Alchemised
4.7 | 15,456 ratings
Price: 14.99
Last update: 12-16-2025
Product details
- ASIN : B0DQ72PKP2
- Publisher : Del Rey
- Accessibility :
- Publication date : September 23, 2025
- Language : English
- File size : 27.5 MB
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Not Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 1029 pages
- ISBN-13 : 978-0593972717
- Page Flip : Enabled
- Best Sellers Rank:#10 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- Dark Fantasy
- Dark Romance
- Dark Fantasy Horror
- Customer Reviews:4.74.7 out of 5 stars(14,962)
Top reviews from the United States
- Katherin GomezBest book of the year!Best book I’ve read all year. Haunting, romantic, realistic even in a fictional and magical world. Raw, beautiful and left me absolutely in awe of character development, extreme enemies to lovers slow burn romance and some of the most genius and unexpected plot twists I’ve ever experienced in my life. I said experienced and not read for a reason. This book is an experience. One that will shatter you before it slowly puts you back together. Superb writing. 10/10
- CheylaBlew me awayI loved this book. Having read Manacled, I was familiar with the story structure this book would follow. At first I wondered if this would just be Manacled mad-libbed into a different book, but it isn’t. The author did a great job of creating an entirely different world with a different magic system. There were several new plot twists I didn’t anticipate. I had goosebumps for the last half of part two, and cried the entirety of part three. Part one had great sensory details that anchored you in the disgusting horror of the new world under the necromancers, and I was hooked early on. It covered several themes related to discrimination, loneliness, sacrifice, and love. I was blown away by them emotional intelligence and depth the author wrote with. Nothing was self-serving or gratuitous. The most horrific scenes are brief and written tastefully. Now, for my critique. The world-building in part one was a bit too expositiony for my tastes. Adding a couple more sensory details during the exposition to keep the reader in Helena’s POV would’ve made part one easier to read. Also, some of the story beats could’ve been made more impactful if the author had Helena respond to the plot points actively instead of passively. During part one, I felt like I was in a pity party for a character I didn’t know or care about as we watched the world happen around her. This changed, however, as soon as I hit part two. I was immediately able to connect with Helena on a human-level, and the book started to sing. I think part one should have undergone one more revision for this book to be perfect. That being said, books are written by people, and they are a form of art, and aren’t meant to be “perfect.” Some of the quarrels I had with this book, others might not care about at all. Some might even make the argument that it was the best way to write this book. This is just my opinion. I recommend Alchemised to everyone who is interested in it. My honest rating is 4.5/5⭐️
- Menard FamilyWhat a ride...I haven't read the fanfic this was adapted from and maybe that helped to make this a 5-star read for me. I will also say I'm not a huge fan of dark fantasy. I like it but I would say I lean more toward bubblegum romance. That being said... This book was worth every single one of the 1020 pages. I couldn't put it down. There were not enough hours in the day. I want Helena to work her magic on my brain so I can go back and reread this book again for the first time.
I'm not into spoilers so you won't find any... What I will say is this book could have easily been written in a way that made more sense timeline-wise. But the way SenLinYu chose to break it up was masterful. It delivers the best emotional impact and keeps you wanting to turn the page. I was crying but laughing and swooning even while my heart was breaking. It was tearing me apart in the best ways.
The magic system can get a bit wordy and confusing but give it a moment to breathe and it flows with the story really well. It picks up easier in part 2 and starts to really show more than tell.
Obviously I highly recommend! Pick it up... maybe some tissues too... - SSome parts watered down to make it more palatable, Minor spoilersI went into this book almost completely blind. I have not read the fan fiction and all I heard was it was dark, a horror, and not a romance.
MINOR SPOILERS below:
Overall, I understand why people say this is not a romance. The story is dark and about the horrors of war. However, the story mainly centers on two characters on the opposite side of the war and how their relationship changes throughout. While we get glimpses of the war, we mostly see the war progression through what the two main characters need from each other. Through their interactions, they do fall in love as they realize they are more similar than they expected.
Part I is the most tragic part of the book. While there is suicidal ideation throughout the whole book, it is a lot more present in part I. There is also 3 sexual assault scenes all within a few chapters of each other. Despite this, I feel like the story was watered down to make the darkness more palatable. Especially in terms of the suicidal ideation, some of the scenes were written with a little humor. Because of this I felt like I wasn't really feeling the gut wrenching moments of her deciding to make that decision. A little humor adds lightness and makes the story not as dark, but it made it lack a certain depth. I think the sexual assault scenes were done really well. They were not over detailed and got the point across. I think it also established that both parties were not consenting.
Part II is the main part of the book and where we get flashbacks. I thought this was done well. Again, we mostly learn about the progression of the war from the interactions between the two main characters. I think the descriptions of the war we do get from the FMC provide enough depth to get across the tragedy of war. As someone who loves emotional depth, I do wish the two main characters' dynamic was explored more, or even the dynamic between the FMC and her friends.
Part III wraps everything together. I do not have that strong of an opinion about this portion. I do wish the FMC would have gone into more depth about making certain decisions for herself. The FMC has had little to no choice throughout the war. It would have been nice to hear her explain why that decision is for herself and not anybody else. I would say the ending is pretty happy for the main characters, but tragic in how they are remembered in the war.
To conclude, this is a tragic story about the consequences of war told through the perspective of the relationship between two characters on opposite sides of the war who fall in love. Due to the darkness of the story, it was watered down in some parts. While I did not mind this in most instances, I felt more depth in certain parts would have served the story better.