Lauren
A Forbidden Alchemy takes place in a world in which Idium is everything. Without those with power risk losing it, and those without it need access or risk remaining in the same disenfranchised lives they and their family lines have suffered for generations. It attempts to ask, what happens when a girl from a poor mining town gets accepted into the elite’s lifestyle? I would say the first 60% of this book is honestly a fun, stereotypical romantasy. It is odd calling people fighting for their rights fun, but it is what it is. You get the brooding guy, the strong woman, the lovable cast of characters. If you are someone who typically loves any romantasy you pick up, this is probably going to be a great book for you. For me, however, it fell flat. I am pretty particular about my romantasy, and I have learned I prefer romantic fantasy over romantasy, but there are a few that break that rule, so I have this one a try. Like I said, I didn’t take it too seriously, but I have having fun for the first 60% (I’m guesstimating). There is a twist around that point, however, that completely broke my trust in the author. I will not say who the twist involves, but there are two POVs in this book, and one of the POVs has a pretty significant reveal at this point, and it didn’t feel good. I love an unreliable narrators, but this was not that. Instead, this character had a huge secret they were keeping, but not once before the reveal did they think about this secret or worry someone might find out or worry that if anyone did know if they may reveal it. It is potentially a life or death level secret. Personally, I do not believe a character would not be internally stressed about this situation, and when authors write twists this way, it breaks my trust because now I feel as though there is no point in following the story, because twists can come out of nowhere for no reason at all other than plot convenience. It’s a huge pet peeve of mine. Another complaint I have is some of their reactions seem a little off. I understand being blinded by duty, or love, or whatever value you hold highest, but there were moments that should have been met with larger reactions instead of instant forgiveness considering the types of people this book follows. I was also pretty disappointed by the synopsis. I almost with this was book 2. The synopsis promises a story about a girl who is accepted to an important school and see a montage of her time there. I would have loved to see her grow up there. See her become immersed in this new and unfamiliar culture. I would have loved to live in it for a while and get a solid grasp on the magic system. Then book 2 could have been this book. There was nothing egregiously wrong with this book. Nothing glaring offensive or bad. It had some interesting things to say about political and social power that I would have liked to be explored more. It was truly a typical romantasy that I had fine with for the most part, but every now and then found this that I did not like. I am curious where book 2 will go, so I’m likely to continue.
Note: I did not consider this in my review, but the narrator for Nina was a little tough to listen to. She would be totally normal and would be doing a good performance, but then she would make her voice kind of whining sounding when trying to show desperation? I have a pretty low audiobook ick tolerance, so this may not bother anyone, but I thought it was worth noting.
A Forbidden Alchemy takes place in a world in which Idium is everything. Without those with power risk losing it, and those without it need access or risk remaining in the same disenfranchised lives they and their family lines have suffered for generations. It attempts to ask, what happens when a girl from a poor mining town gets accepted into the elite’s lifestyle? I would say the first 60% of this book is honestly a fun, stereotypical romantasy. It is odd calling people fighting for their rights fun, but it is what it is. You get the brooding guy, the strong woman, the lovable cast of characters. If you are someone who typically loves any romantasy you pick up, this is probably going to be a great book for you. For me, however, it fell flat. I am pretty particular about my romantasy, and I have learned I prefer romantic fantasy over romantasy, but there are a few that break that rule, so I have this one a try. Like I said, I didn’t take it too seriously, but I have having fun for the first 60% (I’m guesstimating). There is a twist around that point, however, that completely broke my trust in the author. I will not say who the twist involves, but there are two POVs in this book, and one of the POVs has a pretty significant reveal at this point, and it didn’t feel good. I love an unreliable narrators, but this was not that. Instead, this character had a huge secret they were keeping, but not once before the reveal did they think about this secret or worry someone might find out or worry that if anyone did know if they may reveal it. It is potentially a life or death level secret. Personally, I do not believe a character would not be internally stressed about this situation, and when authors write twists this way, it breaks my trust because now I feel as though there is no point in following the story, because twists can come out of nowhere for no reason at all other than plot convenience. It’s a huge pet peeve of mine. Another complaint I have is some of their reactions seem a little off. I understand being blinded by duty, or love, or whatever value you hold highest, but there were moments that should have been met with larger reactions instead of instant forgiveness considering the types of people this book follows. I was also pretty disappointed by the synopsis. I almost with this was book 2. The synopsis promises a story about a girl who is accepted to an important school and see a montage of her time there. I would have loved to see her grow up there. See her become immersed in this new and unfamiliar culture. I would have loved to live in it for a while and get a solid grasp on the magic system. Then book 2 could have been this book. There was nothing egregiously wrong with this book. Nothing glaring offensive or bad. It had some interesting things to say about political and social power that I would have liked to be explored more. It was truly a typical romantasy that I had fine with for the most part, but every now and then found this that I did not like. I am curious where book 2 will go, so I’m likely to continue.
Note: I did not consider this in my review, but the narrator for Nina was a little tough to listen to. She would be totally normal and would be doing a good performance, but then she would make her voice kind of whining sounding when trying to show desperation? I have a pretty low audiobook ick tolerance, so this may not bother anyone, but I thought it was worth noting.