Name: Alchemised
Rating: 4.472972972972973 (37 reviews)

SenLinYu

In this riveting dark fantasy debut, a woman with missing memories fights to survive a war-torn world of necromancy and alchemy—and the man tasked with unearthing the deepest secrets of her past.

Alchemised

This might be the saddest line so far😭 i'm sick

Sophia

He rested his head against Amaris, and her wings fluttered. She turned her neck to nip at him.

"We'll go out together, won't we, old girl? Bennet's last two monsters."

“You’re like a rose in a graveyard,” he said, and his lips twisted into a bitter smile. “I wonder what you could have turned into without the war.”

someday I am going to love him in a moment that isn't stolen

He’d loved her, even though he never expected them to be anything but doomed. He’d loved her all the same.

"You are not replaceable," he said, his hands trembling against her shoulders. "You are not required to make your death convenient. You are allowed to be important to people."

“I’m sorry—I’m sorry—I’m so sorry for everything I did to you,” he said, his voice hoarse and broken. “I love you. You left, and I’d never told you.”

“The first promise I made to you was that I’d be yours for as long as I live. I’m keeping that one.”

“Oh Marino. If I'd known what pain you'd cause me, I never would have taken you. But at this point I suppose I deserve to burn. I wonder if you'll burn, too.”

She couldn’t fix herself anymore, and no one else seemed inclined to even notice she was breaking.

“Don’t die, Marino. I might miss you.”

“I never get to choose you. I’m so tired of not getting to choose you.”

“This was ours…” She swallowed, blinking hard. “They took it from us, but it was ours.”

She wanted to commit everything to memory, the way he felt under her hands and against her skin, as if sufficient detail could make this secret thing real enough to endure; as if she could write it into the universe so deeply that even war could not erase it.

this book makes me feel things all at once and i love every part of it. 🥲♥️ 

Myka Hernandez

Broke me to absolute pieces. They deserved better. I was still happy with the ending. I wish Enid and Apollo would have their stories in the future! 

Macy OConnor

I’ve been debating for the longest time what to rate this book. 4.5? 4.75? Or 5? The question had everything to do with the world building aspect and nothing to do with the characters. I was here when this book was Manacled so I was capable of understanding a lot of it because of that. 

I’ve decided that although it took me a minute to understand what was going on, this book made me feel exactly what I felt years ago when I read manacled. I still preferred manacled to this because while other complained about the length, I thought manacled was even better despite maybe being longer? 

Kaine and Helena are very realistic characters within an incredibly fictional world. After stranger things and its unrealism (yes every story should have a standard for realism), this book reminded me of that standard. I loved reading the stakes and the desperation for each character. I loved how they were both unapologetically two individuals who refused to give up on things they stood for. 

I don’t know if I can go through this copy of the book another time because I spent early mornings just sobbing. But I loved this book so much. And I’m grateful I got to read this rendition too ❤️‍🩹

Keira 💫

I’ve been debating for the longest time what to rate this book. 4.5? 4.75? Or 5? The question had everything to do with the world building aspect and nothing to do with the characters. I was here when this book was Manacled so I was capable of understanding a lot of it because of that. 

I’ve decided that although it took me a minute to understand what was going on, this book made me feel exactly what I felt years ago when I read manacled. I still preferred manacled to this because while other complained about the length, I thought manacled was even better despite maybe being longer? 

Kaine and Helena are very realistic characters within an incredibly fictional world. After stranger things and its unrealism (yes every story should have a standard for realism), this book reminded me of that standard. I loved reading the stakes and the desperation for each character. I loved how they were both unapologetically two individuals who refused to give up on things they stood for. 

I don’t know if I can go through this copy of the book another time because I spent early mornings just sobbing. But I loved this book so much. And I’m grateful I got to read this rendition too ❤️‍🩹

This book is so devastatingly beautiful, I’m not sure I can put into words how much I love it

Sam Sibilia

This book blindsided me. I haven't yet sat with my thoughts on this long enough to express coherent opinions, actually. So this is a word-vomit type of review. I just had to write this down now before I lost my grip on my feelings. 

This book blindsided me! I knew where it came from. I read the synopsis for the original text and didn't like it; not interested. But then I read Alchemised's synopsis on Goodreads, and I was positively curious about the world that is described. So I decided that I will give the published work a chance, instead. I wasn't actually planning to read this just yet. I had just started Practical Magic and I was really enjoying that, but then...I don't know. Curiosity got to me, and I said to myself, "I will just...check out the first pages. See if I can see the influences in the text." 

And...before I knew it, I was sucked in. Sure, I think the first 25 chapters don't really do the heavy work of making you invested in all the characters and story, but it does make you interested in Helena and whatever the hell happened to her. I could detect the influence in those early chapters and I was almost cocky in how I saw myself predicting the plot and seeing where it was headed. 

