Alchemised

By SenLinYu

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • OVER ONE MILLION COPIES SOLD • In this riveting dark fantasy debut, a woman with missing memories fights to survive a war-torn world of necromancy and alchemy—and the man tasked with unearthing the deepest secrets of her past. This stunning hardcover edition features a deluxe jacket with gold foil on the front and a full-color illustration on the reverse, gorgeous designed endpapers, a gold foil case stamp, and, from acclaimed artist Avendell, a black-and-white interior illustration. A SHE READS BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR “What is it you think you’re protecting in that brain of yours? The war is over. Holdfast is dead. The Eternal Flame extinguished. There’s no one left for you to save.” Once a promising alchemist, Helena Marino is now a prisoner—of war and of her own mind. Her Resistance friends and allies have been brutally murdered, her abilities suppressed, and the world she knew destroyed. In the aftermath of a long war, Paladia’s new ruling class of corrupt guild families and depraved necromancers, whose vile undead creatures helped bring about their victory, holds Helena captive. According to Resistance records, she was a healer of little importance within their ranks. But Helena has inexplicable memory loss of the months leading up to her capture, making her enemies wonder: Is she truly as insignificant as she appears, or are her lost memories hiding some vital piece of the Resistance’s final gambit? To uncover the memories buried deep within her mind, Helena is sent to the High Reeve, one of the most powerful and ruthless necromancers in this new world. Trapped on his crumbling estate, Helena’s fight—to protect her lost history and to preserve the last remaining shreds of her former self—is just beginning. For her prison and captor have secrets of their own . . . secrets Helena must unearth, whatever the cost.

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Published Sep 23, 2025

Average rating: 8.19

621 RATINGS

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Community Reviews

What Bookclubbers are saying about this book

✨ Summarized by Bookclubs AI

Readers say *Alchemised* by SenLinYu is a dense, ambitious dark fantasy blending magical realism and horror. Reviewers agree it features intricate wor...

Angelica Garcia
8/10 stars
Fantasy is not my fav genre but when I read it this is the type of books I like . I almost quit at the beginning due the slow pace and the confusing terms but then I got hooked and couldn’t stop.

I much rather a long book than 3,4 or even 5 books in a series .

I didn’t mind the explicit violence, or anything . It was a really good combo between war, politics, (toxic) relationships and more BUT the only thing that I dislike about this story is the repetitive need of almost all the characters to sacrifice themselves for someone else or a cause . I feel like the author over use that and it was annoying… like stop fucking martyr’s ! One second all of you are killing machines and the next one you keep wanting to do stupid things that will get you kill LOL other than that I devoured this book .

I like it a lot . Much better than a lot that I read in the past .
fromlizaslibrary
10/10 stars
I am so glad I finally read this! I do wish I read the original fan fic and I might still get around to it to compare but I was very into this. I know it’s dark but I was really into it. I can see the Harry Potter nods but it was so unique that it was its own story for me. I don’t think I realized how much I would enjoy this sort of read but I was so attached and could not put it down. I loved the structure of the book and although a bit slow to start, part two picked up and the plot really came together for me. Definitely be prepped for what type of book this is and know that there’s a lot of gore, violence and death, so if you are good with that, this is an incredibl3 read that I’d absolutely recommend.
Emlan
10/10 stars
Brutal. Complex. Heartbreaking. Shattering. Soul destroying. Could not put it down. Those poor characters and how they suffered. Think I need therapy after that.
kiraluvxo
10/10 stars
Traumatized me I loved it
pixiedust_2000
8/10 stars
This book was dark af! Horrible, horrible things took place but damn was I invested. Definitely didn’t need to be as lengthy as it is though.

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