Reviews - A Forbidden Alchemy

806 reviews for:

I didn't think I'd enjoy this, since the beginning is very slow (Which is crazy to say considering we skip literal years in some chapters). I feel as though claiming Patrick and Nina are best friends is also quite a stretch, considering they spent a few hours together on one single day (And even most of that was just told in "hours passed" sort of writing, after their cellar adventures).

I will say - I definitely did get Peaky Blinders vibes from this, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm sure it's not a coincidence that Patrick was just Cillian Murphy in my brain (How many times can you mention his ice/light blue eyes? Come on. Obviously you want me to picture Tommy/Cillian Murphy there). It takes until about 25-30% to start picking up and was a thoroughly enjoyable ride from there.

I can agree with other reviews that Nina's actions/behaviour made little sense.

She seemed to jump from "I'm a traitor, hurrah!" to "Nope, I'm secretly working with the good guys!" back to "I'm a traitor, hurrah!" and all it did was cause whiplash.

I'm keen for the second book, but only because I enjoyed Patrick and the Peaky Blinders vibes. Nina wasn't that strong of a character for me.

(& don't even get me started on ol' Teddy. He was even worse than Nina with his whiplash backtracking)

caffeinatedbigbooks's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging emotional tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

tessmleblanc's review against another edition

5.0

medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

pinklish234's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

librarylacquer's review against another edition

DID NOT FINISH: 47%

It was so boring. I didn't care about any of the characters, who were all interchangeable except for the love triangle. Patrick clearly pined over Nina for 13 years and is now being flirty out of nowhere and it just feels so forced and weird.