Secret Forum. February 13, 2009. Retrieved November 26, 2012. 
11. ^ The First Codex . Random House. Retrieved January 11, 2013.
12. ↑ Michael Scott: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel - The First Codex . Delacorte Press, New York 2010, ISBN 978-0-375-87311-9 .
13. ↑ The audio book in the publisher's online catalog . cbj audio. Retrieved September 14, 2012.
14. ↑ English audio book ( English ) Random House Audio. Retrieved September 14, 2012.