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linzirene 's review for:
The Scarlet Alchemist
by Kylie Lee Baker
this was very interesting. the worldbuilding and magic were quite complex, especially for a YA novel (and a duology rather than a longer series). and I did feel like the world was communicated to us naturally rather than via infodumping. the plot was entertaining and gripping, and I felt outraged by what our MC had to go through.
I’m not sure if this is a cultural dimension, so I don’t want to take too strong of a stance, but I get really frustrated in books where the MC’s family accuses the MC of being selfish because they care about justice for the broader world. this also really frustrated me in MDZS. but to me, choosing one’s family over equality in the world and the even less fortunate would be the more selfish option
the character relationships were not my favorite in this book. the main romantic relationship was kinda ???? in that I’m not sure where they actually started to care for one another. they never seemed to be on each other’s wavelength. and as demonstrated above, I found the cousins/siblings to have quite upsetting behavior that I don’t think the story resolved for me.
however, I’m very interested to see where this duology goes in book two. like I really have no idea what will happen because book one mostly resolved the plot threads.
I’m not sure if this is a cultural dimension, so I don’t want to take too strong of a stance, but I get really frustrated in books where the MC’s family accuses the MC of being selfish because they care about justice for the broader world. this also really frustrated me in MDZS. but to me, choosing one’s family over equality in the world and the even less fortunate would be the more selfish option
the character relationships were not my favorite in this book. the main romantic relationship was kinda ???? in that I’m not sure where they actually started to care for one another. they never seemed to be on each other’s wavelength. and as demonstrated above, I found the cousins/siblings to have quite upsetting behavior that I don’t think the story resolved for me.
however, I’m very interested to see where this duology goes in book two. like I really have no idea what will happen because book one mostly resolved the plot threads.