What do you think?
Rate this book
Immortal Muse
This sweeping historical fantasy follows two immortals from the 1300s onward, as they chase one another across time
An immortal Muse whose very survival depends on the creativity she nurtures within her lovers....
Another immortal who feeds not on artistry but on pain and torment....
A chase through time from 1300s Paris to contemporary New York, with two people bound together in enmity and fury....
When magic and science are melded together, an array of the famous and infamous—from Bernini to Vivaldi, from Lavoisier and Robespierre to William Blake, from Gustav Klimt to Charlotte Salomon—will be caught up unawares in this ages-long battle....
An immortal Muse whose very survival depends on the creativity she nurtures within her lovers....
Another immortal who feeds not on artistry but on pain and torment....
A chase through time from 1300s Paris to contemporary New York, with two people bound together in enmity and fury....
When magic and science are melded together, an array of the famous and infamous—from Bernini to Vivaldi, from Lavoisier and Robespierre to William Blake, from Gustav Klimt to Charlotte Salomon—will be caught up unawares in this ages-long battle....
544 pages, Hardcover
First published March 4, 2014
13 people are currently reading
581 people want to read
About the author
Stephen Leigh
86 books59 followersStephen Leigh has been writing science fiction since he was in grade school. He sold his first story in 1975 and has been publishing regularly ever since then.
He has been nominated for and won several awards for his fiction over the years. He has written and published the occasional poems and non-fiction pieces, as well.
Steve teaches Creative Writing at Northern Kentucky University in the Greater Cincinnati area. He also plays music, and studies the Japanese martial art Aikido, in which he holds the rank of Sandan.
Stephen Leigh also writes as S.L. Farrell and Matthew Farrell.
He has been nominated for and won several awards for his fiction over the years. He has written and published the occasional poems and non-fiction pieces, as well.
Steve teaches Creative Writing at Northern Kentucky University in the Greater Cincinnati area. He also plays music, and studies the Japanese martial art Aikido, in which he holds the rank of Sandan.
Stephen Leigh also writes as S.L. Farrell and Matthew Farrell.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 59 reviews
February 14, 2016
Stephen Leigh’s Immortal Muse blends modern day fiction with alchemical history. As a chemist and artist, and fantasy genre fan, this was a perfect match for me. How neat would it be if your muse was not just a one-way source of inspiration? What if you muse was a person who provided feedback and even shared a symbiotic relationship with you such that your creations benefited her? What if your muse’s life was threatened by a darker counterpart?
Complementary Art & Alchemy: Prior 1600, scientists and artists had overlapping interests/skills; scientists had to draw their own data in sketchbooks; conversely, artists had to craft/prepare their own pigments and materials (via chemistry). Artists and alchemists frequented the same apothecaries. The art & science of transmuting materials was a shared goal. Alchemists codified their goal in the substance called the “philosopher’s stone,” which was either the understanding to transmute materials into anything they wanted (i.e. gold)…or the base material itself. Harnessing the power of the stone could also enable one to live forever (in which case the “stone” was called “the elixir of life”).
Immortal Muse blends these complementary disciplines. It is half contemporary fantasy (New York, 2010), and half Historical Fiction, which covers a range of times, European geographies, and art (detailed below). This is an entertaining soap-opera/thriller.
-1400, Paris: Perenelle Flamel & Nicolas Flamel (scribes, alchemists)
-1635, Rome: Gian Lorenzo Bernini (Roman artist &sculptor)
-1737, Vienna: Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (Musician)
-1790, Paris: Jacque-Louis David (Painter)
-1814 England: William Blake, Percy Bysshe Shelly (Poets)
-1900 Vienna: Gustave Klimt (Painter)
-1940 Nice, Italy: Charlotte Salomon (Jewish artist)
Artistic Philosophy: Immortal Muse is chock full of artistic perspectives and shout-outs. I was thrilled for the mentioning my favorite artisanal recipe book : Mappae Clavicula: A Little Key to the World of Medieval Techniques. There is a somber but nicely executed arc regarding the persecution of Jews, beginning with the ~1394 Jewish migration from Paris and ending with Charlotte Salomon’s tragic plight during the Holocaust. There are plenty of moments like the quote below in which an artist is caught between following their muse (and creating something to be shared) and lacking the trust of the audience to care or judge them (or having their art taken away).
Author Stephen Leigh: The writer taps his own artistic experience for this. As a musician and creative writer, who also practices Aikido, it is obvious that he funneled a lot of his own muses in this. I half wonder if there is a bar called the Bent Calloipe in Cincinnati which he plays his guitar. His Immortal Muse is recommended for historical fiction, art philosophy, alchemy buffs, and fantasy enthusiasts.
