Doctor Illuminatus

The Alchemist's Son #1

by Martin Booth

When a family moves to an old English country estate, Sebastian, the son of an alchemist, is accidentally awakened from a centuries-long sleep. The evil enemy of Sebastian’s father has also been awakened and continues to pursue his sinister plan.

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Fiction, Middle Grade, Alchemy, Magic, Childrens

179 pages, Hardcover

First published June 5, 2003

About the author

Martin Booth was a prolific English novelist and poet. He also worked as a teacher and screenwriter, and was the founder of the Sceptre Press.

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an entertaining and educational children’s fantasy novel. The only thing stopping me giving it the full five stars are that it felt rushed in places. Indeed, it requires the reader to really pay attention as you could miss some significant events if your attention was to wander, even for a moment (and I find my attention wandering more than it ever did since I had my stroke last year).

I also felt the book was too short, but I suppose that’s a good sign if it left me wanting more. On to the sequel!

[Arie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I suppose I'm a little old to be reading such simple stories now, hence the low rating but would recommend for children definately.

[Logan 8-3 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Doctor Illuminatus (The Alchemist's Son), by Martin Booth, is an adventurious story. It has magic, history, action, science, and good grammar, but the main characters, Pip and Tim, are not that interesting. Pip and Tim move to an old mansion with their parents, but somethings not right, there's a knock coming from within the walls. Pip and Tim, being as audacious as they are, decide to find out what is going on. As the wall opens, out comes a pale- faced boy, covered in dust and mildew. Pip and Tim were, bemused by what they were seeing with their own eyes. Later in the story you found out the boy's name, but I will not tell you anymore then that.

Characters weren't very "round" characters, but Martin Booth did find away to tell you about their lives in a different way than you would suspect. The over all story was great, it was in depth about what was happening, and Martin did a great job on keeping me wanting to read more. A good deed is done here, a spell is cast, and then out of no where comes a dark, evil man, just only a few things that will pop up and surprise you, it was a great book overall, so I gave it a four out of five stars.

If you have read this book I am happy to tell you there is a sequel, Soul Stealer. I am currently looking for this book and hoping to find it soon.

[Julie Decker · Rating 1 out of 5]

Pip and Tim are twins who have just moved to a mysterious old house which turns out to conceal a boy from a long-dead generation. Sebastian, looking good for his 600 years, shows up and explains he's a resurrected alchemist's son (whose father built the house and did odd experiments inside it), and furthermore, there is a villain who must have been raised from his slumber as well--de Loudeac will come for them with his mindless magical creature (a homunculus). The twins must ally with Sebastian to try to prevent the creation of the homunculus and stop de Loudeac.

To be honest, I found the writing about as soulless as the homunculus is described. The plot feels like it's still at the outline stage, with Sebastian delivering really long explanations that made me wonder whether the whole book was the author's excuse to share cool ideas with us--like "oh, what if there was a book that had X in it?" and then . . . here's the book, but there's not much to it except that it has X in it. The stark writing style is then painfully adorned with creative replacements for the dialogue tags, with shock value added through grisly happenings and gore. And furthermore, the protagonists do so little in the book and have so little agency that I couldn't get attached to them. When the homunculus finally came onto the scene, it was anticlimactic. I thought I'd be horrified and the interactions would have been worth waiting for, but there was just nothing here to react to.

[Kris (My Novelesque Life) · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 STARS

"Dr. Illuminatus is a fast-paced story of alchemy and adventure, and sorcery and suspense, in which past and present comfortably coexist. When Tim and Pipís family moves to an old English country estate, they accidentally awaken an alchemistís son, Sebastian, from a centuries-old slumber. But Sebastianís fatherís enemy, Pierre de LoudÈac, has also awakened--and is relentlessly pursuing the dream of alchemists to create an homunculus, an artificial human made from dead material. Aided by Sebastianís wise guidance and insight into six hundred yearsí history, the two spirited siblings bravely take action to stop the manís ominous quest. But even as they daringly defeat de LoudÈac in this battle, Evil lives on. . . ." (From Amazon)

An okay children's fantasy novel. I am not interested enough to read book two.

[Pyrate Queen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A wonderful suggestion for kids who have enjoyed Coraline by Neil Gaiman.

Twins Pip and Tim's family have just moved into an old English estate. So it's a little surprising to hear a strange knocking from within the walls of the ancient home. At first Pip says it must be the heat pipe but when Tim reminds her that it's summer, they both get curious and decide to investigate. What they imagined- a boy, just their age, who claims to be the son of a medieval alchemist. But that would make him over 600 years old.

