The Alchemist's Map

by Jason Willis

Empires rise and fall, but the stars remain the same. Renowned French astronomer and expert on Halley's Comet Joseph Nicollet is shown a bizarre map by a Scottish noblewoman who believes it tells the location of the Philosopher's Stone. When the noblewoman is murdered and the map is stolen, Nicollet embarks on a dangerous quest to discover the truth behind the ancient legend. With only the memory of the mysterious treasure map to go on, Nicollet leads a mapping expedition into the untamed forests and wild rivers of Minnesota, where mysticism still lingers in the shadows. Driven by science yet deeply religious, wild at heart but frail of body, and capable of inspiring friendship while keeping dark secrets, Joseph Nicollet must choose between his reputation and his duty to the truth. Will the stolen map's strange clues allow Nicollet to find the ancient treasure? Or will a faceless adversary destroy his works and dreams before the truth can be discovered?

526 pages, Hardcover

Published February 23, 2021

About the author

Jason Lee Willis is the author of The Alchemist's Map, best described as 'a Bilbo Baggins character who goes on an Indiana Jones adventure in 19th century Minnesota', as well as several other self-published novels. He has also produced two nonfiction works on Christian Bible studies. As a creative writing instructor, he and his students have produced two volumes of short stories, Tales from the Haunted Valley, as a fundraiser for the writing program. As a professional storyteller (isn’t that what English teachers do?), he’s done historical lectures and video series, book talks, radio segments, podcasts, and recently submitted a short story in Rhonda Gilliland’s “foodie” anthology, Cooked to Death.

Willis grew up in South Dakota and currently lives in Minnesota, where he lives the life of a hobbit by gardening, writing, walking around barefoot, wearing vests, fishing, and going on adventures with his wife, Julie.

Reviews

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this as an beta reader. I found that I personally needed to go into my private reading cave full of classical movie scores playing and a separate room from anyone else. There was so much going on in the story and I wanted to devote my full attention to it!

The story was very compelling. Starting out, I thought we’d just be following Nicollet around on his assigned journey, but it became much more convoluted with all the other actors in this. Willis’ writing was very interesting in that it told the story of the main protagonist, Nicollet, but often through the stories of others. For instance, sometimes we’d hear from someone in D.C. who had heard news about Nicollet’s journey to learn about what his expedition was up to. It made it very interesting, and the dates and locations made it pretty easy to follow. I did get confused about the cast of characters at times, but that will be easily remedied in print/e-book form when people can flip back and forth to the end with the list of people. The App I used wasn’t as user-friendly in that regard. As a Minnesotan, it was wonderful to read about the history of Minnesota through the historical and fictional lens. It is clear that Willis did his work when it comes to research, and as someone who appreciates history, I really enjoyed the marriage of fact and fiction in each chapter. This novel is definitely not a light read, but it was still enjoyable. I’d definitely recommend it to those who enjoy adventure, historical fiction, and even a science fiction fan looking to branch out. It has that feeling of being on a mission of discovery that led me to read more and more, wondering how it will turn out for the expedition with all of the obstacles of people, tribes, and politics.

[Dawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this book up in my local bookstore as a buy 3 get one free sale. I usually either really like or really hate historical fiction. This book appealed to me because a large part of my childhood was spent in Spirit Lake, Iowa, so I was familiar with many of the Minnesotan towns, rivers, and areas referenced, as well as some of the Indian tribes and clashes in these areas.

This book has a vast number of characters. I wish I had realized earlier in the book that there is an appendix of characters at the end.

While the plot and the historical facts in the book were very intriguing and I wasn't able to easily figure out who the "bad guy" (there were multiple bad guys, so I guess the "worst guy" would be appropriate) was behind the murders and plot against Nicolett, I found some scenes too short and some scenes skipped over from Nicolett's point of view. The author has a tendency to skip ahead and fill in the gaps using a different characters point of view to shorten the scenes. This can be frustrating, because it seemed to happen every time that I was really getting into the book.

Overall, I would like to give this book 3.5 stars, but since Goodreads won't allow that, I have rounded up to 4.

[Chris Norbury · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely for Minnesota history buffs, especially those who want to know about the 1800s and white settler/conquerors and native tribes. I'm a history buff (especially the Civil War) so this was in my wheelhouse. Even so, I wish I'd paid more attention to the teacher in 6th-grade MN history. :-)

Willis takes us on a wild ride all over the state and introduces a cast of dozens. He took a chance with the style he chose (many, many POVs and lots of internal thoughts expressed). But the adventure and mystery of whether or not the Philosopher's Stone existed kept me turning the pages.

Joseph Nicollet is an excellent choice for a protagonist because he strove for nothing but the truth, accurate mapping of the Minnesota Territory, and telling the Native American story to the 'Manifest Destiny" US government in a vain attempt to recognize them as human beings to be respected, not crushed and then ultimately unwillingly assimilated into white European culture.

If you're a history buff, this is a unique story that injects some adventure and mystery into an important story of the pre-statehood struggles of Minnesota.

[Alicia Kozak · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adventure. Science. Mystery. History. Folklore. Geography. This book has it all. It's obvious this was well researched and a lot of attention paid to detail. It's a very involved book and has several characters with interweaving storylines. Be prepared to devote your full attention to the story. There's an index of characters and places included at the back which I found helpful. I enjoyed recognizing several familiar names and places, and was prompted to look up a couple of the real-life figures to see if the person inspired some the names of today's towns. You don't need to know Minnesota or Midwest geography to appreciate this book, though it does make it more fun.
Recommended to fans of The Da Vinci Code, Indiana Jones, and history.

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

It got a little long.