Review – The Alchemist’s Illusion (The Accidental Alchemist, Book 4) by Gigi Pandian (4/5 stars)
Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Length: 336 pages
Publisher: Midnight Ink
Release Date: January 8, 2019
ISBN-13 : 978-0738753010
Stand Alone or Series: 4th book in the Accidental Alchemist series
Source: Borrowed from Library
Rating: 4/5 stars
“Centuries-old alchemist Zoe Faust is tired of running from her past. She’s finally got her life on track in Portland, Oregon, gardening and cooking in her fixer-upper house with her mischievous best friend, Dorian the gargoyle chef. It seems like the perfect life for Zoe, until she discovers that her old mentor Nicolas Flamel, who she thought had abandoned her, has been imprisoned.
A local artist holds the secret that could lead Zoe to her mentor, but the artist is murdered and the painting containing the hidden clue is stolen. To rescue Nicolas, Zoe and Dorian must explore art forgery, a transformative process that has much in common with alchemy and cooking―but one that proves far more dangerous.”
Series Info/Source: This is the fourth (and final) book in The Accidental Alchemist series. I borrowed this book from the library. This series was stopped abruptly when Midnight Ink closed, but this book doesn’t leave things feeling too unfinished.
Story (4/5): Zoe’s life is looking pretty wonderful in Portland, when Zoe discovers her mentor Nicolas Flamel has been imprisoned. She finds a painting at a local art store with clues to Flamel’s imprisonment, but then the artist that runs the art store is murdered and Zoe is being accused of being involved. Zoe must navigate some complex historical alchemy plots if she is going to save Flemel and not get accused of anything herself.
This was another well done mystery with a lot of interesting alchemical history. In this book we jump back and forth between Zoe’s story and that of a historical artist who practices alchemical painting. It’s complex and well done and I enjoyed it.
Characters (4/5): The characters remain a strong point of this series. I love Zoe, Dorian, Brixton, Max and all of our other Portland regulars. Tobias journeys to Portland to join Zoe in her quest and it was fun to learn more about him as well. Additionally, we finally get to learn more about Nicholas and his wife, which opens up a lot more background on Zoe’s past. The characters are generally all kind and supportive with complex historical pasts.
Setting (4/5): I continue to enjoy the Portland setting and it was fun to get a bit more insight into the art scene there. We also get some glimpses back into Italy (I think, and I can’t quite remember the year) and those were well done too.
Writing Style (4/5): Pandian continues to craft amazing mysteries full of interesting alchemical history. She also incorporates characters that are very complex but very likable and easy to engage with. The whole thing is a fun and quick read that I really enjoy. There are also interesting Vegan recipes included at the end if you are into that sort of thing.
This story wraps up fairly well, there is a contained mystery and the overall story makes a lot of progress. I am okay with how things are left here, but was disappointed to hear that Midnight Ink shut down and the series wasn’t picked up by another publisher. I know there is a short story called “A Gargoyle in Paris” that continues the story some. I am hoping Pandian will consider self publishing some more books in this series in the future.
My Summary (4/5): Overall I really enjoyed both this book and the whole series. I think this book was my favorite of the series so far. I love the alchemical painting concept that was introduced here and it was so much fun to finally meet Nicholas Flemel. If you enjoy really well done mysteries and learning about alchemy I would definitely recommend this series! I wish there were going to be more books in it.