“Yeah, artists want immortality all right, but the immortality we’re after is the kind you don’t know you achieved because you’re dead when it happens. It’s the work that’s supposed to live forever. Not the artist.”
Complementary Art & Alchemy: Prior 1600, scientists and artists had overlapping interests/skills; scientists had to draw their own data in sketchbooks; conversely, artists had to craft/prepare their own pigments and materials (via chemistry). Artists and alchemists frequented the same apothecaries. The art & science of transmuting materials was a shared goal. Alchemists codified their goal in the substance called the “philosopher’s stone,” which was either the understanding to transmute materials into anything they wanted (i.e. gold)…or the base material itself. Harnessing the power of the stone could also enable one to live forever (in which case the “stone” was called “the elixir of life”).
Immortal Muse blends these complementary disciplines. It is half contemporary fantasy (New York, 2010), and half Historical Fiction, which covers a range of times, European geographies, and art (detailed below). This is an entertaining soap-opera/thriller.
-1400, Paris: Perenelle Flamel & Nicolas Flamel (scribes, alchemists)
-1635, Rome: Gian Lorenzo Bernini (Roman artist &sculptor)
-1737, Vienna: Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (Musician)
-1790, Paris: Jacque-Louis David (Painter)
-1814 England: William Blake, Percy Bysshe Shelly (Poets)
-1900 Vienna: Gustave Klimt (Painter)
-1940 Nice, Italy: Charlotte Salomon (Jewish artist)
Artistic Philosophy: Immortal Muse is chock full of artistic perspectives and shout-outs. I was thrilled for the mentioning my favorite artisanal recipe book : Mappae Clavicula: A Little Key to the World of Medieval Techniques. There is a somber but nicely executed arc regarding the persecution of Jews, beginning with the ~1394 Jewish migration from Paris and ending with Charlotte Salomon’s tragic plight during the Holocaust. There are plenty of moments like the quote below in which an artist is caught between following their muse (and creating something to be shared) and lacking the trust of the audience to care or judge them (or having their art taken away).
“Ana let the pages of the sketchpad fall back and handed it to [Charlotte]. She pressed it to her chest as if she’d never expected to have it returned.”
Author Stephen Leigh: The writer taps his own artistic experience for this. As a musician and creative writer, who also practices Aikido, it is obvious that he funneled a lot of his own muses in this. I half wonder if there is a bar called the Bent Calloipe in Cincinnati which he plays his guitar. His Immortal Muse is recommended for historical fiction, art philosophy, alchemy buffs, and fantasy enthusiasts.
February 14, 2016
An Entertaining Blend of Art and Alchemy Stephen Leigh’s Immortal Muse blends modern day fiction with alchemical history. As a chemist and artist, and fantasy genre fan, this was a perfect match for me. How neat would it be if your muse was not just a one-way source of inspiration? What if you muse was a person who provided feedback and even shared a symbiotic relationship with you such that your creations benefited her? What if your muse’s life was threatened by a darker counterpart?
“Yeah, artists want immortality all right, but the immortality we’re after is the kind you don’t know you achieved because you’re dead when it happens. It’s the work that’s supposed to live forever. Not the artist.”
Complementary Art & Alchemy: Prior 1600, scientists and artists had overlapping interests/skills; scientists had to draw their own data in sketchbooks; conversely, artists had to craft/prepare their own pigments and materials (via chemistry). Artists and alchemists frequented the same apothecaries. The art & science of transmuting materials was a shared goal. Alchemists codified their goal in the substance called the “philosopher’s stone,” which was either the understanding to transmute materials into anything they wanted (i.e. gold)…or the base material itself. Harnessing the power of the stone could also enable one to live forever (in which case the “stone” was called “the elixir of life”). Immortal Muse blends these complementary disciplines. It is half contemporary fantasy (New York, 2010), and half Historical Fiction, which covers a range of times, European geographies, and art (detailed below). This is an entertaining soap-opera/thriller. -1400, Paris: Perenelle Flamel & Nicolas Flamel (scribes, alchemists)-1635, Rome: Gian Lorenzo Bernini (Roman artist &sculptor)-1737, Vienna: Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (Musician) -1790, Paris: Jacque-Louis David (Painter)-1814 England: William Blake, Percy Bysshe Shelly (Poets)-1900 Vienna: Gustave Klimt (Painter)-1940 Nice, Italy: Charlotte Salomon (Jewish artist)Artistic Philosophy: Immortal Muse is chock full of artistic perspectives and shout-outs. I was thrilled for the mentioning my favorite artisanal recipe book : Mappae Clavicula: A Little Key to the World of Medieval Techniques. There is a somber but nicely executed arc regarding the persecution of Jews, beginning with the ~1394 Jewish migration from Paris and ending with Charlotte Salomon’s tragic plight during the Holocaust. There are plenty of moments like the quote below in which an artist is caught between following their muse (and creating something to be shared) and lacking the trust of the audience to care or judge them (or having their art taken away).
