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The Young Alchemist Series #1

The Missing Alchemist

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Having grown up in an orphanage, Craig Pike appreciates his comfortable life as a student of Cornelius, a famous alchemist. But when Cornelius is kidnapped, Craig leaves comfort behind to search for him. Craig teams up with Audrey Clife, a clever archer, and together they travel across mysterious lands and battle otherworldly creatures. Their journey reveals that Cornelius's kidnapping is only a small part of an evil alchemist's elaborate grab for power, and the only people standing in his way are Craig and Audrey...

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2015

4 people are currently reading
2290 people want to read

About the author

Caldric Blackwell

4 books86 followers
Caldric Blackwell is the author of the early chapter book "The Enchanted River Race," the picture book "The Boy Who Couldn’t Cry Wolf," and two middle grade books, the "The Missing Alchemist" and "The Sacred Artifact."

Blackwell began writing fiction while studying English and psychology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. After dabbling with short stories geared toward adults, he turned his focus toward writing children’s books.

His debut work, "The Enchanted River Race," published in December 2012 by Icasm Press, is an early chapter book targeted at ages six and up. The story follows the adventures of three friends as they journey down an enchanted river, solving riddles and puzzles along the way, in their village’s annual race.

Blackwell’s second book, released in November 2014, is a beautifully illustrated picture book titled "The Boy Who Couldn’t Cry Wolf." The story revolves around Byron Woodward, a six-year-old werewolf who is self-conscious about his inability to howl. The reader follows Byron on his journey to learn how to howl before the full-moon ceremony at the end of the month.

His newest release, "The Missing Alchemist," is the first of two middle grade books the Young Alchemist series. The story follows fourteen-year-old alchemy student Craig Pike as he searches for his kidnapped teacher. The second and final book in the Young Alchemist series, "The Sacred Artifact," is slated to be released in early 2019.

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5 stars
16 (37%)
4 stars
11 (25%)
3 stars
7 (16%)
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6 (13%)
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3 (6%)
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
Profile Image for megHan.
604 reviews85 followers
February 3, 2015
When Tia sent me the information on this blog tour, I quickly grabbed it up - I enjoy children and middle school books, love fantasy, and I had already read a book by this author. The cover caught my attention and the synopsis had me intrigued.

Unfortunately, once I got into the book, I was a little disappointed.

When I sit down to read these books, I try to put myself into the shoes of the reader, thinking about it as I would have felt at that age. I have always been a big reader and spent a lot of my time when I was young getting lost in the pages of a good fantasy. This had so much potential and could have really been a good book, but...

The story itself is interesting, in theory, but it is slow moving, and sometimes a little boring. The adventure just seems to ramble on and on, and in a lot of cases it was just TOO easy. The author spends a lot of time telling, and not much time showing. (I know you hear that a lot. I want to feel like I am IN the story, joining these characters on their adventure, not like I am reading a story by someone who is watching them from afar, catching bits and pieces of their conversation.) The conversations between the characters does not always flow smoothly, rather feels forced and jarring.

The characters seem interesting at first, but once you start really looking at them as you go through the story, they leave you with a lot of questions:

Cornelius: You don't really learn much about him before he's whisked away by this unknown kidnapper. You do know that he's a rather nice guy, especially after taking in Craig and some things that are hinted at from his past.

Craig: He really is loved by someone above. Everything happens so easily for him - he just happens to meet people who can help him along his way, gets out of fights without being harmed (or makes a new friend out of the situation - i.e. the people he meets when he first enters the forest), and the clues he finds are as obvious as those on Blues Clues. For him being one of the main characters, I found him very uninteresting.

Audrey: She's really everything Craig isn't. She was fun, but most of the time she was just too far out there to be believable. And I agree with a review I read on Goodreads: Where did the swords come from?!?! (And this is not the only question left unanswered.)

Lily: I like Lily (she's the horse). It's not exactly realistic to say that she swims like a barracuda (yup, that happened), but all-in-all, she was my favorite character.

The villain: He laughs maniacally. That's really the only thing I remember about him. Maybe because I felt like he was doing it a lot. He reminded me of a villain from a cartoon, like Mojo Jojo on PowerPuff Girls.

And the one thing that I kept coming back to is ... these people are not alchemists. Alchemist, when you look in a thesaurus, seems like a pretty word for wizard, sorcerer, magician ... but if you don't look at it's definition, you miss out on the fact that it has to do with potions and concoctions, not plain old spells and staffs. An alchemist is "a person who is versed in or practices alchemy," and alchemy is "any magical power or process of transmuting a common substance, usually of little value, into a substance, of great value," think metals into gold, universal solvents into an elixir of life. That's not what these guys are.

