Queen B’s Decree: I am a firm lover of fan fiction (I still reread an Ouran High School Host Club fic on the reg), so I’ve been intending to read Manacled (later published as Alchemised) for a while but I was scurred. I like a dark—although it’s more gray if I’m honest—romance but this seemed too dark for me.
And don’t get me wrong, it’s dark. Definitely check them trigger warnings before you jump in. But I somehow couldn’t stop listening. I got through the first 9 hours of the audiobook in a blink and even though there are some super heavy topics…I needed more.
There’s just something about the inherent brutality of war, how it changes you, what you do to survive it. Helena and Kaine are both so morally grey; my allegiance to either character kept fluctuating, who did I want to “win.” The slowburn of their relationship is so necessary; I wouldn’t have believed that characters on either side of the war would have fallen in love instantly, time was crucial for this story to be so captivating.
The narrator, Saskia Maarleveld, did such a fantastic job. At times I nearly forgot there was a single narrator, each character had such a distinct voice.
I ran through the gamut of emotions: pain, fear, sadness, disgust. This book just made me feel so much and I fear I’ll be in a book hangover for a bit.
Book: Alchemised by SenLinYu
Series: standalone
Genre: Fantasy/Dark
Plot Devices/Tropes: trigger warning central