“Ana let the pages of the sketchpad fall back and handed it to [Charlotte]. She pressed it to her chest as if she’d never expected to have it returned.”
Author Stephen Leigh: The writer taps his own artistic experience for this. As a musician and creative writer, who also practices Aikido, it is obvious that he funneled a lot of his own muses in this. I half wonder if there is a bar called the Bent Calloipe in Cincinnati which he plays his guitar. His Immortal Muse is recommended for historical fiction, art philosophy, alchemy buffs, and fantasy enthusiasts.
“Yeah, artists want immortality all right, but the immortality we’re after is the kind you don’t know you achieved because you’re dead when it happens. It’s the work that’s supposed to live forever. Not the artist.”
Complementary Art & Alchemy: Prior 1600, scientists and artists had overlapping interests/skills; scientists had to draw their own data in sketchbooks; conversely, artists had to craft/prepare their own pigments and materials (via chemistry). Artists and alchemists frequented the same apothecaries. The art & science of transmuting materials was a shared goal. Alchemists codified their goal in the substance called the “philosopher’s stone,” which was either the understanding to transmute materials into anything they wanted (i.e. gold)…or the base material itself. Harnessing the power of the stone could also enable one to live forever (in which case the “stone” was called “the elixir of life”). Immortal Muse blends these complementary disciplines. It is half contemporary fantasy (New York, 2010), and half Historical Fiction, which covers a range of times, European geographies, and art (detailed below). This is an entertaining soap-opera/thriller. -1400, Paris: Perenelle Flamel & Nicolas Flamel (scribes, alchemists)-1635, Rome: Gian Lorenzo Bernini (Roman artist &sculptor)-1737, Vienna: Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (Musician) -1790, Paris: Jacque-Louis David (Painter)-1814 England: William Blake, Percy Bysshe Shelly (Poets)-1900 Vienna: Gustave Klimt (Painter)-1940 Nice, Italy: Charlotte Salomon (Jewish artist)Artistic Philosophy: Immortal Muse is chock full of artistic perspectives and shout-outs. I was thrilled for the mentioning my favorite artisanal recipe book : Mappae Clavicula: A Little Key to the World of Medieval Techniques. There is a somber but nicely executed arc regarding the persecution of Jews, beginning with the ~1394 Jewish migration from Paris and ending with Charlotte Salomon’s tragic plight during the Holocaust. There are plenty of moments like the quote below in which an artist is caught between following their muse (and creating something to be shared) and lacking the trust of the audience to care or judge them (or having their art taken away).
“Ana let the pages of the sketchpad fall back and handed it to [Charlotte]. She pressed it to her chest as if she’d never expected to have it returned.”
Author Stephen Leigh: The writer taps his own artistic experience for this. As a musician and creative writer, who also practices Aikido, it is obvious that he funneled a lot of his own muses in this. I half wonder if there is a bar called the Bent Calloipe in Cincinnati which he plays his guitar. His Immortal Muse is recommended for historical fiction, art philosophy, alchemy buffs, and fantasy enthusiasts.
April 22, 2014
I so wanted to love this book ... Alchemy, magic, history, etc., all the right ingredients for a great story ... But after the third interlude, I was thinking is this book ever gonna end. How many more times can Nicholas vs Perenelle go on for ?!? ... And at the end of every interlude, Penerelle would have a revelation of 'I know what I have to do' ... Clearly not as she let this drag on and on and on .... And David ! What a weak character ! For one whose love is strong enough for Perenelle to divulge her at secrets turns out to be a coward ?!? Great idea for a book, poor execution.
March 17, 2015
I'm a finisher. Even if I'm not really into a book, I will usually finish it, just to see where everything goes. That was not the case with this book. I only made it about halfway through before I threw in the towel, and even that felt positively herculean.
Perenelle is a lovely young Parisian woman whose father taught her the basics of alchemy. When she marries Nicholas Flamel, a fellow alchemist and collector of manuscripts, she thinks the match is one made in heaven. Turns out, not so much - Nicholas is a sadistic bastard who beats her and their child, threatens her, and ultimately ensourcels her to keep her under his thumb for decades. When Perenelle discovers the Philosopher's Stone, the secret to immortality, he tries to kill her, and the newly young-again woman flees for her life. Nicholas also does himself with the same potion, but neither is able to recreate it, and there's a serious drawback - each must feed upon the energy of other people in order to keep their long lives going. Perenelle feeds on creative energy, while Nicholas feeds on pain and fear.
