The scary ghost caller

Cover of the German first edition

The uncanny Geisterrufer (Original title: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel - The Necromancer ) is a fantasy novel by the Irish author Michael Scott from 2010 and forms the fourth part of the series The Secrets of Nicholas Flamel . The German edition was translated by Ursula Höfker and was published by cbj- Verlag on February 21, 2011 .

construction

The book is 448 pages long and consists of a preface by Nicholas Flamel ("from the diary of Nicholas Flamel, Alchemyst"), 66 chapters (dated Tuesday, June 5th and Wednesday, June 6th), an "author's note", in which Michael Scott talks about Alcatraz (an important location in the series), and a thank you. In addition, the first chapter of the fifth volume was inserted before the acknowledgment . The dedication of the book reads:

"For piers
cura te ipsum "

" Take care of yourself "

- Michael Scott

title

The title refers to Josh Newman, Sophie's twin brother. However, it is not clear why the original title Necromancer became Geisterrufer in the German translation . The literal translation would be Necromancer or Necromancer , the proposed title was The Necromancer .

Dr. John Dee promises Josh to train him in necromancy ( necromancy ), for which the boy is to summon the archoness Coatlicue from a shadowy realm. The original title refers to Dee's (ultimately unfulfilled) promise, while the German title alludes to Josh's summoning of Coatlicue ("With Josh's help he [Dee] wants to summon something ancient from the spirit realm ..."). However, it is not clear what is meant by the “spirit realm”. The author Michael Scott described the German translation of the title as "complete nonsense".

"And of course, the title Ghost Caller is complete nonsense - since no-one calls any ghosts in the book!"

“ And of course, the title ghost caller is complete nonsense - after all, nobody in the book calls any ghosts! "

- Michael Scott

prehistory

The plot follows on from the previous volume .

action

Dee and Virginia Dare want to return to America through a powerhouse in the Tower of London

The crystal skull still comes from the archons

Josh and Sophie return to their aunt Agnes in San Francisco . Nicholas Flamel had decided to give them a few days' rest. When the twins arrive at their aunt's house, the Japanese Niten and Aoife emerge from the shadows. Aoife kidnaps Sophie to find out where her twin sister Scathach is. Josh immediately reports what has happened to the Flamels, who immediately take him to Niten's houseboat. In fact, there they come across the Japanese, Aoife and Sophie. Aoife learns that her sister is probably in the past and sets off with the others to visit the first-ever Prometheus , who is supposed to teach Josh fire magic.

Because of his failure, John Dee was declared utlaga , lawless, by his rulers . So an army from the Cucubuths tries to seize him to collect the reward. But Dee's new ally Virginia Dare helps him with a magic flute that makes all the Cucubuths pass out. Together the two now want to seize world domination. When trying to get from London to America via a power gate in the Tower , however, they are attacked by Odin's ravens Huginn and Muninn . With the strength of Clarent and Excalibur, Dee and Virginia Dare move to San Francisco in time.

Machiavelli and Billy the Kid , stuck on Alcatraz , are taken to the home of Kukulkan , a first-person , by Billy's old friend Black Hawk . He wants to condemn them to death because of their failure, but thanks to Machiavelli's eloquence, the two get one more try: They should let go of the monsters hidden on Alcatraz on San Francisco.

The Count of Saint-Germain meets with Palamedes and Shakespeare in London . With the help of Palamedes' master Tammuz, he either wants to bring Scathach and Johanna back or to travel back in time to them himself. But as Scathach and Johanna have noticed in the meantime, they are not in the Pleistocene , but in a shadowy realm of the mysterious Marethyu. This orders Tammuz to send Saint-Germain to him, which also happens; Shakespeare and Palamedes follow. Marethyu tells the five warriors that he has chosen them to travel with him into the past to Danu Talis and to let the island go under, as this is absolutely necessary. In fact, they follow him.

