GOODREADS // AMAZON // BOOK DEPOSITORY
Thea Hope longs to be an alchemist out of the shadow of her famous mother. The two of them are close to creating the legendary Philosopher’s Stone—whose properties include immortality and can turn any metal into gold—but just when the promise of the Stone’s riches is in their grasp, Thea’s mother destroys the Stone in a sudden fit of violent madness.
While combing through her mother’s notes, Thea learns that there’s a curse on the Stone that causes anyone who tries to make it to lose their sanity. With the threat of the French Revolution looming, Thea is sent to Oxford for her safety, to live with the father who doesn’t know she exists.
But in Oxford, there are alchemists after the Stone who don’t believe Thea’s warning about the curse—instead, they’ll stop at nothing to steal Thea’s knowledge of how to create the Stone. But Thea can only run for so long, and soon she will have to choose: create the Stone and sacrifice her sanity, or let the people she loves die.
(A huge thank you to the Wednesday Books and the publicist for the eARC and the opportunity to be a part of this blog tour. )
Alchemy has always fascinated me; while I'd like to say it's because of historic texts, the truth is, it's because of Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood. Okay scratch that, I'm more proud of FMA B. Anyway! the moment I see a book has to do with alchemy, I will pounce on it.
~ 3 REASONS TO PICK UP THIS STANDALONE~
~Realistic characters and complicated relationships~
Thea Hope has a strained and confused relationship with her mother that added a character to the story I had not expected. It was a very realistic look on how a toxic relationship can twist the way you think and influence your actions. I absolutely couldn't stand her mother. Her father wasn't any better but at least he didn't know of her existence till now and is still trying to come to terms with the fact that he has a 17 year old daughter. But her mother is the one who raised her and the only family Thea has and yet the woman was a mess of a parental figure.
I empathized with Thea's conflicting emotions when it came to her mother. She disliked her but also cared for her; she was mad at her but also sought her approval. I understood why she did some things solely to go against her mother.
It's not that Thea doesn't make any bad decisions at all; she totally does but it only made her feel more real. She was thinking on her feet and trying to do her best considering her limited experience with the world in general.
~Alchemy and 18th Century~
I loved that the author didn't gloss over the alchemical studies or the historical implications of a 18th century setting. It was fascinating seeing how the historical time period meshed with the idea of alchemists and their experiments. I really want to go back to my alchemy phase and dig into all the alchemical texts out of curiosity.
I really enjoyed the descriptions of the alchemical experiments.. The imagery is wonderful and just makes the readers more intrigued with the subject matter.
The writing sucked me in completely. I always love it when the descriptions are lush enough that it's like a movie in the head and this book totally delivered on that aspect! The whole "descent into madness" parts of the book were written wonderfully and I literally held my breath as I read them.
The descriptions of 18th century England were also really well done! Basically the imagery was spot-on and I wish I could write as beautifully as that someday.
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While I really enjoyed the journey despite the somewhat rushed ending, I can't believe this is a standalone. The ending didn't truly satisfy me because it was left feeling incomplete when it came to some character arcs. A certain someone deserves better and another certain someone deserves WAY worse. I really wish someday we get a companion novel or sequel that satisfies the story arcs.
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Do you have any recommendations for historical fantasies? Tell me in the comments below!
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