Kind of an interesting premise, right? And I actually really love the idea of skipping through history, pausing as Perenelle, in different guises, interacts with many of the great talents of the past six centuries, such as Bernini and Vivaldi. Where this book fails for me is that it doesn't make any of it feel emotionally real. There's no internal logic holding the book together, just Perenelle making the same disasterous decisions over and over again while the one-note super creep Nicholas stalks her.
"Oh, there's some guy spreading terrible rumors about me and trying to destroy my life? Hmmm, maybe it's not Nicholas this time, I'm must going to keep going with my life as if nothing strange is happening, despite the fact that every time this happens people that I "love" end up tortured to death. Also, I'm never going to tell anyone about my immortality, because they wouldn't believe me (despite the fact that they've known me for 20 years and I haven't aged)! Even though that would totally fix a lot of my problems! And for some reason, all of the really talented artists have to be super famous and thus easy to find, because everyone knows really talented people always end up famous."
Ok, yes, I'm being kind of a jerk, but I just found it so frustrating! On the one hand, I could see it as a kind of take on the battered woman syndrome, and maybe if I'd kept going she would have broken the cycle. As it is, though, there's just Perenelle, constantly talking about wanting to kill Nicholas (knowing full well just how hard that is, and how unlikely it is that she's be able to do it using purely physical means) but waffling about if she should stick around or not, and Nicholas, who I've already mentioned is almost hilariously one note. It's hard to find a villain compelling when the author just hits you about the head and shoulders shrieking "he's evil! Really super duper evil! Rapes babies and sucks out puppy bone marrow!" Maybe the author thought it would help make wishy-washy Perenelle look better in comparison, I don't know.
Anyway, I can't think of any redeeming qualities for this book. It might make a good doorstop. Oh, and now I know when croissants were first mentioned in literature (1600s, interesting) because I got really annoyed that 15th century Perenelle kept going to the boulangarie for them with her dude of the week, and for some reason that was annoying. Yes, she's French. Shut up about the croissants already.
Perenelle is a lovely young Parisian woman whose father taught her the basics of alchemy. When she marries Nicholas Flamel, a fellow alchemist and collector of manuscripts, she thinks the match is one made in heaven. Turns out, not so much - Nicholas is a sadistic bastard who beats her and their child, threatens her, and ultimately ensourcels her to keep her under his thumb for decades. When Perenelle discovers the Philosopher's Stone, the secret to immortality, he tries to kill her, and the newly young-again woman flees for her life. Nicholas also does himself with the same potion, but neither is able to recreate it, and there's a serious drawback - each must feed upon the energy of other people in order to keep their long lives going. Perenelle feeds on creative energy, while Nicholas feeds on pain and fear.
Kind of an interesting premise, right? And I actually really love the idea of skipping through history, pausing as Perenelle, in different guises, interacts with many of the great talents of the past six centuries, such as Bernini and Vivaldi. Where this book fails for me is that it doesn't make any of it feel emotionally real. There's no internal logic holding the book together, just Perenelle making the same disasterous decisions over and over again while the one-note super creep Nicholas stalks her.
"Oh, there's some guy spreading terrible rumors about me and trying to destroy my life? Hmmm, maybe it's not Nicholas this time, I'm must going to keep going with my life as if nothing strange is happening, despite the fact that every time this happens people that I "love" end up tortured to death. Also, I'm never going to tell anyone about my immortality, because they wouldn't believe me (despite the fact that they've known me for 20 years and I haven't aged)! Even though that would totally fix a lot of my problems! And for some reason, all of the really talented artists have to be super famous and thus easy to find, because everyone knows really talented people always end up famous."
Ok, yes, I'm being kind of a jerk, but I just found it so frustrating! On the one hand, I could see it as a kind of take on the battered woman syndrome, and maybe if I'd kept going she would have broken the cycle. As it is, though, there's just Perenelle, constantly talking about wanting to kill Nicholas (knowing full well just how hard that is, and how unlikely it is that she's be able to do it using purely physical means) but waffling about if she should stick around or not, and Nicholas, who I've already mentioned is almost hilariously one note. It's hard to find a villain compelling when the author just hits you about the head and shoulders shrieking "he's evil! Really super duper evil! Rapes babies and sucks out puppy bone marrow!" Maybe the author thought it would help make wishy-washy Perenelle look better in comparison, I don't know.