I think this book would be great for younger children, the ones that are just starting into chapter books (even though the chapters are long) ... as long as they are not big fans of adventure and fantasy. There are some good moments and I think, if the child is new to reading, this could encourage her/him to want to read more, and would be a great way to introduce them into the world of fantasy books. But if you have already been indulging them with fantasy and adventure, you may want to steer clear of this one.

Note: I received a copy in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. Please remember that this review is my opinion based on my own personal impressions of the book.
Profile Image for Book Gannet.
1,572 reviews17 followers
February 3, 2015
Oh, this book. It could have been so good. Instead it’s flat and a bit dull with more tell than show, and characters who are introduced with a full physical description that is never referred to again. Our intrepid hero, Craig, is pretty dim, fairly useless in a fight, yet somehow manages to succeed wherever he goes. This would mostly be thanks to the Big Clues that seem to follow him around, ready to hit him on the head at the appropriately coincidental time. He also has a habit of getting into fights from which he escapes either utterly unscathed or with a new friend.

Speaking of friends, we have Audrey the fiesty girl who’s good in a fight. But Audrey, really, where did those swords come from?! She’s already an incredible archer, but suddenly she has Legolas-style twin swords too? Don’t even get me started on the fact that she can slaughter a colony of bats without ever running low on arrows.

Oh, there’s also Lily the horse who can swim like a barracuda (I kid you not, that is the actual line), when not head butting wolves or hauling her owner out of a river – while neighing. Clearly they have magical horses in this place. And is it just me or does the term alchemist conjure up visions of potions and, I don’t know, chemical reactions? The magic here is much more wizard-staff-and-spells.

Things also happened suddenly quite a lot, and there’s a bad guy who laughs maniacally and does weird things with stone.

So, riddled with clichés, bad dialogue, flat action, too much tell and nowhere near enough showing. The best thing I can say about it is that it’s short.

(I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.)
Profile Image for SilverLining.
15 reviews
January 20, 2015
This is the first book I’ve read by this author, and it held my interest the whole book. The book takes the formula of two people (in this case young kids on a rescue mission) exploring unfamiliar regions and does a good job with it. The alchemy was interesting, but not really central to the plot. I’ll be reading the sequel when it comes out.
15 reviews
January 20, 2015
This is a fun adventure story with a fairly simple plot and lots of action. There’s a scene with a cursed garden that has all kinds of strange plants and creatures that I thought was really cool. A good read for anyone who likes simple fantasy type books.
1 review4 followers
February 2, 2015
"The Missing Alchemist" by Caldric Blackwell is a wonderful middle-grade book about an adventure to save Cornelius, the town alchemist, from the evil-doer who has taken him away from his apprentice, Craig, and all of the townspeople. The story follows Craig as he ventures to discover the whereabouts of his beloved mentor...but this journey is not without its challenges! The plot features many scenes of struggle where Craig must think on his feet about what he should do next. He must travel through a cursed mountain pass, roam the desert, navigate an enchanted garden of creatures and more. Craig also meets a companion along the way named Audrey who is talented archer. She accompanies him on his trek to save Cornelius. The characters, plot, dialogue, and creative elements in the scenes make for a really enjoyable foray into the magical world of Harpsworth and beyond...Looking forward to book 2 in this series that is definitely appropriate for middle-grade students, but also appeals to individuals of all ages who enjoy a good dip into a fantasy world.
63 reviews1 follower
January 29, 2015
This book was the targeted perfectly for my 9 year old son. It is a nice little adventure that would suit children younger than this. It is full of adventure, age appropriate danger and a little mystery. I really liked Audrey. She added some spice to the adventure. I can’t wait until the next book.
27 reviews8 followers
March 28, 2015
A tale of adventure, mystery, bravery and overcoming the odds. This book leads to new discoveries and meetings of new people, some friendly and some not so friendly.
It envelops the reader in many ways - I thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommend this book
20 reviews3 followers
January 20, 2015
'The Missing Alchemist' tells the story of a young alchemist who goes on an adventure to rescue his teacher.
I've been fascinated with alchemy since I was young, so I was excited to pick up this book. The book is light on the alchemy lore. Since it's for young readers, I imagine the author didn't want to make the spells and what not too complicated.
What the book lacks in alchemy lore, it makes up for with an imaginative world and imaginative creatures. It's a fun adventure from chapter 2 to the end, with lots of exploring new places, meeting new people, and exciting action scenes.
I’d recommend this book to any reader middle school age or late elementary school age who likes adventure and fantasy.
Profile Image for Karen Siddall.
Author 1 book99 followers
October 11, 2019
Good, middle-grade adventure quest with magic!

