Rezensionen
My Rating: ★★★★☆Okay, so before we get into Alchemised by SenLinYu, I feel like we need to acknowledge something.This was my THIRD attempt at reading this book.Third.Apparently Alchemised and I needed to go through our own enemies-to-lovers arc before I could finally appreciate it.And you know what?I'm really fucking glad I gave it another chance.Because I can absolutely see why this story became so popular when it was originally released.There is A LOT happening in this book. Alchemy, necromancy, war, politics, trauma, memories, morally questionable decisions, approximately seventeen thousand moving pieces...Okay, slight exaggeration on that last one.But somehow, it WORKS.This isn't a book I'd recommend picking up when you're looking for something light and easy to disappear into for a few hours. Alchemised wants your attention. There are details you need to remember, connections that slowly begin making sense and moments where something clicks into place and suddenly you're reconsidering things you thought you understood hundreds of pages earlier.And I think that's ultimately what made pushing through those opening chapters worth it for me.Because those first few chapters?They nearly defeated me.Twice.I'm very much someone who can be won or lost within the beginning of a book, and Alchemised takes its time. There is a LOT to absorb before you really understand the world you're being thrown into, and personally, I struggled to connect with it initially.Then something clicked.And suddenly I understood why everyone had been screaming about this book.Also, can we discuss the SIZE of this thing?!I originally downloaded the audiobook without paying much attention and discovered a THIRTY-FIVE-HOUR audiobook sitting in my library.Thirty-five.HOURS.I genuinely looked at it like, “Surely fucking not.”Then I discovered the physical book is 1,024 pages and suddenly thirty-five hours seemed completely reasonable.Still mildly terrifying.But reasonable.What really impressed me, though, was how something this enormous managed to justify its size. There are so many layers to unravel that cutting huge portions away would fundamentally change the experience. This is the kind of story where you're meant to sit with the confusion for a while. You're meant to question things. You're meant to slowly piece everything together alongside the characters.And when those pieces DO start coming together?That's where Alchemised got me.It is dark...and I mean genuinely DARK, not "he growled at her and owns a motorcycle" dark. There are incredibly heavy themes throughout this book, and the trigger warning list deserves to be taken seriously.This is absolutely one where you should check those warnings before committing yourself to 1,024 pages of emotional suffering.But if you love enormous, intricate fantasy novels that demand a little patience from you before rewarding it, Alchemised is absolutely worth experiencing.Especially if you're someone who loves complex world-building, morally complicated characters, stories shaped by war and trauma, mysteries that slowly unravel, and books where seemingly small details eventually become much more important than you realised.And if you've already tried Alchemised once and couldn't get into it?Apparently I'm living proof that sometimes DNF doesn't mean NEVER.Sometimes it means, “Come back when your brain is prepared for 1,024 pages of necromancy and emotional damage.”It took three attempts, thirty-five hours of audiobook staring me threateningly in the face, and a little determination...But Alchemised finally got me.
remember in february when i said i didn't think i was going to find a book that topped breath of starlight?? well it turns out i might have actually been wrong about that.this book is so extremely catered to me and my interests it's actually insane. there's chronic illness, mutual noncon, extreme tragedy, major character death, trauma narratives, and the kind of spicy scenes that i crave. literally this book was written for me in specific as much as breath of starlight was. it was even inspired by the sparrow, my all time fav book duology!!the fact that this author has only written fanfic before this book is incredible to me given the mastery present in this novel. the worldbuilding is incredible and made me want to know more about the world beyond just what we as readers are told. the linework is stunning and engaging from the first page. the story structure is brilliant. i could go on about this book until i die and i'd still have more to say.the major minor characters were so memorable; i'll be crying over luc/lila forever. the major characters are even more memorable; kaine ferron has skyrocketed to the top of my book boyfriend list after over a year of having kingfisher in first place. and i related to helena on a level that only is surpassed by auryn'reh solah from breath of starlight and aelin galathynius from throne of glass.the major reveals all hit so hard. i was sobbing so many times throughout this novel and i have been spending forever thinking about it after finishing it. i don't think this book will ever leave my mind in the same way that the sparrow and children of god (the sparrow's sequel) and breath of starlight won't. overall this book was beyond incredible and, despite taking me nearly a month to finish it, it didn't feel like that's how much time it took me. i Will be reading this again at some point in the future. thank you senlinyu for my life. i will never be able to properly articulate what this book means to me, but thank you for writing it. i'll cherish it forever.
INCREDIBILE. Leggere questo libro è stato come intraprendere un lungo viaggio della speranza, tortuoso e crudele ma che rifarei ancora.
INCREDIBILE leggere questo libro è stato come intraprendere un lungo viaggio della speranza, tortuoso e crudele ma che rifarei ancora
I just got so bored reading it. The story was good but for it to be this many pages is what I don't think is worth reading, and I keep getting lost in what is happening.
6 long months to read this bad boy. very good writing but it was so much. Lots of world building and a overall sad story during war.
In this riveting dark fantasy debut, a woman with missing memories fights to survive...
At first, I found this book hard to get into. But once you start getting into the characters and their stories, it was unputdownable!
meu deus, nunca vou parar de pensar neste livro, quero continuar a ler sobre eles, nao sei como vou superar esta história
This book completely broke my heart. It’s dark, macabre, and deeply unsettling, but it’s also written with such talent that I couldn’t look away. I wasn’t expecting everything I read, it shocked me, hurt me, and left me speechless.The writing is gorgeous, the emotions feel painfully real, and the characters are unforgettable. It made me cry, it made me think. I didn’t finish this book; this book finished me. Alchemised is not a beautiful story, it’s a masterpiece of pain, obsession, and humanity.
I had been terrified of the sheer size of this one and vowed I'd never read it. Until it came up as our book club pick!Boy am I glad that it did!!I won't lie, its a heavy read (figuratively and literally)and I did take breaks to read short stories along with it. This really helped me on those days where I felt I'd been reading for hours but in % had hardly read anything.Although it took me a bit of getting into (me own fault getting used to some of the terms), I'm so pleased I stuck with it. The storyline was engaging, I loved the world building and description and there were a great mix of characters. Had it not been as many pages, I would have struggled to put it down.If you keep putting this one off due to the size, pick it up, you won't regret it.
This book isnt just some mare book . It's so beautiful and deep and devastating I have no words to describe it bc I had no words since closing the last page. Highly recommend for mature readers bc this book will make you think and feel a lot. I felt like this book isn't just a story but also a mirror of our reality. If you really think about it a lot of this stuff happens in real life, and that's part of what makes it so sad, the government the lies by society the affects of war just the way everything is depicted.The writing is especially so incredibly good senlinyu is truly talented