Anyway, I can't think of any redeeming qualities for this book. It might make a good doorstop. Oh, and now I know when croissants were first mentioned in literature (1600s, interesting) because I got really annoyed that 15th century Perenelle kept going to the boulangarie for them with her dude of the week, and for some reason that was annoying. Yes, she's French. Shut up about the croissants already.
December 26, 2013
This is the first new Stephen Leigh novel I've seen for fifteen years, but he's returned from his feral existence with a really good one and I received an advance copy from a Goodreads Giveaway. It's the story of two fourteenth-century alchemists who are successful in finding an elixir of immortality, which causes drastic changes in them, and their relationships and confrontations from then into the current day. Perenelle Flamel becomes the Immortal Muse to artists with whom she establishes symbiotic relationships, while her former husband Nicolas simply feeds off of the suffering of others. It's structured so that contemporary scenes leading up to an apocalyptic showdown alternate with historic ones and each chapter is titled for one of the classic muses. Many of the characters are fictionalized versions of real historic personages, and along the way we meet Klimt, Vivaldi, Robespierre, Polidori, Blake, etc.,etc. It's all very convincingly portrayed, researched with minute detail, and it's fascinating to note how the world and characters change, sometimes quite subtly, from century to century. The nature of the structure itself robs some of the flashback sequences of their full suspense because you know they're both going to survive their confrontations, and I never quite got the importance of a piece of jewelry that Perenelle always wears and that is mentioned prominently in every sequence, but I didn't have any other faults with the story. It's a very thoughtful examination of the arts, an interesting view of history, and a very good story all in one.
May 21, 2015
I really, really, REALLY wanted to like this.
It sounded so unique, so different. And good historical fiction/fantasy is very hard to find. The genre is very small, and so when I saw this I latched on. Bought it without a second thought. I wish I still had the receipt.
My rule of thumb is give every new book 50 pages. It's generally a pretty good indication of whether the story is going to grab me.
At page 50, I shut the book and put it aside. I already didn't like the main character, she seemed weak and...stupid. And the villain was flat. Being nasty just because he can. Not to mention, while the writing itself was good, the plot dragged and there was little explanation of the world despite the book being pretty thick. I'm not like most readers, finishing a book because they're stubborn. I don't like to waste what little downtown I have. So, this one isn't going on my shelf and I don't recommend it.
It sounded so unique, so different. And good historical fiction/fantasy is very hard to find. The genre is very small, and so when I saw this I latched on. Bought it without a second thought. I wish I still had the receipt.
My rule of thumb is give every new book 50 pages. It's generally a pretty good indication of whether the story is going to grab me.
At page 50, I shut the book and put it aside. I already didn't like the main character, she seemed weak and...stupid. And the villain was flat. Being nasty just because he can. Not to mention, while the writing itself was good, the plot dragged and there was little explanation of the world despite the book being pretty thick. I'm not like most readers, finishing a book because they're stubborn. I don't like to waste what little downtown I have. So, this one isn't going on my shelf and I don't recommend it.
July 25, 2014
I really enjoyed this book. It wasn't the greatest thing ever, but it was very entertaining and interesting. I enjoy historical fiction, and this is kind of historical, magical fiction, which is a genre I am starting to read more and more of. The book wasn't perfect. There were quite a few typos and the story dragged in a few places. In some ways it felt like the story was being stretched so that it could fit over the outline instead of just being written as the story it wanted to be. And there are undeniable moments that just make you think of the Highlander. But, I enjoyed it greatly, I would try another of Mr. Leigh's books, and I would recommend this to anyone looking for something fun who likes fantasy/historical fiction.
May 30, 2019
Read this the day it came out, just haven't reviewed it due to poor follow through on my part. The research in this book is clear, and the characters are pretty realistic. I enjoy seeing small nods to alchemy that people may not immediately recognize, vitriol was a clever usage that one wouldn't immediately get without background. Perenelle is amazing, and truly a heroine. Nicholas is a villain in whom I want to believe, and his betrayals make him all the more sinister. This is a favorite book of mine, and will surely be one of yours.
March 1, 2014
I was lucky enough for Steve to be my mentor while I worked on my Honors Capstone and my original idea was kind of similar to this, so he let me read an ARC. I loved it and have been so excited for it to come out so everybody else can read it too. I'm looking forward to getting a copy reading it again!
December 23, 2018
2.5 stars
Perenelle and Nicholas Flamel are recast as an immortal, abusive relationship, with Nicholas seeking to hurt others (including Perenelle) and Perenelle fleeing from him.
