Septimus y el último alquimista

Septimus Heap #3

by Angie Sage

Una nueva aventura para niños y niñas que combina dosis de acción con la cotidianeidad del mundo mágico y toques de humor.
Las aguas andan revueltas en el entorno a Septimus. Una extraña enfermedad está azotando la ciudad, y el fantasma de la reina Ehteld redda, que murió hace más de 500 años, acaba de aparecer y no deja de ordenar y de criticar. Simon, el hemano de Septimus, ha desapa recido y eso no puede ser una buena noticia. Además de todo esto, un alquimista, Marcellus, ha vuelto para llevarse a Septimus porqu e lo quiere convertir en su aprendiz.
Según parece, todo esto ya estaba previsto, o al menos así lo ha escrito el propio Septimus, ¡solo quinientos años antes!

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

448 pages, Hardcover

First published March 27, 2007

About the author

Angie Sage (born 1952) is the author of the Septimus Heap series which includes Magyk, Flyte, Physik, Queste, Syren, Darke and Fyre. She also wrote the Todhunter Moon series, and the Magykal Papers, an additional book with extra information about Septimus' world. She is also the illustrator and/or writer of many children's books, and is the new writer of the Araminta Spookie series.

Angie Sage grew up in Thames Valley, London and Kent. Her father was a publisher. He would bring home blank books that she could fill with pictures and stories. Sage first studied medicine, but changed her mind and went to Art School in Leicester. There she studied Graphic Design and Illustration. She began illustrating books after college. Then she progressed to writing children stories, including toddler books and chapter books. Her first novel was Septimus Heap: Magyk. Angie Sage is married and has two daughters, Laurie and Lois.

Reviews

[Dalia Nourelden · Rating 3 out of 5]

لازلنا مع عالم السحر ومع سبتيموس هيب وعائلته ومغامرة جديدة بأسم الطب هذه المرة .
فهناك مرض غامض يحيط بالقلعة ويسبب الكثير من الأذى والموت لسبب مجهول . واتهموا الجرذان انها السبب فى هذا المرض إن هذه الجرذان تستهدف الكاحل ، وهى تنطلق بسرعة البرق . وعضة واحدة منها تقود إلى الهلاك
هل هى جرذان حقا أم أن هناك شئ آخر مخيف يختبئ في الظلام !!؟

وسبتيموس مصمم على ان يبحث عن علاج ويقرأ فى الطب علم الطب جوهره النقاء والكمال ، إنه اشبه بمحاولة وصول الإنسان إلى الكمال مع نفسه رغم ان مارشا لا يعجبها هذا الأمر وتظن ان السحر سيستطيع ان يعالج هذا المرض لكن سبتيموس يخالفها فى الرأى ويبحث فى الكتب وخاصة ماوجده مكتوب عن طريق مارسيلوس باي فهل سيجد شيئا ؟ و ماذا سيحدث له مع اللوح الزجاجى ؟؟



وينضم لنا فى هذا الجزء شبح الملكة إيثلدريدا وحيوانها الآي آي البشع المظهر ذو الوجه الجرذاني والذيل الثعباني الطويل



ونتعرف على تاجرة الشمال سنورى سنوريلسن التى جاءت للتجارة ولتبحث عن شبح والدها أولاف رغم اعتراض والدتها وتصطحب معها قطها أولر .

اما لافظ لهب فسيكون له مغامرات مع جينا و الفتي الذئبي وسينضم لهم نيكو فى مهمة للبحث عن سبتيموس



لازالت الرحلة مستمرة وممتعة ومتشوقة لباقى الرحلة .
مع رفيقتى فى الرحلة سارة ❤

٢٩ / ١٢ / ٢٠٢٠

[Li'l Owl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Entertaining, exciting, and a humdinger of a cliffhanger at the conclusion!

