Alchemy and prolonged life

Good topic! I haven't finished the book yet, but I've gotten to the point where Luca has met the alchemist. So far it's helped fill in a little of the mystery surrounding Luca's parents. I'll reply with more once I've finished it. I'm interested in what other's think about it.

Well, the book would have been completely and totally different, perhaps non-existent without Luca's prolonged life. Once you've established that somewhat mystical plot point, you might as well throw in a couple of other things. I actually think that the inclusion of magic and Luca's prophetic dream helped keep his abnormal lifespan from seeming out of place. It set the Florence of this book every so slightly apart from the real Florence and turned "Immortal" from historical fiction with this weird detail to historical fantasy.

Also, Luca's work in alchemy was the catalyst for a big part of the ending, from his student to Savonarola's bonfire (I hope that wasn't spoiler-y, I don't think so).

So, overall I think they added to the story, although I was initially a bit surprised by them.

I really like the supernatural element and I think they add to the story. The stuff on alchemy kind of dragged on for me but I do understand that it has a basis in the story. I'm just at pg 220 so I'm going to head back and read some more tonight and see where the story takes me. I do really like see Florence through Luca's eyes and just imagining the paintings and the area as he's seen it.

Dar, I agree with you about the parts about the paintings. I can really see someone having to do that to survive such a situation. I also just finished the section where he healed the boy's arm. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens from here.

What Dar said.

I see how alchemy fit into the story but the detailed descriptions, well, let's just say I was sooooooooooo tempted to skim those parts.

As far as the extended life, like others have said it was pretty crucial to the story and I enjoyed that particular aspect.