Part of the deal with their immortal powers is that For Perenelle - now calling herself Camille Kenny - she surrounds herself by artists, improving their creativity (basically, being their muse) while looking out for Nicholas. Perenelle's told herself that this is the time she will stop running and face him.
This could have been a really interesting story about Perenelle facing her fear (Nicholas) and being an independent person. But instead, it feels like she's constantly being dependent on others - partly because she needs to - while simultaneously trying to protect them.
I didn't really connect with this - perhaps it was the writing? It was an okay story, that moved along at an okay pace, but it didn't feel interesting. And that's the problem.
Perenelle and Nicholas Flamel are recast as an immortal, abusive relationship, with Nicholas seeking to hurt others (including Perenelle) and Perenelle fleeing from him.
Part of the deal with their immortal powers is that For Perenelle - now calling herself Camille Kenny - she surrounds herself by artists, improving their creativity (basically, being their muse) while looking out for Nicholas. Perenelle's told herself that this is the time she will stop running and face him.
This could have been a really interesting story about Perenelle facing her fear (Nicholas) and being an independent person. But instead, it feels like she's constantly being dependent on others - partly because she needs to - while simultaneously trying to protect them.
I didn't really connect with this - perhaps it was the writing? It was an okay story, that moved along at an okay pace, but it didn't feel interesting. And that's the problem.
March 27, 2018
The concept is super cool. The writing is clean. But somehow for me personally, the main character wasn’t compelling enough (I really only liked David). I thought maybe the story dragged on too long, also — or maybe it was that the chase got tiring/repetitive and thus the story plateaued rather than escalated enough to stay compelling. Toward the middle, in any case, the book ceased holding my attention; I started skimming/skipping huge sections, then trailed off and actually never finished at all. Like when having bad sex, I tried to reach the climax, because I really wanted to give this book a chance to prove itself good, but ultimately I just wasn’t feeling it enough that it did it for me, LOL. Stephen Leigh is a kind and charismatic guy to talk to — met him at a book fair. I might give some of his other books a shot.
July 19, 2017
So really I would give this a 3.5 but rounding up to four. I have to agree with a lot of other reviewers that the story did kind of drag and I was really annoyed at how long it took Perenelle to finally finish off Nicolas. I felt it was a bit anti-climatic at their final encounter and that there was probably more that could have been done with that. Now criticism aside I really enjoyed the blend of history and I liked the way Leigh set up the story line so the reader learns a bit more about Camille/Perenelle with each interlude. Overall I enjoyed it but was left feeling a bit empty at the end of the novel.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 23, 2018
It's a good book, but it would've been a great book if it were 150 pages shorter. He set up a great story, interesting characters, and a few surprises with neat ideas. That said, he really only needed 3-4 of the 8(!) interludes to really drive home the point that the bad guy is evil.
By the time the book resolved he'd lost a lot of the suspense he'd built up in the middle because he kept interrupting the story with flashbacks. It was entertaining, but the back half of the book was a bit of a chore to get through.
By the time the book resolved he'd lost a lot of the suspense he'd built up in the middle because he kept interrupting the story with flashbacks. It was entertaining, but the back half of the book was a bit of a chore to get through.
Read
September 24, 2022DNF, really great concept of Nicholas and Perenelle Flamel chasing each other through time trying to torture or kill the other, after she invents the elixir of life and then he steals it from her, but this story is really drawn out and there is far to much abuse in this book for me to really enjoy the read.
This is one of the few DNF's were I might come back to it and try it again one day but we will see.
This is one of the few DNF's were I might come back to it and try it again one day but we will see.
June 13, 2017
7/10 was interesting, but she was cowardly, and could have used the years to amass amazing powers. And I didn't like how pierce was able to use the old she's a terrible whore excuse in the 21st century and have people actually care.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 20, 2018
Interesting concept, historical people and places, but could have been edited a bit. I felt like the conflict between the main characters went on for too many generations and centuries. The novel could have been as interesting and effective with fewer historical lives.
April 4, 2020
I'm not just rating this 5 stars because my professor wrote it; I genuinely enjoyed it. Thank you, Dr. Leigh, for creating something so brilliant. Kind of makes me afraid to submit my final manuscript, though...
June 29, 2023
Once I opened this book, I couldn't put it down! The author weaves a story in and around real history while laying out a new story that kept me glued to the pages for two days straight. Will happily reread again in the future.
August 22, 2017
Great book! A new spin on the Nicholas Flamel legend that kept me hooked.