He is, indeed, by calendar times, but in metaphysical life, he is still just 12 and is now on a quest to save the world from an evil alchemist who has a desire to create a homunculus and take over the world.

[William · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's not my favorite, but it's not the worst thing my wife has made me read.

[Brooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought it was a fun book and pretty interesting but not something I would reread.

[Tobi · Rating 3 out of 5]

It claims it's a children's book, but frankly some of the themes and descriptions are disturbing.

[Jonathan Thornton · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not great.

I’m sure I’m not really the target audience as this is a children’s book; however as a father and a primary school teacher I am exposed to a lot of children’s literature, and this was not a good example. I’m aware that it was written over 20 years ago, but boy does that show. The dialogue is awkward and stunted - one of my main complaints about children’s books is that children’s dialogue rarely sounds like any child I’ve ever met (“Like, what?”) - and the whole book is VERY heavy on exposition. There are also often whole chunks that are completely unnecessary; nobody needs detailed descriptions of playing Flight Simulator or making music on some obsolete sound editing software. The book seems to crawl for the first 80%, then sprint clumsily in the final 20%, stumbling right at the end. The villain is built up to be terrible, yet he is utterly ineffective. The homunculus is built up to be an awful threat, yet it is defeated by what amounts to the plot of an old Bugs Bunny cartoon. Ultimately I literally couldn’t care less about this book or any of its characters, although I was secretly hoping that Sebastian was the homunculus and that he had been tricking the children all along. Sadly that was not the case, and the plot continued along in its incredibly boring and predictable way. I only finished the book because I hate leaving any book unfinished, but by the final chapter it had almost completely lost my attention.

Apparently there is a sequel. I won’t be going anywhere near it.

[Sterling Bonney · Rating 5 out of 5]

in Doctor Illuminatus by Martin Booth was about pim and Tim who moved in a new house and didn't know there was something living in the basement. they encounter many weird creatures in a passage. they try to figure out what is happening with all these creatures and how they can be helpful.

I thought that this was a good book because it had many concepts that I like and it was well written.i like mixtures of mythology and history so I think this was a good book for me.

I would recommend this book to people who like mythology because it has those types of concepts. I think kids my age would enjoy it as well.

[Jackie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Twins Pip and Tim with their parents move into a centuries old house in the countryside. Before long, they hear tapping inside the walls. Believing it is mice or rats, they are surprised when Sebastian appears. He tells them he has been in suspension or hibernation for a very long time. After all, he was born in 1422.

Sebastian goes on to tell them about the evil that lurks within the grounds of their house. He is reanimated to stop the evil and he needs Pip and Tim’s help. It all has to do with alchemy and an evil presence attempting to create a homunculus….a person without a soul who will do the devil’s bidding.

Creepy and dark, the story will live on in a sequel.

[Dan · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's full of interesting concepts and motifs but it really truly is a children's book (albeit, probably a more advanced child that can handle some frightening imagery). I expected to like it more but was relieved when I finished it because the writing and the story just weren't that interesting to me.

I definitely would've loved it as a kid! I'm guessing my ten year old self would've been thrilled.

[Mandy Eve-Barnett · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an easy book to read and a delight to be transported into the lives of two young kids, who are taken on a journey of magic and alchemy. I was surprised at some of the verbiage used - surnames of the parents, rather than Mum & Dad and other terms. For two characters olde English was correct to use but this seemed to leach into the general text, which felt wrong.
However, a fun read in all.

[Roger · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very fun story about a 12–going-on-600-year-old alchemist and a brother and sister who move to a country estate. Parts were tense but one scene was gory, so I wouldn’t recommend it for anyone under 14.

[Marcia Maes]

One of my favourites ❤

[Sharon Skinner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun adventure, dealing with alchemy and the dark arts. Right up my alley. It's interesting the little gems you find on your library shelf when you decide to clean up your TBR pile.

[Ellen Spes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Simple read. Magical alchemist is found in the new home.

[Brent · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 4

[Becky B · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book to see if I wanted to recommend it to my middle school students. My conclusion is that not all my middle schoolers are ready for this and I'll probably steer most of them to better books.

The story is about two kids who move into an ancient house in the English countryside that happens to be built on special ground that tends itself to magical uses. Once they move into the house they find out that some of the previous owners were leaders of the good alchemists several hundred years ago, the Illuminati. The ancient battle of good alchemists vs bad alchemists is still going on, and the brother and sister find themselves needed to help prevent the evil alchemist from making a homunuculus (aka human-ish form with no soul, think the monster Dr Frankenstein made...no, not the green one with screws in his head but the original one from the book made up of dead body parts patched together and brought to life).