"Are you okay? Have you looked in to the Glass yet?"
Jenna's voice came from the cupboard.
"Um…yes. I'm looking now.... "
"What can you see? "
"Nothing....nothing.... it's just dark.... oh, wait.... I can see something now... it—it's weird... an old man... staring at me. He looks kind of surprised."
"An old man?" asked Jenna.
"Oh, that's odd.... "

"What?" Jenna could bear it no longer. She hurtled down the steps and arrived in the Robing Room just in time to see Septimus spring back from the Glass, slip on the shiny marble floor and fall. As he scrabbled to get up and away, Jenna screamed. Reaching out of the glass we're too old, wizened hands. With long bony fingers and curved yellow nails, they snatched at Septimus is tunic, grabbed hold of it, then wrapped themselves around his Apprentice belt, dragging him toward the Glass. Frantically Septimus tried to pull away, kicking out at the clutching talons.
"Jen! Help, Je—" he yelled, and then there was silence.
Septimus's head had disappeared into the Glass as though sinking into a pool of ink.

********
Physik by Angie Sage is the third book in the Septimus Heap series and was just as exciting as the first two!

I'm listening to this series on audiobook, narrated by Gerard Doyle,whose flawless, 5★ performance adds an extra bit of excitement to the story!
I really enjoy the characters in this series as they are unique and enchanting. Angie Sage effortlessly creates both likeable characters, horrible, evil characters, and some who are a bit of both!

The adventures are treacherous and keep me intrigued and captivated from beginning to end, making it difficult to stop listening! I'm always looking for excuses to return to the story as often as possible. The ending of this book left me on tenterhooks, anxiously awaiting to listen to Queste, the next adventure in the Septimus Heap series!

[سارة سمير · Rating 3 out of 5]

مغامرة جديدة من مغامرات سبتيموس هيب
هذه المره ليثبت سبتيموس جدارته ليكون طبيب رائع ومتميز



هذه المره تبدأ المغامرة عند ظهور مرض غامض في البلاد يتسبب في حدوث اعراض غريبه ومبهمه والسبب هو عضه من كائن ما
ليهتدوا ان الجرذان هي السبب .. انتظروا لتعرفوا ما هو السبب في النهاية

تظهر زائرة جديدة هي سنوري سنوريلسن تاجرة صغيره في السن من تجار الشمال تبحث عن شبح والدها في البلاد ومعها قطها اولر الذي يتحول في الليل الي نمر اسود ضخم يقوم بحمايتها وحماية مركبها
لتجد نفسها في مواجهة مغامرة مختلفة تماما عندما يقرر لافظ اللهب الهبوط علي مركبها فتنتقل القصه الي رحاب مركبها وقطها اولر




أما جينا فتواجه رعب من نوع آخر يأتيها من أسلافها وبالتحديد الملكة ايثلدريدا والتي سبقتها في الحكم بخمسمائة عام والتي كانت تتمني حياة الخلود لتصبح الملكة الأبدية ويساعدها ابنها الطبيب بجرعه
وتمتلك حيوان الآي آي المزعج بصرخته القميئة التي تصم الآذان وشكله المزعج وذيلة الطويل اليذي يشبه الأفعى




يختفي سبتيموس في مرآه تنقله لزمن مختلف ليواجه مصير يغير حياته تماما وحياة الكثيرين ممن عرفهم ومستقبل البعض مثل هيوجو تندرفوت الفتي الطيب الذي ساعده



المغامرات القادمة كثيرة وطويلة وممتعة بصحبة صديقتي العزيزة جدا داليا في رحلة سحرية لطيفة 🌷

[Leo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Three books in and im still loving the series. I found, magical and cozy middle grade that is still a pleasant reading experience for adults as well as kids. Kinda bummed that it took me so many years of starting reading the series. 15 years to be exact! But to my defense it's a book that hold a lot of significance due to who gave me it and that sadly passed a year after. But now I can cherish the memory of that person while reading the series

[✨Susan✨ · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was not my favorite in the series so far. It seemed like it took too long to get to the actual plot, and became tedious with far too many new, inconsequential characters added too quickly. I think that a quarter of the story and several characters could have been left out. The last few chapters were full of updates and information about the characters that could have been avoided if the story had flowed correctly. I hope the wonderful pacing that made the first two books so good is reestablished in the next book. Not a bad Septimus adventure just, for me, a little too jumbled and watered down with to many extraneous events and characters. Onto the next....

