The Apothecary is more than it seems, full of surprises, and entertains the reader throughout.

Book Title: The Apothecary

Book Author: Maile Meloy

Book Publisher: G. P. Putnam’s Sons – Division of Penguin Young Reader’s Group

Release Date: October 4th, 2011

Retail Price: $16.99

Buy it at: Various outlets

Janie Scott befriends the local apothecary’s son, Benjamin Burrows, and a dark world of political espionage emerges. A world where Janie and Benjamin, with rotating sidekicks Pip the pickpocket and resident rich girl Sarah Pennington, take on political intrigues under the threat of nuclear war. A world where invisibility, flight, and hiding in plain sight are feasible that unfolds as they dig deeper into what an Apothecary does and just who wants to know.

I thought there was an interesting level of intrigue considering Janie’s parents moved to England due to misunderstandings, but are innocent, whereas Benjamin’s seemingly innocent father is in reality much more powerful and dangerous than initially believed.

Janie and Benjamin seem to come up against nothing but troubles, distractions, and delays on their journey of truth, safety, and international security. The driving force of their adventure, helping Benjamin’s father in his own quest, at first felt a bit cheesy. But, as the plot developed and the intrigue and double agents emerged along the way, it felt a lot more believable. By the climax, I realized that Meloy had paced the plot surprisingly well, adding just enough danger and consequence to make the end results believable within the world she’s crafted.

As for the secondary characters, Pip’s parents are non-existent, and Sarah’s are inconsequential other than for their extensive riches, which do come in handy. I thought it was a nice touch the way that Sarah joins the group for the short parts she is with them. It showed a slight, but noticeable, evolution of the character beyond the standard cliché of a little rich girl antagonist.

I enjoyed Meloy’s characters, primarily Benjamin and Sarah, as they developed the most during the story arc. The popular rich girl lost her pretentious airhead appearance to become a character worth appreciating. Meanwhile Benjamin grows up, not by choice, and manages to accomplish more than I would have expected from what he was at the beginning of the story. I still want to smack him upside the head for the final few chapters though.

I’m always a sucker for scenes of characters flying, whether it’s on birds, as birds, or a general defying of gravity. Meloy’s laws of flight and conservation of mass added a nice touch and an added danger of human transformations. I certainly wouldn’t want to lose feathers due to loss of clothing, not to mention the reverse transformation in an enclosed space. As with systems of magic, the apothecary’s alchemy has its own lethal consequences if not taken seriously and carefully.

I enjoyed this book thoroughly, and read it in a little over two days’ worth of reading sprints while commuting. It kept my attention throughout and has intrigued me enough to search out Meloy’s other works.

It was an enjoyable story with believable characters, at least as believable as characters can be in a fiction story involving transmutation, alchemy, and aerial acrobatics. I became invested in the characters and their problems, and would read it again for any nuances I missed during my first read-through.