Niten, Aoife, the twins and the Flamels have arrived in Prometheus' realm of shadows ( Hades ). After some reluctance, the elder trains Josh in the magic of fire. But on the orders of John Dee, Mars Ultor takes control of the boy and leads him back to San Francisco, where Dee and Virginia Dare are waiting for him. Dee wants to unleash the Archoness Coatlicue on the older sex. So he tells Josh that the goddess can train him in the art of necromancy. Josh just have to call her. According to Dee's plan, Coatlicue would eat the boy and be easier to control afterwards.

The others watch Josh walk through a crystal skull that works with Archon technology. Sophie drives back to San Francisco with Niten and Aoife to prevent Dee's plan, while the Flamels, with the help of Prometheus, try to stop Josh over thoughts. Just as Josh has called Coatlicue, his sister shows up with Aoife and Niten at Dee's apartment. A fight begins. When the Archoness gets out of hand, Aoife pushes her back into the realm of shadows. But that means the warrior is also trapped there. Dee and Virginia Dare flee, and Josh follows them willingly.

characters

The Elder Prometheus

New in the fourth volume are:

Aoife of the Shadows: She is the twin sister of Scathach. Because she felt that her sister was disappearing from this world, she went to see the twins. In the fight with the archoness Coatlicue , she disappears forever into a distant shadow realm.
Niten, also Miyamoto Musashi : The immortal Japanese is a skilled fighter, but also a talented painter. The immortality was bestowed on him by Benzaiten . He lives in a houseboat near San Francisco and knows Aoife from ancient times; she sets out with him to find Scathach.
Virginia Dare : The Immortal lives in London and is known as 'The Killer'. She has a magic flute with which she can put all living beings into a deep sleep. At her instigation, her master was killed, making her independent. John Dee promises her world domination for her help.
Cucubuths: They are wolf-like beasts with a human face. Mostly they appear as shaven young men. They are hunting John Dee in London to collect a reward. But Dee manages to get away from them.
Odin and his ravens Huginn and Muninn : The Elder Odin sacrificed his right eye in order to receive ancient knowledge from Archon Mimer. He loved Hecate and therefore wants revenge on her killer John Dee. He sends his ravens Huginn and Muninn on the magician's neck, through whose eyes he can see and through whose beaks he can speak. But the ravens fail to take Dee.
Tammuz : The Green Man is the master of Palamedes. He knows of the impending end of the world and therefore wants to lead his creatures, the forest spirits, out of the Sherwood Forest into his shadowy realm, the grove of Eridhu (possibly an allusion to Eridu ). He is enemies of the Count of Saint-Germain because he burned a forest of Tammuz in Russia in 1908. He sent immortal Humani knights like Palamedes to various shadow realms to bring back lost people. From Kronos, the master of time, he learned how to influence time.
The forest spirits ( dryads and nymphs ): They are the subordinates of Tammuz and guard his realm in the Sherwood Forest.
Marethyu, also Moros, Mot, Oberour Ar Maro: His name means "death" in the ancient language of Danu Talis. He has a metal hook in the place of his left hand. He was there when Danu Talis went under. With his help Nicholas Flamel was able to decipher the codex, and the Count of Saint-Germain became a master of fire magic.
Prometheus : He is the brother of Zephaniah, the witch of Endor, and the uncle of Scathach and Aoife. Together with her he was once sent by Abraham to the dilapidated nameless city of the Archons (but it was probably built for the earlier earth princes) to look for a library there. He discovered figures made of clay, which he brought to life with his aura. Thus he became the creator of primitive man. The Count of Saint-Germain had stolen power over the fire from him; Prometheus is the 'Fire Lord'. His realm of shadows (known as Hades ) is located on the Point Reyes peninsula.
Quetzalcoatl or Kukulkan : the elder is the master of Billy the Kid and Black Hawk. Because Machiavelli's master Aten saved his life when Danu Talis went down, he doesn't want to kill Machiavelli. It has a feathered serpent tail, which is why it is also called 'the feathered serpent'.
Aten or Akhenaten : The first one is the master of Machiavelli and a good friend of Kukulkan. Together with this he once destroyed a whole form of life in Egypt, where he ruled tyrannically for a long time. That is why his name almost completely disappeared from historical records. His son Tutankhamun had a golden aura.
Makataimeshekiakiak or Black Hawk : The immortal Indian is an old friend of Billy the Kid and, on the orders of his master, fetches Billy and Machiavelli from Alcatraz.
Coatlicue : She is an archoness and the mother of all vampires. She was once a scientist and a beauty. She became ugly and crazy through experimentation. She has crocodile feet and two snakeheads and a robe made of twitching snakes. Since she hates the older sex, she once tried to destroy everything she could find with her army. Therefore she was banished to a shadow realm.

