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 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.

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.

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.