January 4, 2018
I enjoyed the fictional history mixed with the present. interesting characters which kept it moving at a nice pace.
February 8, 2019
Slow and laborous!
March 10, 2019
I read 300 pages, asked why I was torturing myself, and then skipped to the last 50 and skimmed to see what happened. It's an awesome concept but it could have been a much shorter book.
December 21, 2019
I can't believe Dumbledore would've ever hung with this guy.
January 15, 2024
Enjoyed the plot, but too long. Could’ve cut out quite a bit of the repetitive stories.
September 13, 2024
Nicholas is rly the worst. He is so cruel and terrible but it makes you feel the feels. I liked all the mini stories and flashbacks
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 20, 2014
From the title, you would think this book is about one of the Muses of Greek mythology. Actually, it's a story about Nicolas and Perenelle Flamel, famous husband-and-wife alchemists who searched for the Philosopher's Stone which would grant immortality.
In Leigh's version, it isn't a stone they find, but a formula Perenelle perfects from an ancient manuscript. She is a gifted chemist, while her abusive, manipulative husband focuses more on sorcery. Through Perenelle's work they both gain deathless youth and the power to heal from nearly any injury. These gifts come with a price, however: to survive, they must feed off the energy of others. Perenelle is nourished by creative energy, Nicolas by the suffering and pain of others. Down through European history from the thirteenth century, changing identities every generation, the pair meet and clash over the fates of creative minds such as Bernini, Vivaldi, Lavoisier, and others. As Nicolas becomes ever more ruthless, Perenelle comes to realize that the only way she can protect the artists she not only needs to survive but comes to love is to destroy her husband once and for all.
We first meet Perenelle, now calling herself Camille, in modern-day New York City. It's hard to like your protagonist when your introduction to her character is this thought: "Oh crap, I'm about to wreck yet another marriage." I reluctantly continued despite my misgivings, but it took me quite awhile to get past that uncomfortable introduction. It was only once Perenelle had been through a few lovers over the centuries did I start to realize that yes, this would be the reaction of someone who has had the life that she has led. For some of her artists, she was a mistress, to others, a wife, to others, an intense love affair, and to still others, a best friend. In all cases she was devoted to them and wanted above all their happiness.
In the beginning I was less interested in Camille's affair with David, her latest attachment, and more in her liaisons with famous artists in the past, how she learned new things about her immortal state over the centuries, and her tragic encounters with her former husband. My advice is to power through the first hundred pages or so--the book begins to flow much better the longer it goes on as you get to know Perenelle better and how she became the way she is.
In Leigh's version, it isn't a stone they find, but a formula Perenelle perfects from an ancient manuscript. She is a gifted chemist, while her abusive, manipulative husband focuses more on sorcery. Through Perenelle's work they both gain deathless youth and the power to heal from nearly any injury. These gifts come with a price, however: to survive, they must feed off the energy of others. Perenelle is nourished by creative energy, Nicolas by the suffering and pain of others. Down through European history from the thirteenth century, changing identities every generation, the pair meet and clash over the fates of creative minds such as Bernini, Vivaldi, Lavoisier, and others. As Nicolas becomes ever more ruthless, Perenelle comes to realize that the only way she can protect the artists she not only needs to survive but comes to love is to destroy her husband once and for all.
We first meet Perenelle, now calling herself Camille, in modern-day New York City. It's hard to like your protagonist when your introduction to her character is this thought: "Oh crap, I'm about to wreck yet another marriage." I reluctantly continued despite my misgivings, but it took me quite awhile to get past that uncomfortable introduction. It was only once Perenelle had been through a few lovers over the centuries did I start to realize that yes, this would be the reaction of someone who has had the life that she has led. For some of her artists, she was a mistress, to others, a wife, to others, an intense love affair, and to still others, a best friend. In all cases she was devoted to them and wanted above all their happiness.
In the beginning I was less interested in Camille's affair with David, her latest attachment, and more in her liaisons with famous artists in the past, how she learned new things about her immortal state over the centuries, and her tragic encounters with her former husband. My advice is to power through the first hundred pages or so--the book begins to flow much better the longer it goes on as you get to know Perenelle better and how she became the way she is.
March 1, 2014
I wanted to love it more. I like historical fiction (especially magic/fantasy stuff) with real people, and the afterword does a nice job of defining what was real about them and not. But, about halfway through, I found myself thinking, Oh, what's Nicholas going to do to her this time. I get the idea of nine Muses and nine historical figures, and the hunter-becoming-the-hunted, but there was not much of a difference between some of the historical situations to keep my interest.
