MRS. BECKNER’S PICKS OF THE MONTH
It starts with a phone call. "I'm dying," a voice tells Dusty. Who is he and how has he gotten her cell number? Dusty wants no part of this strange boy . . . until he begins saying things that only someone who knows her intimately could say-things that lead her to think he knows the whereabouts of her brother, who disappeared over a year ago.
Suddenly drawn in, Dusty very much wants to save this boy. Trouble is, she cannot find him. Part human, part spirit, he won't let himself be found. He is too dangerous, he says. There are mobs of people who agree and who want to see this boy dead . . . and who will hurt anyone who stands in their way. A gripping, hair-raising mystery about a boy not of this world, and a girl determined to protect him.
This novel begins two years after the "Circle of Magic" and "The Circle Opens" series. Readers are reintroduced to the four characters who made the other series so popular: Sandry, who has worked at her uncle's these past two years; Tris, who has developed a new power that she is afraid to share; Daja, who immediately renews her link with Sandry; and Briar, who is afraid to open up because of his memories of the war. Sandry still holds the circle that binds these four individuals together, creating a strong whole out of four very diverse parts. When the book opens, they refuse to reopen the link that has made them stronger due to changes in their lives. Sandry discovers that the lands she holds for the Empress will be given away unless she returns home. Her uncle talks her friends into accompanying her. She hopes to visit her lands and leave by fall, but the Empress has other plans for her, including marriage. After the Empress meets her friends, she devises plans to keep them all.
Nicholas Flamel is a legend. Seven hundred years ago, he was the greatest alchemist of his day because he possessed a secret formula guaranteeing him immortality. The formula is hidden in the Book of Abraham the Mage, an ancient book of magic that Flamel is sworn to protect. The book is also coveted by his most feared enemy, the evil sorcerer Dr. John Dee. Dee has forged an alliance with the Dark Elders, members of a race of godlike beings that roamed the earth long before humans. With the book in their possession, they can return the Dark Elders to power and enslave the human race. But Flamel has a secret weapon in teenaged twins Sophie and Josh, who have untapped powers that might be the only hope for the human race.