[Jean · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a big fan of this series! Ghosts, witches, dragons, spells, secret cupboards and tunnels, boggarts, sailing ships, queens, wizards, herbs and magic rings...everything you could possibly imagine in a magical castle realm. Mix that with Shakespearean-style mischief: comedy-of-errors (very human errors!) and mistaken identity. And, on top of all that, the characters are lovably ordinary; the children make friends in a natural, uncalculated way, and the adults are so...imperfect. Lots of fun!

[Emma · Rating 1 out of 5]

I tried persevere. I really did. I read the first two from beginning to end. I couldn't do it with this one. The tediousness and annoyingly long paragraphs explaining every thought and action became too much for me! The book could really have been done in 100 pages...if that.

I ended up skimming quickly through it, after reading the first ten chapters, and then I read the bits at the end about what happened to characters. I got the gist of the book just by doing that and saved myself many more days of dragging this book out. I really couldn't even bare the idea of extending it with the library, I wanted this book out of my house!

So it's now safe to say, I won't be reading the last two books. My curiosity just isn't bothered about finding out what happens to everyone. Thank god I never bought them as I had originally intended to!

[Pat the Book Goblin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another fun adventure.

[Jennifer Wardrip · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reviewed by Me for TeensReadToo.com

I have to state that it's taken me a very long time to write my review of PHYSIK, mostly because it took me such a very long time to finish the book. Although I absolutely loved MAGYK, and was nearly as impressed with FLYTE, it was much harder for me to get into the story of PHYSIK. I wasn't immediately struck by the newly introduced characters, and even some of my old favorites were, at first, acting quite different than they had originally. That being said, though, I'm glad I finally finished this third installment in the Septimus Heap saga, and can recommend it to others without feeling guilty.

The story opens with Silas Heap, father of the Heap clan, unknowingly unleashing the ghost of Queen Etheldredda, a Castle Queen who ruled long ago. Along with her spirit is also released that of her pet Aie-Aie, a rat-dog-snake hybrid that is hideous to look upon. Although Silas and his companion, Gringe, aren't first aware of what has happened, they'll soon learn that the room they unlocked would have been better left alone.

Nearly at the same time, Snorri Snorrelssen, a young North Trader, arrives at Sally Mullen's Tea and Ale House -- and can immediately sense that she's not welcome there, even if she can't understand the language that's being spoken. After weeks at sea, however, Snorri is not about to turn her back on her mission, that of following in the footsteps of her father.

Back at the Palace, Septimus Heap is putting off his studies with ExtraOrdinary Wizard Marcia Overstrand, instead indulging in his new obsession of learning all there is to know about Alchemy. He wishes to learn under the famous Alchemyst Marcellus Pye, who just so happens to be the son of the dreaded Queen Etheldredda.

All of the usual characters are back in this installment: Jenna, Nicko, Aunt Zelda, Spit Fyre, and Alther Mella, along with new ones like the above-mentioned Snorri and Marcellus Pye. Some of them act as they've always acted; some of them act in surprising ways. All of it leads up to a showdown of wits and talents and, of course, the next book in the series.

As I said, I'm glad I finally finished reading PHYSIK, as I definitely plan to read QUESTE, the fourth book. Although some readers may have trouble in the beginning, as I did, once you get into the story of Septimus and family, you'll be quite enthralled until the very end.

[Kathy Davie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've finally figured out why I enjoy this whimsical, fantasy series so much---it's the focus the books have on seeing everything from the children's rather adult perspectives. I adore the detail and feel of the scenes which Sage writes as well as the connection she builds between the reader and the characters. Each is an individual and one bonds with them.

In this third installment of the Septimus Heap series, Septimus is enthralled with the medical discoveries of a, he thinks, 500-year-dead wizard. Naturally, Marcia, his boss, thinks it's dreadful nonsense and insists that Sep study for his upcoming predictions test. Unfortunately for everyone, Septimus' dad, Silas, has just unSealed a Sealed room up in the attic unknowingly releasing a truly evil, malevolent pair of ghosts from a cursed portrait. Ghosts with greater powers than anyone suspects is possible.

