A review by branch_c
The Alchemist of Souls by Anne Lyle

4.0

With a unique alternate historical premise and plenty of realistic detail, this book does a fantastic job of drawing the reader into the setting. The characters are likable and interesting and the plot is creative and enjoyable to follow. Regarding Coby, who's a woman passing as a man, I'm skeptical as to whether she could really be fooling everyone as well as she seems to. But hey, what do I know. Also the title seems pretty much random - although there were certainly "souls" involved, as far as I could tell there was nothing like alchemy going on here, and even if there was, there was no one character who would have been considered the alchemist. But okay, no big deal. There were also a couple of magical sequences that seemed rather vague about what was really happening, but I think this was intentional and there's more to be explored and explained in subsequent books. This one was impressive and fun, so I'll probably keep on with the series.