Alchemised

This book really tested my patience at times, mostly because of Luke. He genuinely got on my nerves throughout big parts of the story. His decisions, his attitude, and the way he handled things made it hard to like him consistently. On the other hand, I felt so bad for Helena. Everything she goes through, especially emotionally, is heavy, and the book does a good job showing how deeply the war and its consequences affect her.

Speaking of the war, that part of the story was intense. The violence, the fear, and the constant survival mode added a lot of weight to the book. The trauma the characters carry feels real and lasting, not something that just disappears when the fighting stops. I appreciated that the author didn’t gloss over how show more damaging all of it was, both physically and mentally.

That said, the book is long. Really long. Some parts dragged more than they needed to, and I think the story would have been just as strong if it had been a bit shorter. There were moments where I felt like scenes or inner thoughts repeated themselves without adding much.

! SPOILER: !
The escape was one of the strongest parts of the book for me. It felt earned, stressful, and emotional, and it finally gave the characters a sense of hope. Seeing them build a life afterward, especially with their children, was really rewarding. After everything they suffered, the happy ending felt deserved and comforting.

Final Thoughts:
Despite being longer than necessary and having a main character who annoyed me, this was a powerful and emotional read. The war, the trauma, and the slow healing afterward were handled well, and the ending made it all worth it. show less

I loved my time in this book. For over 1000 pages, I flew through it! I went into it without a real idea of what I was getting into. I just wanted a good story. It's not perfect, but it had me hooked. The world building is dense but I appreciate and respect the hell out of that. That takes an immense amount of work. I had NO idea about Manacled beforehand and I am so glad! I think it would have taken me out of it too much.

Even though it is super bleak and dark, I really enjoyed it. I'm looking forward to more from this author.

Just a suggestion: If you don't know what I am talking about with Manacled, wait until after you finish the book before looking it up.

⭐ Alchemy | War | Devotion

I pre-ordered this book.

I honestly would’ve finished this book sooner if it weren’t for work, because once I started Alchemised, I didn’t want to put it down. This was one of those rare stories that completely pulled me in from the start, and annotating my first edition physical copy made the experience even more special.

One of the moments that stood out to me most was when Kaine allowed Helena to inspect his ring during the time she’d lost her memory. Later on, discovering the true meaning behind that ring hit beautifully,it tied his devotion to her in such a poetic way.

Another scene that really stayed with me was when he was forced to play spouse to Aurelia; even in that moment, he kissed her while show more locking eyes with Helena in the distance. That was such a powerful image, Kaine isn’t ashamed of his love for Helena. He’s proud and loud about it. He does everything he can for her, no matter the circumstances.

To him, Helena is his rose in a graveyard life of war. His care for her well-being above all else was both fierce and tender, and it made their bond unforgettable.

Alchemised was an emotional, romantic, and gripping read,one I’ll definitely be thinking about for a long time. show less

This book was a whole saga, and it felt like I'd been reading it forever! I'd picked it up purely out of curiosity, since it'd been ages since I'd read anything Harry Potter, and I don't mind going back to that world. Alchemised, however, had a bunch of new concepts like the Eternal Flame, resonance, paladins, necrothralls, etc, that left me confused until part 2.
My thoughts on this novel - Unpopular opinion, I thought Helena was a complete fool the way she 'stood' for the eternal flame, which I assume is like a cult/religion, and her 'values'. Because let's be honest, we all know now that it's the Low IQs that fall for things like nationalism and religions, so keeping this in mind her 'sacrificing' herself, this false sense of 'duty', show more and her accepting all the misogyny just made me roll my eyes. Look, she's capable in the work she does, she's a scientist and reads a lot, but that does not make you smart enough to see the foolishness of being true to a cult/religion. So, having to read through this character's pov was not my favourite thing, especially all the sections where she was roaming around Kaine's backyard in melancholy. I'd have preferred Kaine's perspective instead because he felt more interesting.
The plot was filled with a number of events happening at once but it wasn't for me, it felt like a drag. show less

If you’ve been wanting to read this book, I highly recommend it. It was so good and I wish I had read it sooner, honestly.

😭 For Fans of:
- crying
- trauma
- torture
- Dark
- Disturbing
- Emotional
- multiple timelines
- single POV

👀 TW:
- torture
- r*pe
- bl♾️d

🤪 Unhinged Synopsis
The war is over and Helena can’t remember anything important, because it IS really important to the whole war and her life. Anyways, now she’s this guy’s prisoner but actually it’s so much more than that and just read the book because I can’t even sum it up.

✏️Spoiler-Free Review
Holy freakin heck.
I thought this book was going to be overhyped and over sexualized but it wasn’t. It was worth the hype and was somehow a total political show more fantasy adventure story with romance—but a realistic and true romance, with all its ups and downs and difficulties. I definitely don’t think I was IN love with Caine, but I don’t think that took away from my enjoyment of the book at all. If anything, it made me more interested and emotionally invested in the timeline.

I’m not a big romantasy person but this book reminded me of the political pawns of The Hunger Games with the world building being something purposely spoon-fed to you in a digestible way in part 2. In fact part 2 of the book clears up a lot of confusion and questions from part 1 so don’t feel discouraged!

I loved the writing, the emotions, and the pacing. Even the end gave me all the feels I was craving.

⭐️ 5 True Rating BUT it’s not for everyone.
Lots of triggers but thankfully not as gore-detailed as I was worried it would be. If you can watch a serial killer movie, you can likely read this. show less

Wow, this book was a beast! Literally and figuratively. It was fully immersive, which is what I need in a story. Some of the subject matter could get a bit "cringy", but overall I enjoyed it, and was rooting for Helena and Kaine. Some of the alchemy history and applications just went over my head, and that took away from my enjoyment. Also, the book is so long, you forget a lot of things that happen because the reading is so intense that you are trying desperately to keep up. That took away from it as well. But what a good story. I liked the idea that our main characters had to operate within a morally gray area, nothing was black or white. Sometimes decisions have to be made, even if they are the hard ones that don't seem to make show more sense.

A very strong read that sinks its teeth into you! show less

I picked this book up at the Library because of all of the hype. I had no idea what it was going to be about. My daughter had read it and given it 5 stars and she is picky about her books. A few chapters in I text my daughter and asked if there was ever going to be any romance. Okay that was a yes, I was even more intrigued, would it be Luc or with Farron? Absolutely loved it! Helena the healer actually had the hardest role in my opinion, just loved all of them really. I honestly did not want to put it down, but my library check out expired. No! I realized it is very reasonably priced for as many pages as it has. Lol! I finished this up and it is such a great read, so pleased with the story line, the ending, well written. For someone show more who had no idea what she was in for and having never read anything near like it. I was very pleased with the genre. I may stray out of my total romance read comfort zone after all! show less