The human ghost has wicked plans for the kingdom and she uses Jenna to set them in motion with the kidnapping of Septimus. The inhuman half of the ghost pair throws a wrench into everyone's lives when an unstoppable sickenesse befalls the population thereby giving purpose to Septimus' kidnapping and interest in physik. All sorts of strange adventures follow involving pretty much all of the characters we know plus a few new ones: Spit Fyre, Alther, Alice, Nicko, Snorri and Ullr, Sir Hereward, and others.

I am really looking forward to #4 in the series, Queste after all the unfinished events in Physik. I need to know what happens to Nicko and Snorri. How does Ullr fare split as he is? Is Marcia truly turning the corner on her selfish, officious, know-it-all self? Will Jenna restore the Palace to its former glories? Does Snorri ever get to meet her dad? Will Alice return? And be happy?

[John Conrad · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this is the best of the series so far. It is very suspenseful and enjoyable to read. A new character, a trader girl enters the scene named Snorri. She is a nice addition to the growing list of protagonists, and Nicko takes a liking to her (possibly because of their mutual fascination with boats). Also, a new villian, Queen Etheldredda enters the scene. She drags Septimus and a few others that follow him 500 years into the past and traps them there. Now they need to get back to their time and somehow stop Etheldredda from taking over the kingdom (Queendom?) Dom Daniel is absent, and Simon is only spoken about, so we will have to wait until the next book to hook up with Simon again. I like the family situation as it reminds me of my own, with the kids growing up, they each choose different paths, not all good, but still with strong family ties despite minimal contact and always having faith in each other.

[Hanah · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's kinda like Harry Potter mixed with the Lord of the Rings meets like the Time Warp Trio or something. I've really gotten into them, but they're long. The fourth one, Queste is almost 600 pages and the rest are like 500 some. They usually take me a month to read unless it's the weekend and I have nothing else to do, then it takes like three days. My mom, brother and I all are reading them right now.

[ade_reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

Saking sukanya, 600 halaman pada buku ini aku baca kurang dari 24 jam. Ini salah satu hal yang luar biasa banget buat aku :p. Kisah Septimus bersama keluarganya ini makin seru. Lebih seru lagi dari cerita di dua buku sebelumnya. Recommended bagi siapa saja yang menyukai kisah fantasi dengan keajaiban-keajaiban sihir yang unik dan juga memikat :D

[Aidan Elliot · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was very good. The interesting of plot with previous novels was fascinating and the time travel plot was pretty great. I love her style and the way she weaves systems of magyck together. The characters are also not perfect which adds to their believability.

[Audrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book can be summed up with one gif:



The plot is a bit unclear; I didn’t get a sense that things were moving along. I had to quit expecting that and instead enjoy watching characters go about their lives without any clear goals. The last quarter was pretty suspenseful. And I wanted to slap Silas Heap so bad. Not the best book of the series, but still good enough.

Language: Clean
Sexual Content: None
Violence/Gore: Mild
Harm to Animals: Live ducklings are served at dinner
Harm to Children: kidnapping, bullying; children murdered in backstory
Other (Triggers): Ghosts; abusive, homicidal parent

[Rana Heshmati · Rating 3 out of 5]

دیگه بیشتر از این نخوندم... :دی
یادمه خیلی دوسش نداشتم...

[Cindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favorite. Some of it was a bit confusing and unlike the other books where everything wrapped up. This did not. There was too much focus on new characters who didn't really fit with the story.

[Baige · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best thing about this third installment is that it features an entirely new and unique plot. After the first two books, I was worried that I would have to keep reading about how they defeat Domdaniel, but this book features a new villain who is unique, interesting, and helps with the worldbuilding as well. I daresay these books are getting better and better.

[Totoro · Rating 5 out of 5]

یه کتاب که فارسیش لطف دیگری دارد

https://youtu.be/HCYL5p9nsyg?si=lFpnA...

[Kasia (kasikowykurz) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wstyd się przyznać, ile podejść miałam do tej książki po polsku i ile razy się odbiłam i jak szybko zaskoczyło przy anglojęzycznej. Generalnie po pierwszym absolutnie cudownym tomie już nigdy nie było tak samo i choć dobrze się tego słucha to jednak gdzieś w głębi czuję lekki zawód, bo nie tego chciałam. Tu jest bez wątpienia lepiej, niż w poprzednim tomie, zwłaszcza w drugiej połowie, ale ta objętość (576 stron!) nie działa na jej korzyść - miałam wrażenie, że się nie skończy i całe wieki przebywam w tej książce.

