Two Halves, One Brian

Our next joint review is the super popular (and very large) dark fantasy, Alchemised.

Book Stats

• Publication Date:
• Format: physical hardcover
• Chapters: 78 (plus 1 prologue and 1 epilogue)
• Pages: 1040
• Narrator POV: 3rd person POV, following the main female character, Helena

Shayna’s Review

Book Rating: ⭐⭐⭐/5 stars & 🌶️/5 for spice

For those who may not know, SenLinYu originally wrote a fanfiction, Manacled, that was sort of a mix between a Harry Potter dystopian and The Handsmaid’s Tale. It was a lengthy book split into 3 parts and it was extremely popular. I actually read that fanfic years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. Alchemised is essentially Manacled, but re-written to include SenLinYu’s own characters so it could be published as their own work. Parts of the story changed, to remove the Harry Potter/ Handmaid’s Tale aspects so it could be sold.

That said, I was super excited to jump into this story and see how it compared to Manacled. It’s very highly rated so I went into it with high hopes and expectations!

Keep in mind that this book? She thicc. And she requires commitment and patience. She could be considered 4 small books in 1, as she’s over 1000 pages.

And while the story itself was great and very emotional and dark, I feel like it could’ve been condensed a lot. Many things were repetitive and drawn out when they could’ve been shortened and still maintained the emotional impact.

I had a difficult time rating this book. I kept bouncing back and forth between 3 and 4 stars before ultimately settling on 3. I really did enjoy the story itself and the characters. But the way it dragged on really took a toll. I got to the point where I wanted to start skimming because honestly, I don’t care about the 54th time Helena went foraging or the 23rd time she worked in the hospital that month. I really felt like the story just stalled so many times when it could’ve been shortened.

Also, despite how drawn out most of this book was, the ending/Part 3? Felt like it wrapped up super quick. WHY did you drag us on this ride for 900 pages, just to end things quickly?

As for spice – there are scenes that include more than kissing or closed door intimacy but they’re very vague overall so I felt like this could be 1 chili pepper even if our rating scale would technically have it rated as 2. Without any detailed scenes, it sort of felt like a fade-to-black type of situation. So ultimately I settled on 1 chili pepper.

It was a good story and I enjoyed the writing, but I wouldn’t read it again. I do love the cover though and it’ll look pretty awesome on my bookshelf.

Ronni’s Review

Book Rating: ⭐⭐⭐/5 stars

What the actual fuuuuuck. Was it good? Yes. I’m not a huge fantasy genre person but it was digestible. (That’s a really gross way to put that, but I digress). I have thoroughly enjoyed it. Could it have been SO. MUCH. SHORTER? 1,000%! If this one ever becomes a series, I’m doing cliffs notes to remind myself of what happened because I can’t again.

Unlike Shayna, I’m uncultured and did not read the previous fanfic, I went in blind. You really have to pay attention to what’s happening so you don’t get lost in this one. I bought the hard copy because it looks good on my shelf. I bought the Kindle version because it was on sale. Ultimately, I listened to the audiobook version.

The narration was fantastic, in my opinion. Saskia Maarleveld narrates it, and she does a fantastic job with the accents. In typing this up and researching her, I JUST found out that she also narrated The God of the Woods, which I 1. NEVER would have guess based on the vastly different accents and 2. Absolutely loved and will be doing a review on if I haven’t already.

I was confused throughout a lot of the story. I spent a lot of time like this

Is it because I wasn’t paying close enough attention? Possibly. Is it because I felt like it was DRAAAGGGINNNGG? Probably. I also read a review by someone on reddit who had read Manacled previously and she validated a lot of my feelings. I thought maybe it had been because I wasn’t cultured enough to have read the other story but no, I think reddit lady has my back.

My favorite part of this whole…. experience? was the fun new (to me) words. Lumithium is my new favorite word. It just feels nice on the tongue. Try it!