But then...the book fcking blindsided me! I thought I knew what I was getting myself into, but no...I didn't really. 

This was such a beautifully grotesque story. It's very well-written, in that it aims for a form of obsessive investment in the reader that books these days don't really do. This is something you frequently see/saw in Fanfiction but traditionally published works don't work this hard to keep you invested for the next chapter (I think for obvious reasons but in case you missed it: It's because you have already bought the entire book. They don't have to pitch themselves to you again and again. They only need to do that once at end if there is a sequel. Not with Fanfic. With fanfic, the author tries to make sure you are still interested to come back for the next chapter, every chapter. So, the stakes are much higher, the cliffhangers are brutal, and the characterization and plots are borderline addictive.) Alchemised tries to gut you with each paragraph. It twists the knife in your wounds and drags you around the bloody floor (Sorry...this book was very bloody and goreish. The images have lingered). It takes you in its clutches, makes you watch the atrocities of war with a VIP lounge front-row seat, and it makes you question everything you have: your morals, your judgment, and your capacity for empathy and violence. It's a brutal, raw look at what war does to people and what it expect from those it eats away at.

And as the story progresses, the writing improves and the shadows of the original work are lifted until these characters and their story manage to stand on their own two legs. No trace of the original there anymore. I could not tell who was who and what could be what. It completely develops into its own new thing, and what a thing of beauty it is. Beauty but in a very...ugly way? This book doesn't glorify war. It doesn't romanticise heroism. It cuts it open and shows you the festering rot within. It was so GOOD! So nuanced. 

I know people fixate on the romance. There is a reason for that. Because when everything you have is burned to ashes and you have nothing and no one to hold on to, an impossible romance is such a heartbreaking symbol of hope for an impossible future; one that is simple enough that it can hold love in it. A future worth fighting for. A stake beyond survival. So I get why people fixate on that; it's beautiful and tragic and breaks your heart at a higher velocity than if this were clinical and written with no emotional stakes. But the book is so much more than just a doomed love story. This is a fantasy story about what war does to people, and there is romance in it, as well. Because...I don't know, love makes war that much worse.

My favorite bit is that nothing about this story is easy. Not love, not morals, not victory and loss, nothing. No one makes easy choices. There are no easy answers. You are suffocating on the complexity and ambiguity of the situation, and that's perfect! 

I love that we have this book. This is what we deserve. Not cookie-cutter stories that string a bunch of tropes together and add a veneer of appropriate social behavior on top of it like a bow-wrapped gift, and act like they did something revolutionary because they gave in to the rules of passivity that our world demands from everything and everyone so we can all be advertisement-friendly. This book grabs you by your balls, whether you have them or not, and makes you see the difficult parts that no one likes to look at. We need stories like this. I needed this. I felt more alive reading this than I had in ages. It had been so long since a book clawed at my heart and mind like this. I absolutely loved it. I am so grateful it was published. It would have been a crime to let it be confined by the world of another person's story. Especially when this world is so much more interesting! 

Did I mention the world-building was amazing? Because it is. I was confused at first, but as we got more and more and MORE (lol) exposition and explanations as the story develops and I really warmed up to the magic system. This world has a complex system of religion and folklore. There is complicated politics, racism, and misogyny that are rooted in in-world dynamics and beliefs. It's just very elaborate. Yes, there are info-dumps, but I keep thinking if those were to slowly unfurl, not only would we have been so confused for much longer, but also the book would probably have to be 2ooo pages long. So sometimes you get info dumps. 

Also, apparently, this is written in passive language. I...had no issue. It's a bit claustrophobic but that's the point. I enjoyed the writing style. 

I loved the world, I loved the plot, I loved the ambiguity and nuance and moral grayness, I loved the romance, I loved the characters...Most of all, I loved how harsh and unforgiving the book was when it came to the matter of war. It was just so raw.

So do I recommend the book? No. No, you don't deserve nice things (or the emotional trauma! lol) You are not going to handle this, and you're gonna just piss me off with your moral coding and purity culture outcries(maybe, I don't know), so don't read it. Also, don't read it if you are not interested/ready to be traumatised. There is body horror...so much body horror...SO MUCH!!!!!! There is loss of body autonomy, sexual assault, torture, murder, gore, decomposing bodies, and so much more...there is a list of triggers, so take care and check those and imagine every warning is for the extreme and avoid this if it's not for you...because sometimes, some books are NOT FOR YOU. And that's okay! We don't all need to like the same stuff. I actually like hurting myself by reading books that make me want to vomit out my heart. I spent days sobbing over this, I'm not normal! Don't be like me! 

I loved it. If you are like me and actually enjoy reading upsetting fiction that will traumatise you for life, go ahead! This is worth the trauma, I say. If you don't like that type of stuff, just avoid it. Take care of yourself, instead. 

