The alchemist's door

Eh, it was alright. The writing wasn't exactly top notch, which couple by the underdeveloped plot gave me a few eye rolling moments. The historical tie ins felt like they were done by Wiki'ing a few people and their related pages, fairly shallow. It never helps when I find the main character insipid and irritating either, and the character of Dee was pretty much just a narrow minded dickbag who never wised up. This was particularly annoying in relation to women, most of all the character of Magdalena, who was clearly his superior in every way and his head was too far up his own ass to understand that. There were continued hints that maybe he'd broaden his worldview, but they were repetitious and never went anywhere, which just made them irritating - foreshadowing without a payoff is lame. A lot of his prejudices were probably historically appropriate to have, but if historical accuracy of world view is the aim, the hints and him changing his views become inappropriate.

All in all, probably fine as light reading to pass the time on say, a long flight, for those who aren't into the Nicholas Sparks style light reading, but don't expect much.