The Alchemist's Apprentice

The Zero Enigma, Book 5

By: Christopher G. Nuttall

Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld

A stand-alone novel set in the Zero Enigma universe.

Five months after the House War, the city of Shallot is on edge. The Great Houses plot and plan against one another, while the magicians rebuild and the common folk fear another outburst of fighting. And one young nobleman has a plan.

Rebecca is a half-caste shopgirl in an apothecary, dreaming of an apprenticeship that will allow her to rise out of poverty and finally make a name for herself in a city that has no use for her kind. But when her master undertakes a commission for an enigmatic young nobleman, she finds herself drawn into a maelstrom of criminals, ambitious nobles, and a plan that may shake the foundations of the Great Houses themselves....

©2018 Christopher G. Nuttall (P)2019 Podium Publishing

Great standalone entry in a wonderful series

Overall, I love The Zero Enigma series the most of Christopher G. Nuttall's books. This was a wonderful entry, extremely engrossing. I would very much like to read more about Rebecca. The world the author has built is fascinating. I love the magic system (and zero magic aberrant), heartily dislike the castes, but they add to the plots and world, and really love alchemy. I place my order for another story of Rebecca, as well as more in the Zero Enigma series. BEAUTIFULLY read by Saskia Maarleveld.

I re-listened two years later and raise this to five stars. It was especially wonderful the second time around. Rebecca is one of Christopher G. Nuttall's most complex, believable and compelling characters. I hope we see her again. The Zero Enigma story arc is superb writing.

Great read

Love this author! He is great at story telling and building characters. I am always completely captured and have never been disappointed.

enjoyable.

Not related to the other zero enigma books but still good, reminds me more of the schooled in magic series in the zero enigma setting.

An awesome change in the storyline.

I love this book. it really brought a different perspective of such a grand world!

The Al Apprentice

Good story. Was slightly slow at times , but had a great ending. Had a connection to the series.

Fascinating twists and turns

Totally satisfying ending, but I want to know what happens next!! Great plot. Read it! Stand alone book.

Standalone storyline but just as enjoyable

Another great story in the world that has become familiar from the previous books in the series. I kept wondering how it was going to link into the previous storylines but, appart from a few offhand mentions of previous characters etc, it seems to be a fairly separate story that wouldn't require having read the rest of the series to be able to enjoy or understand what's going on.

What I did find interesting was the juxtaposition between the person Katilyn (the main character in the beginning books of the series) had become, growing up with mistreatment from her family because of something outside of her control that was seen as negative by society, and with the prospect of being disowned by her family when he father dies, and how differently a main character in this book reacts and is moulded by a quite similar situation (albeit with a different 'socially unacceptable' root cause). It made me reflect on how people in real life respond very differently to difficult and traumatic experiences.

Intriguing insight life of young Alchemist!!