Fourteen year old Craig Pike is an apprentice to Cornelius, one of the last alchemist’s in the realm. A kind, gentle, and overall, excellent man and master, Craig is devoted to him and pulls out all the stops when Cornelius goes missing, and presumed kidnapped, at a feast his honor.

Along the way, Craig meets challenge after challenge, gaining confidence as he perseveres. He teams up with the multi-talented orphan, Audrey Clife, after he helps her escape from town soldiers for running an illegal gambling operation. (She really regrets that she has had to stoop to doing this in order to support her elderly grandparents.) Craig and Audrey continue the quest together, each helping the other through some very exciting situations.

This is a medium length chapter book with constant action that will hold the attention of even the most reluctant readers. Craig is a likeable second to his master, Cornelius, but he really shines when he must come to the rescue. Audrey is a breath of fresh air. She is a strong, confident, female character who young readers will appreciate. I think that this would make a great read-aloud book for the family as a whole but would work really well for the every evening reading assignment that many middle-graders have. I look forward to continuing the saga with Craig, Audrey, Cornelius, and Lily, the horse, too.


130 reviews
January 8, 2020
This book with the plot it had, had a lot of potential. However, it fell short of my expectations. The best way I can describe this book is that author probably had something fantastic in his mind but only told about a fourth of what he had in mind. Or in better words...

>https://imgflip.com/i/3gkzdc

Just replace the text with "My story in my head" and "How I tell the story".

The problem with this book was that it was too fast-paced (I didn't know a thing existed) as in, every action scene or any scene in general was described and moved on in a matter of a few paragraphs. There was no opportunity to develop the characters as well and I really felt that Craig was big pushover. He's a sorcerer who should be able to protect himself but yet Audrey has to save him every time he's in trouble.

All of the characters besides Craig and Audrey were so cardboard, it's like why even bring them up. And as a final word, the book was incredibly predictable. So when these "surprises" came, I'm just like, I had that hunch two pages ago.

I'm giving it two stars purely for the fact that this book had the potential to be a great book, it was just lacking information. I hear there is a sequel to this so hopefully it makes up for the information we as readers couldn't acquire in this first installment.
516 reviews9 followers
April 2, 2019
I am a fan of middle grade and YA fantasy, but this book was disappointing. The characters were not well-developed, and the plot was primarily a series of battles involving fire staff, arrows and swords.

An editor could have improved the awkward writing. Below are two examples.
A. p.1 "Fourteen-year-old Craig Pike, his dark blue eyes wide with excitement..."
p.2 "Craig clutched his staff as his dark blue eyes scanned the cornfields." (redundant, awkward)

B. Overuse of empty words like "comprised of" and "causing".
p. 52 "....an arrow ....whistled through the air before hitting one of the bats in the chest, causing it to fall to the ground."
p.2 "The monastery was comprised of a few adobe brick buildings"
p. 104 "Soon the food was brought out, comprised of boiled fish seasoned with rosemary, salads...."