ALSO in regards to "romaticiation of rape":  <spoiler>No...no, it doesn't. OMG! The rape scene is extremely traumatising to read about. Both characters are disturbed. It's about eugenics. It's intrusive, and it's a double rape. It's horrifying. There was nothing romantic about it. If someone found THAT scene romantic...I'm sorry, they're the problem. There wasn't even any descriptions. It was just about the emotional terror and the aftermath trauma. No gratuitous descriptions, no romantic atmosphere. Just horrific criminal injustice done to the characters. Like, know the difference between "depiction of a situation" and "romaticisation" of it.</spoiler>

Anyway, I am so glad I read this. This book will stay with me for a long, long, long time. 

And I'm realizing, this is the kind of work I like. The kind that rips your heart out and ruins you. I know it's not literary fiction or highbrow, and maybe I'm supposed to like that stuff because I'm a literature person now, but I would be lying to myself. I like this type of story, where the story seeps into your bones and stays with you like a parasite. The kind where dramatic stuff happens and you care about the plot and events, the romance, and the characters. I guess I'm not sophisticated enough for intellectual literary fiction. I guess I'm basic. Whatever. I like my fiction messy. 

Autumn 

11/10 Stars. 

This book blindsided me. I haven't yet sat with my thoughts on this long enough to express coherent opinions, actually. So this is a word-vomit type of review. I just had to write this down now before I lost my grip on my feelings. 

This book blindsided me! I knew where it came from. I read the synopsis for the original text and didn't like it; not interested. But then I read Alchemised's synopsis on Goodreads, and I was positively curious about the world that is described. So I decided that I will give the published work a chance, instead. I wasn't actually planning to read this just yet. I had just started Practical Magic and I was really enjoying that, but then...I don't know. Curiosity got to me, and I said to myself, "I will just...check out the first pages. See if I can see the influences in the text." 

And...before I knew it, I was sucked in. Sure, I think the first 25 chapters don't really do the heavy work of making you invested in all the characters and story, but it does make you interested in Helena and whatever the hell happened to her. I could detect the influence in those early chapters and I was almost cocky in how I saw myself predicting the plot and seeing where it was headed. 

But then...the book fcking blindsided me! I thought I knew what I was getting myself into, but no...I didn't really. 

This was such a beautifully grotesque story. It's very well-written, in that it aims for a form of obsessive investment in the reader that books these days don't really do. This is something you frequently see/saw in Fanfiction but traditionally published works don't work this hard to keep you invested for the next chapter (I think for obvious reasons but in case you missed it: It's because you have already bought the entire book. They don't have to pitch themselves to you again and again. They only need to do that once at end if there is a sequel. Not with Fanfic. With fanfic, the author tries to make sure you are still interested to come back for the next chapter, every chapter. So, the stakes are much higher, the cliffhangers are brutal, and the characterization and plots are borderline addictive.) Alchemised tries to gut you with each paragraph. It twists the knife in your wounds and drags you around the bloody floor (Sorry...this book was very bloody and goreish. The images have lingered). It takes you in its clutches, makes you watch the atrocities of war with a VIP lounge front-row seat, and it makes you question everything you have: your morals, your judgment, and your capacity for empathy and violence. It's a brutal, raw look at what war does to people and what it expect from those it eats away at.

And as the story progresses, the writing improves and the shadows of the original work are lifted until these characters and their story manage to stand on their own two legs. No trace of the original there anymore. I could not tell who was who and what could be what. It completely develops into its own new thing, and what a thing of beauty it is. Beauty but in a very...ugly way? This book doesn't glorify war. It doesn't romanticise heroism. It cuts it open and shows you the festering rot within. It was so GOOD! So nuanced. 

I know people fixate on the romance. There is a reason for that. Because when everything you have is burned to ashes and you have nothing and no one to hold on to, an impossible romance is such a heartbreaking symbol of hope for an impossible future; one that is simple enough that it can hold love in it. A future worth fighting for. A stake beyond survival. So I get why people fixate on that; it's beautiful and tragic and breaks your heart at a higher velocity than if this were clinical and written with no emotional stakes. But the book is so much more than just a doomed love story. This is a fantasy story about what war does to people, and there is romance in it, as well. Because...I don't know, love makes war that much worse.

My favorite bit is that nothing about this story is easy. Not love, not morals, not victory and loss, nothing. No one makes easy choices. There are no easy answers. You are suffocating on the complexity and ambiguity of the situation, and that's perfect! 