I don't think that Nicholas Flamel's drive to hurt Perenelle was adequately explained or explored. "He's a sick guy and always has been" isn't quite enough for me, nor is, "haha, he's immortal he can do as he pleases." The original interludes (2 of them) that give Nick an Per's story were a little stagnant for me as well.
I liked that Perenelle did not all of a sudden develop super-strength like so many immortals do (and Nick didn't either). It is merely a physical phenomenon of not aging, which needs to be maintained by creative inspiration. That is a nice gift to have, a nice thing to sustain a person, rather than so many books out there that glorify the gore and bloodlust of an immortal's Hunger.
If you like Discovery of Witches, you will like this. And, also, it is (or seems to be) a one-shot, a stand-alone book, which may get lost in the world of trilogy series that we now live in.
I don't think that Nicholas Flamel's drive to hurt Perenelle was adequately explained or explored. "He's a sick guy and always has been" isn't quite enough for me, nor is, "haha, he's immortal he can do as he pleases." The original interludes (2 of them) that give Nick an Per's story were a little stagnant for me as well.
I liked that Perenelle did not all of a sudden develop super-strength like so many immortals do (and Nick didn't either). It is merely a physical phenomenon of not aging, which needs to be maintained by creative inspiration. That is a nice gift to have, a nice thing to sustain a person, rather than so many books out there that glorify the gore and bloodlust of an immortal's Hunger.
If you like Discovery of Witches, you will like this. And, also, it is (or seems to be) a one-shot, a stand-alone book, which may get lost in the world of trilogy series that we now live in.
September 22, 2014
I really tried to like this book, because the idea of it sounds so interesting....beautiful female alchemist Perenelle discovers the secret of immortal life. Unfortunately, her evil husband also drinks it. They become sort of like vampires for artistic spirits. She uses her powers for good, encouraging creativity in her lovers, and taking only what they can spare. Her husband Nicholas uses his only for evil, torturing and destroying those she loves. The idea is a good one, but I thought the characters were quite flat. Perenelle is just so very good that butter wouldn't melt in her mouth. Nicholas, on the other hand, is your stereotypic one-dimensional villain. If it's bad, he does it. Would such ancient vampiric types really concern themselves with petty revenge through the centuries? Would they never personally grow? I got tired of reading each graphic description of how he has tortured her friends and lovers while building to the present day climax of whether or not she will finally kill him. Maybe I'm just too American...but enough already. Just kill the b***!
October 30, 2014
The concept of an emotion vampire is just the right angle for a vampire genre novel, currently a huge market. In fact the author has one of the minor characters, a writer, say something about writing a vampire novel if she could find the right angle.
What drew me past the first chapter was the promise of more details on how the relationship between an artist and a muse works. Quite often one will hear a real life artist say that this other person is their muse. I wanted to see how that would be portrayed. And indeed, I think Mr Leigh did a great job with that, as well as giving pretty decent treatment of the historical artists and situations. A book well worth having a copy in my library for browsing about musing later on.
Unfortunately, as a novel I found the characters lacking depth and the plot almost boring; something I see a few other reviewers have noticed. Nonetheless, I'm glad I found it in the library.
What drew me past the first chapter was the promise of more details on how the relationship between an artist and a muse works. Quite often one will hear a real life artist say that this other person is their muse. I wanted to see how that would be portrayed. And indeed, I think Mr Leigh did a great job with that, as well as giving pretty decent treatment of the historical artists and situations. A book well worth having a copy in my library for browsing about musing later on.
Unfortunately, as a novel I found the characters lacking depth and the plot almost boring; something I see a few other reviewers have noticed. Nonetheless, I'm glad I found it in the library.
December 28, 2014
I started to get frustrated with the repetitiveness of the story. Two immortals locked in the same patterns over and over down through the ages? Fine. Reading each and every encounter (there are 8 of them, not including the main, present day story) in agonizing, world-building detail? BORRRRR-INGGGGG. And irritating. The villain does all these absolutely horrible things to a lot of people and still she just hesitates and hesitates and KEEPS REACTING THE SAME WAY. She believes him when he's given her absolutely NO reason to and she just doesn't prepare against this person who has made it their life's joy to bring her agony every, oh I don't know, half century or so. Why?! Gah!
I didn't hate this book but I didn't actually "like" the main character (or much of anyone else for that matter) but I wanted to know what would happen and I'm too stubborn to just skip ahead and read the ending so I'm giving it 2 stars.
I didn't hate this book but I didn't actually "like" the main character (or much of anyone else for that matter) but I wanted to know what would happen and I'm too stubborn to just skip ahead and read the ending so I'm giving it 2 stars.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 59 reviews