Mimo wszystko jestem ciekawa, w jaką stronę pójdzie ta historia i co się wydarzy w następnym tomie, ale bez wątpienia potrzebuję dłuższej przerwy, zanim zabiorę się za kolejny.

[Shelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anyone who knows me well knows that I struggle with books involving time travel. I'm fully aware of these issues, and I know I should just get over it, so I tried not to think to hard about logistics, etc, when I stumbled upon time travel in this book. My tactics seemed to have worked, because it didn't bug me too much here, but in trying to not pay too close attention to the details, I find that I can't really make an intelligent statement about how time travel worked in this book, so...

This book was much the same as the others in this series. I keep getting sucked into reading these because it is one giant soap opera. So many unresolved things. And the worst part about it is the author just ignores these unresolved giant things, and then writes silly little afterwords about minor little characters and details that are completely unimportant. And that in itself is highly entertaining. Sometimes I have little internal struggles with myself about whether this series is really cool or totally lame, and I can't ever decide which it is. I think if I was nine, it would be an easy decision, but I'm not nine...

[Melissa T · Rating 3 out of 5]

The third installment in the series is still full of adventure and fast paced, but I found that I didn't quite enjoy it as much as the previous two books. I can't quite put my finger on why though.

I'm thinking that since this is a 7 book series I'm going to read book 4 and then take a break before finishing.

[Labeba Salameh · Rating 4 out of 5]

حصلت الكاتبة اخيرا على محررة
لكن كان يجب أن تكون أكثر قسوة

[Jefferson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The third entry in Angie Sage's seven-book Sepimus Heap series, Physik (2007), begins with Septimus' feckless father Silas the Ordinary Wizard and his coarse "friend" Gringe the North Gate Gatekeeper (two of the many fallible adults whose mistakes make life interesting for Sage's child heroes and readers) "UnSealing" a Sealed room in the palace attic so that Silas may keep safe there his prized colony of sentient board game counters. By opening the Sealed room, the clueless men release two malevolent Substantial Spirits, the ghost of the wonderfully named Etheldredda the Awful, who has been waiting with her pointy chin, pointy ears, pointy shoes, and disapproving expression for 500 years to become Castle Queen again, this time forever, which may involve getting rid of any troublesome princesses in her way, and the ghost of her pet Aie-Aie, a red-eyed, snake-tailed, single-toothed creature with a penchant for spreading disease. Thus begins an exciting and unpredictable plot of multiple point of view characters and two time streams, one in the present and one 500 years in the past.

Sage introduces neat new characters, like the 14-year-old Hanseatic League Northern Trader Snorri Snorrelssen, who's come to the Castle of the Small Wet Country Across the Sea for the first time, partly in search of the ghost of her father. Snorri is great, with her attractive Scandinavian lilt, Spirit-Seer abilities, spunk ("No one told Snorri Snorrelssen what to do"), "white-blond hair," "translucent blue eyes" (Sage's fantasy world is quite white), and feline protector Ullr, a small orange cat by day and a powerful black panther by night. And the Last Alchemist Marcellus Pye, a selfish, decrepit, and senile 500-year-old who only breathes once every ten minutes and shuffles around under the moat at night looking for gold coins, is creepy and sympathetic.

Sage develops former characters in neat ways, too, like Uncle Alther and Alice Nettles, whose cross-existence romance is wistful and sweet. She does a bit more with the ghost of Jenna's mother, the assassinated Castle Queen, who is still not ready to Appear before her daughter. Spit Fyre, Septimus' pet dragon, is growing apace, needing more food, producing more droppings (and burps, farts, and snot, Sage indulging the child reader's sense of potty humor), and learning how to ignite his gassy breath. Sage's protagonist Septimus Heap, seventh son of a seventh son, the Apprentice to the ExtraOrdinary Wizard, Marcia Overstrand, grows, too. He is covertly interested in Physik, which Marcia believes is too close to the dodgy (if not Darke) Alchemy. In this novel the boy will learn everything he ever wanted to know about such subjects, in addition to Time.

