Septimus Heap #3: Physik by Angie Sage

My name is Septimus, and I'm afraid I'll never be able to return to the Castle. I've been pulled through the Glass and find myself trapped five hundred years in the past with the alchemist Marcellus Pye. He's created a tincture for eternal life, but his evil mother Queen Ethelredda wants it for herself. Her spirit caused my dilemma, and some people believe she's killed her other children. I know my sister Princess Jenna will try to find a way to travel to this time to free me, but it seems impossible. The only positive is that I've learned is a remedy for the deadly Sicknesse plaguing the realm. However, what good is the cure if I can't return to my time to help the people?

I'm enjoying the series very much and recommend it to you. The book provides adventure and suspense, as Septimus and Jenna try to solve the problem from different points in time. This book doesn't have a bunch of spell-casting. Pye seems to be a nice alchemist and takes Septimus on as his apprentice, but he was the one who pulled Septimus through the portal in the first place. His mother is an evil queen, and he is the one creating a potion that might make her live forever. The queen is a detestable character, as she rules through fear and is obsessed with power and living forever. A couple new characters are introduced to the series, mainly the Spirit-Seer named Snorri and her companion. The companion is a Night-Ullr, an orange cat during the day that changes to a fierce black panther when the sun sets. Ullr comes to the rescue on more than one occasion. Some readers may not like the language used by characters in Pye's time; even Septimus commented it was hard to understand them. However, you should be able to get used to it, just like Septimus did, without much trouble. The author throws in a bunch of extra e's and has the characters speak in a form of Old English. You can probably read this book on its own, since the conflict is totally separate from the events in the previous two books.