When fall approaches, there’s a certain chill in the air that signals the advent of “spooky season.” It’s almost like the changing color of the leaves is the catalyst for bookworms of all kinds to search for the perfect novel and bag of Halloween candy to cozy up with. And if you’re like me, you’re going to need more than one book to keep you occupied for all of the candy corn you’re planning to eat.
To me, Halloween screams mythology, magic, and mystery—something one of my favorite book series is filled with. The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel by Michael Scott is actually based on more mythologies than you can count and more magic than you can imagine! It’s based on the legend of Nicholas Flamel, a regular man in the 1300s rumored to have great alchemical talent, and riffs on the idea that he really was immortal. That’s not all—there are other immortals hidden amongst us in society, people like Machiavelli and the original Agent 007. Though they come from different places in time, these immortals all have a shared and sometimes aggressive interest in The Book of Abraham the Mage.
What happens when 15-year-old twins Josh and Sophie accidentally get wrapped up in the fight over this book and an important prophecy? It’s a little something like an adventure far from home, moral challenges, and danger beyond anything they could have expected out of a simple summer job. In short, it’s sure to have you wishing you, too, have untapped latent magical abilities and a chance to travel the world.
The series starts with The Alchemyst and spans six books, ending with the exciting installment called The Enchantress. I can personally promise you that by the end of Scott’s works, your head will be filled with knowledge of mythologies never covered in your history class and an interest in historical figures that you suddenly find quite real. Get spooky and pick up the first book in The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series! And grab some candy corn while you’re at it.