Profile Image for Catherine.
324 reviews4 followers
January 12, 2023
What age was this book for? it's repetitious which is good for younger readers but the chapters were overly long. The story was simple but there was a lot of violence.
This should have been a fast easy read but I found it tedious. It was like reading a school assignment that word count was a requirement. Too much of the story seemed to be for the sole purpose of making the story longer. I kept thinking, "Why do I need to know this?"
A lot in the story just doesn't make sense. Craig seems more of a wizard (replace the wand with a staff) instead of an alchemist. Audrey is a master archer/swordsman/bookie/eldercare nurse and she looks about 13 on the cover. They are never turned in the wrong direction or can't find a lead? By the time the great reveal came, I couldn't remember who the character was.
I now know why my son wasn't impressed.
Profile Image for Lynn.
3,045 reviews81 followers
March 7, 2019
This is an enthralling tale about a young orphan boy, Craig Pike, who is claimed by an Alchemist to become his student. Right from the get-go the story is fast moving, adventurous and fun to read as Craig must go about finding his kidnapped Alchemist, Cornelius! Along the way fighting off all sorts of magical beings, monsters and strange pathways he finds a friend, Audrey, who helps him accomplish his goal. Every page and chapter held a new adventure and the ending was good – I enjoyed how you could have finished the series here but, YOU DON’T WANT TO!!! --- you want to know what happens next. Well written, well plotted and more then fun to read! Look forward to Craig and Cornelius’ next adventure!
60 reviews23 followers
March 31, 2019
I loved this book! Who doesn't love an adventure where the the young hero sets out to rescue his mentor with the help of a new friend? Craig and Audrey set out to rescue Cornelius from the evil Meeks. It's a great journey full of magic and battles.
Profile Image for Sharon Tyler.
2,815 reviews39 followers
April 11, 2015
The Missing Alchemist is a book that has just about everything you expect from a fantasy novel. The is the orphaned hero, his pure mentor, the unexpected but skilled fighter (which I was glad to see cast as a girl), as well as monsters and magic. There was the dangerous, epic journey and the battles and risks taken because of the need to do the right thing regardless of the risks. The story itself was very well told, and full of drama and magic. what left me a little disappointed was the characters. Audrey was the most complex character in the whole thing, with the most complete backstory. I would have like a bit more character development, and a wee bit more variety in the fights. Not every magical creature has to be evil and beaten down, I really enjoy when a solution is found by outsmarting or striking up a deal or friendship with an opponent on occasion rather than just using violence. That being said, for a high adventure story this book still hits the mark, it just did not thrill me like it will those looking for an action driven tale.

The Missing Alchemist is a perfect choice for a middle grade reader that likes an action driven story. There is a dangerous journey, a variety of perils, and magic and/or danger around every corner. there is a strong and smart female character as well as a male protagonist, so just about all interested parties will have a character to connect to. However, readers that need significant character development and a strong connection to the characters might be a little disappointed.
Profile Image for Bert.
732 reviews30 followers
October 22, 2015
Very fun and, at just over 100 pages, a fairly quick read. This story follows Craig as he attempts to rescue his mentor/teacher Cornelius after he disappears at a celebratory feast. Craig meets Audrey and together they have several adventures while on the quest to rescue Cornelius.

This story has a vocabulary that will challenge a younger reader, but not overwhelm. It is geared for folks between about 3rd grade and 6th grade. This story has the underlying message that doing the right/good thing will bring about often unexpected rewards. It also reminds students that learning is a process and that you are not expected to be perfect and to know everything all at once. Craig admits that he doesn't know many spells, and is sometimes momentarily overwhelmed by a situation. He does however work through the problem a little at a time, and does not expect someone to appear and rescue him.

I would highly recommend this series for parents with children interested in things magical and fanciful.
As a full disclosure, I received a free copy of this book through Goodreads.
Profile Image for Liz Vinc.
91 reviews4 followers
December 31, 2014
Overall, a fun, imaginative middle grade book. The story follows a young alchemist, Craig Pike, as he embarks on a mission to rescue his kidnapped teacher, Cornelius. The plot is fairly simple, with lots of journeying and magical settings. The situations Craig and Audrey (an archer he meets along the way) get themselves into are engaging. The alchemy portion of the book is pretty straightforward, which makes sense because the book is for a younger audience. I'd say this book is targeted at 11 - 15 year olds. There isn't much of a cliffhanger at the end of this book, but I'll be reading the sequel.
Profile Image for Brandi.
686 reviews35 followers
April 19, 2015
Caldric Blackwell's "The Missing Alchemist (Paperback)" is a quick, interesting read. Overall, I would rate it 4.5 because it did drag a bit in areas, especially towards the beginning. Overall, though I would recommend the book to tweens and other young readers because it is well written for that age bracket and is a fantasy series that can keep their interest. Some books for young (or old) readers tend to be a bit longer and many young readers can lose interest before finishing them.
My copy was obtained from Goodreads First Reads.
384 reviews1 follower
January 21, 2016
The Missing Alchemist by Caldric Blackwell, Age 8 - 12. I think this is a good book for the entrance to fantasy in this age level. Either to be read to or to be read independently. We have action, adventure, magic and weird animals, and most important under all the action is the great decision making and the lessons that we are taught.
Profile Image for Amy.
1,736 reviews
December 23, 2014
I received this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

Oh my, great idea, horrible execution. The writing style is very "telling" versus showing. The characters actually had things too easy. At least it was short.
Profile Image for Tina Reynolds.
133 reviews27 followers
January 26, 2015
Bit unrealistic. No one speaks the way these people do. "hogs are a main supply of food and fur". Pity. The plot isn't bad but poorly realised.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews

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