As a longtime fan of SenLinYu’s writing, I was counting down the days to read Alchemised. This is an extremely dark story that depicts the devastating effects of war, the lifelong impact on the people who survive it, and the many types of love that people will fight to the end of the world for. The main character is on the losing side of the war and imprisoned by the enemy side, who are determined to uncover her lost memories they believe are crucial to their success. There is something so poetic and atmospheric about the way they write, the characters jump right off the page and feel like real people. The main character, Helena, is so lonely and lost, I could literally feel her despair in the way she was written. SenLinYu has created such an intricate and mind-blowing magic system of alchemy and necromancy, it’s unlike anything I’ve ever read. This is a high fantasy story, with a love story interwoven in the pages that will live in my mind forever. I could honestly talk for days about how much I loved this book. Without a doubt my book of the year and I can safely say nothing else will top it. I’m eternally grateful to Rih at Penguin for sending me an early proof copy of Alchemised. I’ll never be able to thank you enough!

The best book I have read this year, such beautiful writing and a gut wrenching story. 10/10

I would give it 6 stars if I could! Brilliant book.

Super disappointed that the signed edition is on the plain hardback and not the exclusive editition. Five stars for the novel itself.

This is a 3rd party review and I am getting no extra chips with my dinner for writing this. My wife is the reader and she is avaricious - one a week, sometimes more, so much so that payments to my Waterstones account are a fixed outgoing. I can't avoid them. She picked this up at the beginning of January and has just finished it. It took her a month to read it and she has been absolutely spellbound by it. She has said that its one of the most densely written stories she's ever read, with character, plot and worldbuilding off the charts and bearing in mind she reads books by all the current crop of romantasy and dark acedemia authors, and has books 10, 15 years old by writers of whom she swore she'd never read better, that's no mean compliment. What is notable about the text of this book is that it is raw and on occasion viciously uncompromising. SenLinYu made no apologies when they said it would take some reading and it takes the reader into some very dark corners with no apology but completely within context. Bad things happen and if you don't let that affect you, let it change you, you'll never finish what you set out to do..... Fabulous. Buy it.