Blog Tour: Review - The Dark Alchemist by Rhys A. Jones

The Dark Alchemist by Rhys A. Jones 

Publication Date:  September 25, 2022

 

Format: Ebook
Source: From the Author and Zooloos's Book Tours for review. This in no way alters my opinion or review. 

About the Book:

The difference between sorcery and science is only a matter of knowledge. 

After hearing ghostly footsteps in the creaky old house he shares with his widowed mother, 13-year-old Oscar (Oz) Chambers sets out to investigate the strange historical artefacts his dad was so obsessed with. 

Oz juggles his unhappy school life with his mother's paralysing grief, but when accusations reveal a murky secret surrounding his dad's death, Oz, supported by his loyal friends, becomes ever more determined to learn why so many people are keen to get the Chambers out of the house.

Caught between a desperate need to clear his father's name and not upset his fragile mother, Oz quickly learns that there are those who will stop at nothing to get what they want. He must trust in himself and all that he believes in to survive the dark forces intent on his destruction, convinced that the answer lies somewhere within the house. A truth that could change him, and the world he lives in, for ever.

 

Rating: 

Oz is a 13-year-old boy living with his mother after his father passes away tragically. The live in a section of an old orphanage that was left to his father and still have the whole property but only use some of it. Oz finds out that spooky ad weird things happen in the old orphanage and learning more about its history has led him on a mystery mission or sorts. Many years prior, there were magical items said to have been seen at the orphanage and the previous owner was on the search for them after they had become lost. Now Oz is looking for them, believing that it will being him closer to his father, but also because it is cool.

The very beginning of this book had me very lost, and I think some readers might get a little discouraged because of it. There were a lot of weird names for things, and they were not defined well at all, many of which were things that we already have and use like games, movies, and the internet. So that was not fun pushing through. I think that author would go well to either explain the items a bit more or the settings a bit better to help with context clues. However, once you got into the actual mystery and plot those things didn’t really matter as much because you had other things that you were focused on.

The characters of this book were younger so I would span it between late middle grade and early young adult for genre, while they deal with some dangerous events and some life struggles, I think older middle grade is how this feels for me. Overall, the characters and the plot were fun. They understood a lot of clues quickly which seemed a bit odd but also did research and looked for things. The pacing was good once you got into the plot as well, aside from that beginning few chapters where I was a little lost.

I think that young readers will enjoy the overall story and the characters. Oz and his friends are very real in a very fantastical mystery. They play sports, have sibling issues, got to school, and have bullies, but they are a great group, and they are best friends even through tough times. If you are looking for an interesting read that has thriller aspects, a grand mystery, and a lot of fun, this would be for you.

About the Author:

Rhys A Jones grew up in a mining village in South Wales with his nose in a book and his head in the clouds. He managed to subdue his imagination long enough to carve out a career in medicine, writing whenever the chance arose.

In 1994, writing as Dylan Jones, he published his first scary book for adults, a thriller, which was subsequently made into a two-part film by the BBC called Thicker than Water. 

But his love of children’s stories never left him ever since he read Ronald Welch’s Gauntlet as a young boy. Inspired by fantasy, Rhys has gone on to write The Merryweather mysteries featuring a boy and his more-than-meets-the-eye Granny Merryweather. The Curse of Wihtlea Barrows (previously the Dreables) and The Curse of Borage Doone have now been completed with the third in the series entitled The Curse of Ragman’s Hollow.

For slightly older readers, The Dark Alchemist is the first in the Wonderworking quintet from Spellbound Books about 12-year-old Oz Chambers whose family inherits a ‘haunted’ house. His mother wants to leave, but Oz wants to unlock the house’s mysteries and uncovers a secret that will change his life forever. 

Rhys also writes fantasy books for adults as DC Farmer and thrillers as Dylan Young and. More recently, Rhys Dylan.

When not writing he walks the dog on the mountains of darkest West Wales with his understanding (very) wife.

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