Sage interestingly plays with time: "Time Glasses" through which people may step (or jump or fall) into "the liquid cold of time" and end up elsewhen; the vertiginous and identity-threatening aspects of suddenly finding oneself in the distant past; and the debilitating effects of living forever without youth. She also makes explicit the Rules of Ghosthood. Spirits must stay for one year and a day in the same place where they died, after which they may move around, but only to places they visited when alive. They may only be seen by people they choose to Appear before. And although they may pass through anything or anyone and vice versa, they intensely dislike the nauseating experience.

Sage writes a lot of great lines (especially in context), like: "Ghosts must put up with the bad habits of the living," and "Even Alchemy Scribes had to sleep some time." And she writes many vivid and evocative descriptions (Sage's writing is more magical to me than Rowling's):

--"The barge was decked out in flags that fluttered in a wind that had died long ago."
--". . . the lingering smells of decaying spells …"
--"The low yellow stone building was ablaze with light, its wide lawns spread out before it with their fresh snowfall like a crisp white cook's apron."
--". . . there were things--soft, squishy things--floating in the water; he could feel the ends of his oars touching them."

Such rich writing outweighs Sage's few missteps, like similes whose anachronistic vehicles violate her fantasy world, as when Spit Fyre moves his tail back and forth "like a great windshield wiper," or as when Etheldredda's voice "has the penetrating quality of a dentist's drill."

Sage writes an archaic style to estrange the Castle of the past from her characters and readers. Although some of it sounds dodgy, like "Now, hie thee to the Great Gates, thee to the stables and thou, fools, take thy great flat feet to the river" (thee, thou, and thy should maybe be for singular cases), it often sounds fine, like "Whereupon Mary didst wail, like the pigs do wail when they see the meat cook's cleaver."

The book concludes with Sage's fun epilogue, "Things You Might Like to Know More About," recounting the fates or backgrounds of several characters.

Readers like me who were put off by the manufactured action and unpleasant character development and lack of consistency and charm of the second book, Flyte, should try this third one, because Physik is excellent. Moments like Jenna rescuing a plucked duckling from a scalding orange sauce and later falling asleep with it are charming; moments like Septimus walking into the Great Hall of the Wizard's Tower 500 years ago and deceiving himself that he's in his own time are moving. Readers who like imaginative and humorous YA magical fantasy with a Darke streak should enjoy Physik and the series in general.

[Reem Alkhalaf · Rating 5 out of 5]

فكرة جديدة وممتعة

بهذا الجزء لم أشعر بأي أفكار مكررة أو مستنسخة من هاري بوتر

وجه الشبه كان المتعة التي تنتشلك من الواقع وتنقلك لعالم الخيال والفنتازيا.

[Frederike · Rating 4 out of 5]

As Alice, you know the one from wonderland and through the looking glass, and Lucy, Edmund, Susan and Peter, you know the ones who enter Narnia via a wardrobe, could tell you: it is never a good idea to travel to strange places, or times for that matter, through a mirror or a closet, let alone through both...

[Connie53 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alweer een geweldig amusant deel over Septimus Heap en zijn vele broers en zus Jenna. Gewoon lekker lezen en genieten

[Abigail]

I had this down as my least favourite in the series, and I can see why: firstly, I can never bring myself to like Marcellus Pye, and unfortunately he is generally liked by the end of the book. and secondly, I still don't fully understand the time travel - there are too many Glasses and it doesn't make sense to me.

still! onwards and upwards, and the next three are AMAZING so I'm happy :))

[Dana · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the last book I remember vaguely reading as a kid. It was fine; the evil queen was a little too evil and frightening for a kid.

I liked the introduction of Snorri and Ullr. And the cliffhanger ending! I’m looking forward to seeing how they solve this problem.

[Dawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am enjoying this series very much. I’ve waited and searched quite a while for a decent fantasy juvenile adult and series that is clean and well written. A hat tip to my oldest daughter for putting this my way.

I have not yet written reviews as of this writing (4/8/21) for the first books but I do have some things to say about them. I will be writing soon.