I think this book would have been much better if Booth hadn't taken it down the Frankenstein route. He started the story off like a light fantasy for upper elementary and middle school kids. The ancient alchemy practices are mostly explained by modern science principles, and are therefore less dark and mysterious. Up until the last fourth of the book the worst thing the kids run into are evil bugs on the rampage. Then it suddenly gets much darker. I found it unexpected and unnecessary. Here are the darker elements: We get hints of where this is going when the bad guy buys lamb hearts at the butcher's and rifles through the vet's trash (which we are told includes dead animals). But even that didn't prepare me for how dark Booth was headed. After visiting a place where the dark alchemist has just been, and obviously been at work because of nothing spookier than some bent metal and a rotten scent, all of a sudden the kids come across a severed human leg and a disemboweled dog. They then go back to the house, and after hearing a tapping on the window, they see the leering face of a man whose skull has been crushed in and brains are showing, a woman's head with pieces of flesh dangling from it, another woman holding a dead baby upside down by one leg, etc. At the very end of the book you get hints that these were just visions and not real, but still...I don't think it was necessary at all, and especially not to that amount of detail. Then, it describes the Devil dancing around with the evil alchemist and some other evil spirits during the ceremony to enliven the homunuculus. (So much for the scientific explanations.) Also, the philosophy spouted at the end is a little dark. Though the good alchemist claims to be a Christian working for God, he tells the kids that good will never triumph over evil, but that wherever one exists the other must also exist to keep balance..

Regardless of the content, I just did not find the story gripping me. I gave up on the book after the first two chapters because it was dragging, read a whole other book that I did enjoy, and then when I had no more excuse, I came back to slug through the rest of this.

I would recommend this as a more cheerful option than Frankenstein for the bringing things to life genre, but that isn't saying much. Oscar the Grouch is more cheerful than Dr Frankenstein. I think the target age group has a lot of better fantasy/magical options out there and wouldn't recommend spending the time on this one.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Doctor Illuminatus stands out in a sea of YA books for its unique topic (alchemy), its interesting and relatable characters, and its slightly macabre tone.

[Marsha · Rating 2 out of 5]

While Doctor Illuminatus: The Alchemist's Son is a wonderful magic story, it grounds its fairy tale lore firmly in history, with facts about electricity, herbology, knowledge of florae and faunae, metallurgy, et al., liberally sprinkled in it. Surprisingly factual, it’s the kind of so-called children’s book that you suspect might have a lot of useful real-world applications.

Where the book fails, sadly, is in the stodgy nature of its main protagonist, the phlegmatic Sebastian. He speaks in an adult fashion that is quite disconcerting to his two youthful friends. He’s not arrogant or superior; he’s simply a know-it-all who simply doesn’t speak like any child you’ve ever met. Enigmatic, dry and given to sudden unexplained appearances and disappearances, it’s tough to feel anything for him. You’re not worried about his plight, sad about his lonely condition or terrified by the danger about which he keeps warning the siblings Pip and Tim.

Phillipa and Timothy are an engaging pair, being a stereotypical girl and boy—she’s interested in music and art, he in video games and online flight simulations. They’re bright, knowledgeable, adventurous and determined. But they’re simply not enough to make up for the blandness of the titular character.

The book is supposed to be the first of a series. But poor Sebastian needs to become a more personable creation for me to be interested in any sequel that features him.

[Maryam · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book that I read, “Doctor Illuminatus” is all about magic, and nonfictional ideas such as potions that make you live for thousands of years, flowers that make you tell the truth, and new things I learned such as shape shifting!
So the Tim and Pip, the two twins, move into an old English house existing from the time of King Henry the 5th. They find out that Sebastian, who is the son of the house’s original owner, is still alive, only 12 years old! And has woken up from his so called hibernation to keep him surviving for thousands of years! His dad’s enemy, De Loudeac, has also woken up, and wants to take over whatever he can to spread his evil. It is Sebastian’s mission to stop de Loudeac, and Tim and Pip are ready to help. The book is filled with an awesome sense of imagination that will grab the reader.
In my opinion, I think this was quite an interesting book because it got me caught up in a different setting and I didn’t read a book like this where I learned about these different magical things like what an alchemist is.
I would recommend this book to someone who really likes nonfictional, magical stories that will get the reader caught up in an imaginary world.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book, but with some horror elements.

