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4.44 AVERAGE
4.44 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I would like it to be know I read Manacled, and cried when I finished. I am now crying again with finishing Alchemised. An incredible book, we written, heart wrenching, and bleak. It really shows how absolutely awful war is and how consuming guilt and grief are.
SenLinYu had a task at basically creating a new world and magic system around an already established and well loved story and they finessed it. The world was excellent, the use of necromancy and alchemy brilliant. At first all I could think was how the characters were just renamed of the previous characters, but they quickly developed their own personalities and characteristics. Incredible work. Manacled was five starts. Alchemised is five stars. Very well deserved and earned. And that last paragraph carries a gut wrenching impact.
SenLinYu had a task at basically creating a new world and magic system around an already established and well loved story and they finessed it. The world was excellent, the use of necromancy and alchemy brilliant. At first all I could think was how the characters were just renamed of the previous characters, but they quickly developed their own personalities and characteristics. Incredible work. Manacled was five starts. Alchemised is five stars. Very well deserved and earned. And that last paragraph carries a gut wrenching impact.
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
A masterpiece.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, War
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
one star for the delusion required to believe that this is worthy of formal publication.
no matter how you feel about the plot or the topics, not enough has been done to make this a book that can stand separately to the context that is assumed by the reader in fanfiction. swapping out names and putting in a complicated sanderson-esque metallurgic magic system is not enough if you haven’t also put work into making your characters and their plights compelling. you cannot just throw trauma at a wall and call it character development.
no matter how you feel about the plot or the topics, not enough has been done to make this a book that can stand separately to the context that is assumed by the reader in fanfiction. swapping out names and putting in a complicated sanderson-esque metallurgic magic system is not enough if you haven’t also put work into making your characters and their plights compelling. you cannot just throw trauma at a wall and call it character development.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Pregnancy, War, Injury/Injury detail
Content note from the back of the book:
Alchemised is a work of dark fantasy containing wartime violence, religious abuse, depictions of complex trauma, suicidal ideation, self-harm, human experimentation, medical torture, eugenics, cannibalism, sexual assault, rape, and allusions to necrophilia. Please remember that depiction is not authorial endorsement. Because Alchemised is told in third-person limited point of view, it necessarily involves some distortions or vision as well as missed or misconstrued events. Reader discretion is advised.
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I was most excited to see how Alchemised would be without all the pre-established context/world building/etc that Manacled had, and wow - this still absolutely delivered. the same story, reimagined in a completely different setting/world, but still as gut-wrenching and intense as ever. even though I knew how everything was going to play out, it still wrecked me. what a book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, War
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
sad
tense
medium-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:
Yes
I found the 1000 page format intensely irritating. I really wish the publisher had printed it as a duology and just released them at the same time. However, the novel itself was absolutely addictive. It is very dark, much darker than I am usually comfortable with, but I could not stop reading it. Despite the length, I finished it in a week! It was such a compelling read. Really enjoyed it!
I received this novel as a free Advanced Reader Copy from the publisher.
I received this novel as a free Advanced Reader Copy from the publisher.