reception

Reviews

Suzi Feay complained in the Financial Times that the human protagonists in the book were completely lacking in personality, but this can probably be explained by the fact that the author had already done the characterizations of the characters in the earlier books. What is worrying about a book for young people is that most of the time the young people stand completely passively while the adults deal with the main problems of the story. With short chapters, too many narrative perspectives and a tiresome background story, the book is both complicated and boring.

Genevieve Gallagher reviewed the audiobook in the School Library Journal . She found the story itself, with all its historical and mythological figures, “fabulous”, but criticized that it could not stand on its own. The world that Scott created is "tightly woven and extremely complex" and the plot manages to span countries, times and dimensions, although it takes place in just a few days.

Placements

The book reached 21st place (hardcover / fiction) and 8th place (books for young people) on the book report bestseller list . The original edition reached number 20 on USA Today's bestseller list ; The book series rose to number 3 on the New York Times youth series bestseller list .

Literary references

In the 45th chapter William Shakespeare quotes himself with the sentence: Who does not love who never reveals love (from the comedy Two Gentlemen from Verona ), in the 51st chapter again with When do we three meet again? (from Macbeth ).

Book editions

Michael Scott: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel - The Necromancer . Delacorte Press, New York 2010, ISBN 978-0-385-73531-5 .

Michael Scott: The Secrets of Nicholas Flamel - The Creepy Ghost Caller . cbj, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-570-13785-7 .
Michael Scott: The Secrets of Nicholas Flamel - The Creepy Ghost Caller . cbj, Munich 2012, ISBN 978-3-570-40157-6 (paperback edition).

Audio book

No German audio book was published .

The English audio book is unabridged and will be read by Paul Boehmer. It was released on May 25, 2010 by Listening Library. Genevieve Gallagher commended Boehmer in the School Library Journal for his brilliant work; he slip into the role of an overwhelming number of characters, giving each of them a different voice.

Web links

Individual evidence

↑ The books on the official website . September 14, 2008. Archived from the original on September 14, 2008. Retrieved on August 10, 2012.

↑ Quoted from the blurb on the back of the protective cover

↑ Michael Scott: Commentary on the German book title. In: Flamel's Secret Forum. Retrieved March 26, 2012 (English).

↑ Suzi Feay: Teen Fiction: The Necromancer . In: Financial Times . August 14, 2010, ISSN 0307-1766 .

^ ^A ^b Genevieve Gallagher: The Necromancer: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel, Book 4 . In: School Library Journal . Vol. 56, No. December 12 , 2010, p. 68 ( online [accessed January 3, 2013]).

↑ Book on the book report bestseller list . Archived from the original on March 7, 2014. Retrieved March 25, 2012.

↑ Volume 4 at USATODAY ( en ) Retrieved on August 10, 2012.

^ Youth series bestseller list (s) , New York Times . June 13, 2010. Retrieved August 10, 2012.

^ English audio book ( s ) Random House USA. Retrieved March 25, 2012.

[1] The books on the official website . September 14, 2008. Archived from the original on September 14, 2008. Retrieved on August 10, 2012.

[2] Quoted from the blurb on the back of the protective cover

[3] Michael Scott: Commentary on the German book title. In: Flamel's Secret Forum. Retrieved March 26, 2012 (English).

[4] Suzi Feay: Teen Fiction: The Necromancer . In: Financial Times . August 14, 2010, ISSN 0307-1766 .


Books	The Immortal Alchemyst (2007) • The Dark Magician (2008) • The Mighty Sorceress (2009) • The Eerie Spirit Caller (2010) • The Black Warlock (2011) • The Silver Magician (2012)
Spin-offs	Lost Stories (2015)