[Jessi · Rating 4 out of 5]

From School Library Journal:
Grade 5-8–This suspenseful novel is sure to please fans of J. K. Rowling's "Harry Potter" series (Scholastic) who are looking for an engaging story utilizing a more sophisticated writing style. Incorporating alchemical history, Booth introduces Pip and Tim, twins who move into an old English country estate cloaked in mystery. They meet a pale boy, Sebastian, who emerges from the walls and claims to be the son of a medieval alchemist. He leads the siblings on a journey filled with history and horror, complemented by severed limbs, strange animals, and shape-shifting. This compelling tale is replete with gruesome details of bloodshed and violence, making the story appropriate for mature children who are intrigued by horror. Religious references are relevant to the story of good versus evil, and technologically adept children will appreciate Pip and Tim's allusions to computer software and games. Readers will surely anticipate the adventures of Sebastian, Pip, and Tim in the upcoming sequel, Soul Stealer (Little, Brown, 2005).–Jessi Platt

[Louis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This books is classified as teen at Phx Public Library. I truly enjoyed it. The internal logic of how the son of an alchemist could survive over a span of 500+ years was believable. We were spared too much disbelief from the two modern-day cohorts of Sebastian, and I appreciated this very much. The parents also rang true, even if their involvement was minimal.

This book ended up being a bit gruesome in some places. As an American, I enjoyed the British setting, especially some of the terminology that one doesn't read too often in some novels.

I noticed also that at the end of the book I listened to, that the "estate of Martin Booth" was mentioned. I have no clue yet how old this author was, but the book is set in recent time, so I am saddened if this death is true.

The alchemical references, the connection to modern chemistry and physics, and the description of the demise of Sebastian's father were all interesting aspects of this book to me.

[vaugnfreech · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finished reading the book, the first in The Alchemist's Son trilogy. One of my must reads at NBS and happened to buy it last sale.

The story of twins Philippa and Timothy who discovers a new friend trapped in their newly bought house (a Victorian house) who is more than a century old. Sebastian is the name and his father, an alchemist, left him a mission to combat the evil side of the craft.

Reminds me of Harry Potter but specific to Potions. The book has something to say with alchemy. Gee, it's one thing I love to discuss way back in high school. The beginning of chemistry. Nice to know a lot of knew things.

Alchemists did dream to accomplice three things. To transform any metal into pure gold, to concoct the elixir of life, and to create a homunculus, a humanoid from a dead matter.

In the book, the villain is set to create a homunculus which is a threat for mankind. Great adventures to follow. Nice read.

[Angela Boord · Rating 3 out of 5]

Listened to this book on audio while on vacation. My favorite part of the book was the old house, an English manor built in the 1400's where Sebastian, the alchemist's son, has been sleeping for 600 years. The house almost becomes a character of its own. The story was absorbing enough to keep everyone listening to the end, and the use of Christianity (and really, Catholic Christianity) as a base for the alchemy Sebastian uses in his fight against evil was interesting and welcome -- although the theology got a bit iffy in places, I thought. The biggest detraction from the story for me was the unnecessary gore the author used ostensibly to create an atmosphere of fright. Really, though, they were less scary than just disgusting. Not a reason to avoid the book, but sensitive souls should be aware.

[Roxanne · Rating 2 out of 5]

I bought this because it was on sale for $3.99 at Border's and looked decent, and Eoin Colfer is quoted on the cover. I did not love it as much as Eoin Colfer did. It was okay. The plot was a little light, which is fine for younger readers, but it was surprisingly gory if that's the target audience. I also didn't like Sebastian's character--none of the characters seem to have much, well, character really, Pip and Tim are just empty any-child figures and they're the protagonists. It was a short book, only 173 pages, and could easily have been half again as long or even twice as long and it would have been more compelling without losing anything. Also, I prefer my secret passages to exist all the time, not just some of the time. I don't care if I read the sequel.

[Alfonso Rodriguez · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is very different from other books I have read. It shows a religious but science point of view on life. In simple words its considered alchemy, a mixture of religion and science. Instead of looking that word just from a religious view or only a science view. I would advise you to read this book because it will help you look at the world in a different way. The book creates a mental movie in your head with all the descriptive words used to describe the scene, the characters, and the events that is happening at that moment and time. Furthermore, this story does not leave out any key details that will help you understand the book and the characters. I would recommend this book to people who are interested in more of ancient magic known as alchemy.