The Alchemist’s Apprentice is a completely standalone book in the series, whilst it is far better to have read all the previous books to understand the events that take place in this book – you can actually get away with reading this one without having read the previous 4, and it will give you a bit of a taste of this Universe. Likewise, you could (if you wanted), skip this book to move onto book 6. But I wouldn’t recommend it, this is a fascinating and intriguing story, and whilst the events that take place don’t directly (as yet) impact on the following books I have read, they may!!
And it is a seriously intriguing story, one of the most intriguing in the series so far, with a complex storyline, an exceptional array of characters, and a really brilliant insight into the other side of the world, those that live without money, power and prestige all the time.
Young Rebecca is a half-case girl (with a Hangchowese Father that abandoned them and returned overseas), leaving her Mother to fend for herself. The Mother remarried, and her Step-Father, a horrible drunkard, sells Rebecca into an apprenticeship at the age of 12 to an Alchemist. Rebecca is quite strong with Magic, and with more money, would have easily gone to Jude’s, so is resentful of those Aristocratic children. But she quickly learns to be thankful of her new Master, Master Travis, a kindly older man, who is a brilliant Potions Master, amongst many other things. Master Travis teaches Rebecca the art of Potion making whilst she performs the role of ‘Shop-Girl’, tending to his shop each day.
Things are going well, until the day that Reginald Bolingbroke of the House Bolingbroke darkens their door, wanting Master Travis’s services. Whilst initially this does not seem to be an issue (apart from the sleazy Reginald coming to the store regularly), and Rebecca having to go into the seedier side of Water Shallot, to a Crime Lord’s den to purchase some supplies that only he can acquire for them for a special brew that Master Travis is making.
Things go horribly wrong though, (and without giving too much away), Rebecca suddenly finds that her entire world is turned upside down. With everything that she holds dear threatened, she finds that she must work for people that she wants nothing to do with. Worse, she finds herself in a great house, being forced to go undercover in order to save not only her own life, but all of those she loves.
This is an utterly fascinating and intriguing story, as we get to see the inner workings of not only the lives of those that are at the lower levels of society, those without money or priviledge, but we get to see the inner workings of a great house. Not the inner workings though that we have been seeing, from all the rich and splendor, but from the other side, those that actually have to work for a living, struggling day in, day out, to make a living and survive. It is captivating to read about the inner workings of one of the great houses from the perspective of a main character. It is also terrifying.
As with all of these books, Nuttall’s characters are exceptionally realistic, bringing these stories to life with stunning authenticity, and creating these epic stories. Rebecca’s tale is gripping and gritty and once you start reading, you won’t be putting this book down.
As with every book in this series, the world building continues to be outstanding, one of the key aspects of the book, and something that utterly enthralls and captivates the reader. This book is even more magical as we get to see inside Water Shallot, and the lives of the ‘common’ born, seeing those that work in the shops and the every day lives, using their magic to conduct every day tasks we take for granted now. It is really interesting reading how Nuttall has crafted this world, combing magic and every day activities (such as cooking, but then using preservation or heating spells to reheat or keep food). It just adds this wonderful element of realism and story-telling and Nuttall does such a brilliant job with it, making his stories so natural to read.
The Alchemist’s Apprentice was a really different story in this series, a look behind the overarching story, giving us an insight into the inner workings of the city. It also provided some insight into how the politics that have affected the city (the House War), have affected others, and caused impacts on not only the great houses, but all of the city residents.
It is an absolute must read for any fan of this series, it was such a brilliant addition to the series, which is just getting better by the book!!
Saskia Maarleveld has such a beautiful voice, you can listen to it endlessly without tiring of it, it is just so easy to listen to. She does a stunning range of both Male and Female voices, and within each of the genders, she is able to create a range of character voices so that you can clearly tell who is talking without having to be told.
On top of this Maarleveld captures the emotional state of her characters with perfection, so that you can clearly understand how the characters feel at the time they are speaking, whether than be angry, sad, happy, elated, shocked, frightened, etc. Maarleveld really uses this to bring the story to life, adding a whole extra dimension to her storytelling.
Saskia Maarleveld is one of the truly exceptional Narrators, and she is just a pleasure to listen to, this is an absolute must listen to as it is so good as an audiobook!!

To much filler

Storyline fades writer gets lost in Alchemist dream world. The writer tries to make the book longer, which they do, but when it gets to be enjoyable the writer wonders off too much, Would have enjoyed it more if they had reduced it by 5 chapters.

WTF is the Author Thinking

I LOVED the first three books story line and progression. Very well developed characters with an interesting plot, (though exceptionally easy to know exactly where the story line was going from the first book, so...not so original?) I liked the fourth book, though it had nothing to do with the original main characters and focused solely on another classmate of the protagonist.

So what the heck happened to "Book 5"? Yeah, "Book 5" that has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do the previous four books. Not even a mention as to who or what the characters Book five are about... except that it happens in the same town. My guess is that the author intends to tie this yarn into a "climatic" end where this "unknown up until this book", protagonist somehow becomes super important in some revolutionary plot twist as the "poor" upend the rich on a grand scale in some later book in this series. But we won't know until five other random stories, about five other random protagonists that we will know nothing about until the random titles can be searched under zero enigma show up. (Have to be introduced to ALL the characters BEFORE the finale is written you know.)

(At least the author quit using "and yet" every other paragraph in this book. Seriously, check out how many times he uses that one phrase in the first three books. It was nerve wracking by book 3.) I'm not an author myself, but I have read enough series to understand that this author lost me completely on this book. It's a good story and would work wonderfully as a stand alone or possibly worked into it's own trilogy, but to include it as part of the Zero Enigma Series can only work if they are tied together or connected to the other books in the series.

But hey, It's just one persons opinion. I just happen to like reading series and never thought I'd ever find one that I had to stop before I finished. I hope your reading (or listening) experience is better than mine. I may just have weird standards:)