Alchemised

If you’ve read Manacled and you were wondering if SenLinYu would be able to create her own world, you will not be disappointed.This was still an excellent story and now there is excellent world building to go along with it.The book is long, but it has to be in order to be able to tell the same story in a new world with a new magic system.While there is a lot of similarity for obvious reasons, there are still surprises. I didn’t want it to be over.It was excellent.

This Dark Fantasy book is a harrowing view into war and it's traumatizing aftermath and it does it with breathtaking prose that left me sobbing in the end. It was a bittersweet, beautiful read and I am still thinking about everything that Helena and Kaine went through. Please be mindful of the trigger warnings and take care to give yourself some breaks as you read this. It is worth the whole ride, so please don't give up on any of these characters; just like they wouldn't give up on eachother!I adore SenLinYu and this incredible masterpiece she has gifted us. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Senlinyu my beloved. My journey started with your online works and I was happy to buy a physical copy along with the kindle edition. The way you morphed the story and made it something new, something poignant, and so distilled into what the original story was really about while creating something entirely new was breathtaking . Thank you thank you thank you

It was SOO GOOD. The alchemy was difficult to get into immediately as I’m not familiar with the theories at all, but it was exactly the way Manacled was, with so many other incredible bits thrown in. LOVE that SenLinYu was able to get a book deal on this and I cannot wait for the movie!!

AlchemisedThis is a must read, keep you on your toes, keep you up late at night and have you in tears. It’s a well crafted and thoughtfully written story. I did a quick reread of Manacled before this release. I love Manacled but this was equally epic. The world building is phenomenal. The necromancers, vivimancers, animancers, necrothralls, the magic systems, alchemical array…. It’s all new, intricately complex and intriguing. I love that SenLinYu maintained the toxic enemies-to-lovers (ETL) romance. It’s not simply ETL, but the main characters do bad, unspeakable things for the other. Helena Marino and Kaine Ferron are two morally grey/black characters. There is goodness in them but faced with the atrocities of war, they do what they must to survive. This is a standalone dark gothic romantic fantasy, see the authors note for triggers.The relationship with the side characters is the weakest part of this story. It needs more depth but I can let that slide for the epic love story. The difference between this work and Manacled is it’s missing 7 years of emotional connection and motivational drive. Helena’s commitment to the “good” side and its people is blind and stupid. But it does fuel the longing, angst and “choose me” feelings between Helena and Kaine.As part of the rewrite of Manacled, I feel there is an amalgamation of several distinct HP characters into new characters. This made Jan Crowther and Matron Pace both bad characters who often says contradictory things. I would have preferred a one for one replacement for the five characters these two represents (Crowther = Alistor Moody, Kingsley Shacklebolt and Severus Snape; Pace = Poppy Pomfrey and Minerva McGonagall). There is a Snape substitute, Shiseo, but he doesn’t have the role of role model and father figure. Helena lacks any parental figures in this book to tie her to the “good” side. It seems her loyalty is solely for her relationship with Luc but we don’t get to see that. It’s all assumed that they were super close friends and he is the first real friend Helena ever made.Anyhow, I still loved this story and highly recommend everyone read it. Immersive reading is ideal as there is a lot of details you can miss from simply listening. That said, I enjoyed the audiobook. Saskia Maarleveld did a very good job narrating. She employs unique voices for each character. Her pacing is even so it works well at whatever speed you want to set the audiobook to. I was listening at 1.5-1.7x.The hardcover edition includes a beautiful two sided dust cover and a gold dragon ouroboros case stamp. Only thing missing to this edition is spayed edges.TROPES/ THEMES: prisoner of war, necromancy, Stockholm Syndrome, double agent, Noncon, dubcon, SA, possessive MMC, metal work/transmutation, healer, good vs evil, morally gray, sacrifice for the greater good, unreliable narrator, noncon for MMC and MFC, magic, necromancy, experimentation