I love that we have this book. This is what we deserve. Not cookie-cutter stories that string a bunch of tropes together and add a veneer of appropriate social behavior on top of it like a bow-wrapped gift, and act like they did something revolutionary because they gave in to the rules of passivity that our world demands from everything and everyone so we can all be advertisement-friendly. This book grabs you by your balls, whether you have them or not, and makes you see the difficult parts that no one likes to look at. We need stories like this. I needed this. I felt more alive reading this than I had in ages. It had been so long since a book clawed at my heart and mind like this. I absolutely loved it. I am so grateful it was published. It would have been a crime to let it be confined by the world of another person's story. Especially when this world is so much more interesting! 

Did I mention the world-building was amazing? Because it is. I was confused at first, but as we got more and more and MORE (lol) exposition and explanations as the story develops and I really warmed up to the magic system. This world has a complex system of religion and folklore. There is complicated politics, racism, and misogyny that are rooted in in-world dynamics and beliefs. It's just very elaborate. Yes, there are info-dumps, but I keep thinking if those were to slowly unfurl, not only would we have been so confused for much longer, but also the book would probably have to be 2ooo pages long. So sometimes you get info dumps. 

Also, apparently, this is written in passive language. I...had no issue. It's a bit claustrophobic but that's the point. I enjoyed the writing style. 

What else to word-vomit about...

I loved the world, I loved the plot, I loved the ambiguity and nuance and moral grayness, I loved the romance, I loved the characters...Most of all, I loved how harsh and unforgiving the book was when it came to the matter of war. It was just so raw.

So do I recommend the book? No. No, you don't deserve nice things (or the emotional trauma! lol) You are not going to handle this, and you're gonna just piss me off with your moral coding and purity culture outcries(maybe, I don't know), so don't read it. Also, don't read it if you are not interested/ready to be traumatised. There is body horror...so much body horror...SO MUCH!!!!!! There is loss of body autonomy, sexual assault, torture, murder, gore, decomposing bodies, and so much more...there is a list of triggers, so take care and check those and imagine every warning is for the extreme and avoid this if it's not for you...because sometimes, some books are NOT FOR YOU. And that's okay! We don't all need to like the same stuff. I actually like hurting myself by reading books that make me want to vomit out my heart. I spent days sobbing over this, I'm not normal! Don't be like me! 

I loved it. If you are like me and actually enjoy reading upsetting fiction that will traumatise you for life, go ahead! This is worth the trauma, I say. If you don't like that type of stuff, just avoid it. Take care of yourself, instead. 

ALSO in regards to "romaticiation of rape":  <spoiler>No...no, it doesn't. OMG! The rape scene is extremely traumatising to read about. Both characters are disturbed. It's about eugenics. It's intrusive, and it's a double rape. It's horrifying. There was nothing romantic about it. If someone found THAT scene romantic...I'm sorry, they're the problem. There wasn't even any descriptions. It was just about the emotional terror and the aftermath trauma. No gratuitous descriptions, no romantic atmosphere. Just horrific criminal injustice done to the characters. Like, know the difference between "depiction of a situation" and "romaticisation" of it.</spoiler>

Anyway, I am so glad I read this. This book will stay with me for a long, long, long time. 

And I'm realizing, this is the kind of work I like. The kind that rips your heart out and ruins you. I know it's not literary fiction or highbrow, and maybe I'm supposed to like that stuff because I'm a literature person now, but I would be lying to myself. I like this type of story, where the story seeps into your bones and stays with you like a parasite. The kind where dramatic stuff happens and you care about the plot and events, the romance, and the characters. I guess I'm not sophisticated enough for intellectual literary fiction. I guess I'm basic. Whatever. I like my fiction messy. 

I'm surprised I didn't cry at all but I think this was too jarring to even form a proper repsonse... (*Update: I cried the following day after staring at a wall for quite some time)

The world was really interesting but I did wish for some more world building in the first half. I think it was meant to be that way tho because we're supposed to be confused just as much as Helena was, so looking back, it all worked out. (I loved the world tho so I would've gladly accepted 300 pages more.)

I didn't read the original story but I must say, she did a wonderful job completely seperating the two worlds. No character truly resembled anyone in their personality and the world was so different, it was really unique. I wasn't interested before because I'm just not into fanfiction or that particular ship, so I was really happy to experience the story this way.

I'm surprised I didn't cry at all but I think this was too jarring to even form a proper repsonse... (*Update: I cried the following day after staring at a wall for quite some time)

The world was really interesting but I did wish for some more world building in the first half. I think it was meant to be that way tho because we're supposed to be confused just as much as Helena was, so looking back, it all worked out. (I loved the world tho so I would've gladly accepted 300 pages more.)

I didn't read the original story but I must say, she did a wonderful job completely seperating the two worlds. No character truly resembled anyone in their personality and the world was so different, it was really unique. I wasn't interested before because I'm just not into fanfiction or that particular ship, so I was really happy to experience the story this way.

Alchemised

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