Reviewed by Jennifer Rummel for TeensReadToo.com

Sophie, Josh, Nicholas, and Scatty retreat to Paris after the disaster on the West Coast. They arrive inside the Basilique du Sacré-Coeur. For Nicholas, he's returning home, but he hasn't been there for hundreds of years. Everything's changed.

Dr. Dee hasn't wasted any time; he immediately called for reinforcements - Machiavelli is already in Paris and waiting for them. With Sophie's newly awakened powers, they are able to escape. Nicholas leads them to the home of his old student. There, they regroup, rest, and recharge.

Once Dr. Dee arrives in Paris things begin to happen. He wants to capture the twins plus the last two pages of the codex, and he's willing to do anything to catch them.

The twins fight back, along with Nicholas, Scatty, Francis, and Joan of Arc. Together they make a stand, but is it enough to stop the powerful Magician?

Michael Scott blends mystery, fantasy, and history perfectly together into an adrenaline-filled, addicting novel. ( )

I am really enjoying this series. The adventure is exciting and quite the page-turner now. I can tell that the mythic elements are solid and based on actual mythology from around the world. I am also liking the main character more, especially the twins who seemed a little lightly drawn in the first book. A great young adult series to have and read! ( )

I think I would have enjoyed this book better if I read the first book in this series, The Alchemist, before this. The pacing is movie-like and the characters are enjoyable. I enjoyed watching real people such as Nicholas Flamel and his wife, Paranel and Nicollo Machiavelli, as well as Paris in a fictional setting in this book. ( )

After going through the ley gate, Nicholas, Sophie and Josh find themselves in Paris. Sophie is Awakened; Josh is not. This puts them somewhat in conflict with each other, even as they find out more about their powers and find themselves up against Machiavelli (yep, he's immortal too).

Well-paced and a fun read. Like the first book in the series, the references to current technology sometimes didn't seem to fit quite right, but it was a small irritation in an overall compelling story. ( )

The motley group escape to Paris where Sophie deals with power, it's consequences and the memories she has to deal with; Josh deals with jealousy and trust issues and the others deal variously with other immortals trying to kill them all.

Occasionally seemed to drag a little but overall interesting and fun and pretty well done, I like how the various immortals interweave and I look forward to the next book in the series to see how Josh fares with power! ( )