Scan barcode
A review by mackle13
The Alchemist of Souls by Anne Lyle
3.0
Overall, I like the characters and the story, especially the main ones of Mal, Coby and Kiiren, even if they never quite get out of their character-types.
About Coby, though, I found her story a bit cliche, and, while I admit the possibility, found her situation not entirely believable. In other words,
I also liked the relationship between Ned and Phillip and how different sexual ideas of the time period were explored through the different characters, ranging from casual sex to puritanism.
I do agree with another reviewer, though, in how a lot of the scenes with some of the characters, especially Coby and Ned, were all about their types. Like, every scene with Coby is about her fear of being caught out, and every scene with Ned is about him being gay.
I liked the alt-history aspect of being set in an Elizabethan England where Elizabeth married Dudley and had some sons - but I think that more could've been done with the setting, as it seemed mostly used for window dressing and easy world-building.
I did like the acting troupe's involvement - being into acting and all myself - and liked how it was actually part of the story and not just there, but I did feel like there was kind of too much going on at times, and far too many people to keep track of.
But, anyway -
Despite mostly liking the story, despite the above, there was just something off about the writing in general. In was both over and under descriptive. For instance, there were times it would go into details about the color of the vases in a room we see only once - but, on the other hand, I never had a clear idea of what the skralings looked like. I guess this adds to their mystery somewhat, but I found myself frustrated and distracted by constantly trying to edit my mental picture.
Also, it was nice that some of the dialogue seemed period authentic, but this seemed a bit sporadic, and the narration itself was more modern, so it could be a bit jarring.
Speaking of jarring, the timeline of the story, while changing perspectives, was pretty fluid until about 3/4 of the way through when time started getting skipped, interesting bits seemed to happen off-stage, and we'd get some backtracked explanation of what we missed.
I hate when the good bits happen off-stage, and it was just jarring, in general, to move from a pretty smooth timeline to a more herky-jerky one. But, then, I found the climax a bit rushed in general. After a kind of slow, character based build up, a lot sort of just happened all of a sudden. The ending kind of fizzled for me a bit, to be honest.
Lastly, there are things brought up that never really get explored. Like, when Mal first got assigned the ambassador role, he tried very hard to get out of it... but then he's all resigned to doing it, and quickly finds himself invested in the role. There's an underlying reason for this - but for someone so hell bent on not taking the position, it seemed his desire to get out was very quickly dropped by the wayside.
Anyway - some of this might be a bit nitpicky and, like I said, I did actually like the story and have even gotten the next book from the library already - it's just I think the story could've been better if the writing was more focused. I think, maybe, Lyle had too many ideas and tried to do too much, so it lost some cohesion at times.
But, like I said, I liked it enough that I look forward to reading the next in the trilogy.
About Coby, though, I found her story a bit cliche, and, while I admit the possibility, found her situation not entirely believable. In other words,
Spoiler
while I know some people develop late, and we develop a bit earlier these days than back then, I found it a bit of a stretch that she was seventeen and doesn't have her monthly. More to the point, I found the whole deal with her wearing the corset to cover her womanhood forced and belabored - especially since we're also told she doesn't have any boobs to speak of, and pretty much looks like a boy anyway.I also liked the relationship between Ned and Phillip and how different sexual ideas of the time period were explored through the different characters, ranging from casual sex to puritanism.
I do agree with another reviewer, though, in how a lot of the scenes with some of the characters, especially Coby and Ned, were all about their types. Like, every scene with Coby is about her fear of being caught out, and every scene with Ned is about him being gay.
I liked the alt-history aspect of being set in an Elizabethan England where Elizabeth married Dudley and had some sons - but I think that more could've been done with the setting, as it seemed mostly used for window dressing and easy world-building.
I did like the acting troupe's involvement - being into acting and all myself - and liked how it was actually part of the story and not just there, but I did feel like there was kind of too much going on at times, and far too many people to keep track of.
But, anyway -
Despite mostly liking the story, despite the above, there was just something off about the writing in general. In was both over and under descriptive. For instance, there were times it would go into details about the color of the vases in a room we see only once - but, on the other hand, I never had a clear idea of what the skralings looked like. I guess this adds to their mystery somewhat, but I found myself frustrated and distracted by constantly trying to edit my mental picture.
Also, it was nice that some of the dialogue seemed period authentic, but this seemed a bit sporadic, and the narration itself was more modern, so it could be a bit jarring.
Speaking of jarring, the timeline of the story, while changing perspectives, was pretty fluid until about 3/4 of the way through when time started getting skipped, interesting bits seemed to happen off-stage, and we'd get some backtracked explanation of what we missed.
I hate when the good bits happen off-stage, and it was just jarring, in general, to move from a pretty smooth timeline to a more herky-jerky one. But, then, I found the climax a bit rushed in general. After a kind of slow, character based build up, a lot sort of just happened all of a sudden. The ending kind of fizzled for me a bit, to be honest.
Lastly, there are things brought up that never really get explored. Like, when Mal first got assigned the ambassador role, he tried very hard to get out of it... but then he's all resigned to doing it, and quickly finds himself invested in the role. There's an underlying reason for this - but for someone so hell bent on not taking the position, it seemed his desire to get out was very quickly dropped by the wayside.
Anyway - some of this might be a bit nitpicky and, like I said, I did actually like the story and have even gotten the next book from the library already - it's just I think the story could've been better if the writing was more focused. I think, maybe, Lyle had too many ideas and tried to do too much, so it lost some cohesion at times.
But, like I said, I liked it enough that I look forward to reading the next in the trilogy.