Alchemised by SenLinYu
Alchemised by SenLinYu is a grim, tragic, bordering on horror, gothic fantasy. Even though it comes with a long list of trigger warnings, within its darkness lies one of the most breathtaking and beautiful stories I’ve ever read.
This book doesn’t just tug at your emotions; it absolutely consumes them, leaving you with a hollow feeling as if it’s taken something from you in return. I have been looking forward to having this book in my hands for so long, and now that it’s over, I’m not sure how to move on.
At its core, Alchemised is a dark tale that dives deep into the horrific nature and psychological effects of war. Every character is marked by trauma, sacrifice and loss. While these themes are brutal, author SenLinYu’s prose is so immersive and devastatingly vivid that you can’t look away.
A warning to all empaths: this story will seep under your skin and leave you carrying its weight long after you close the book.
Secrets Buried in a Shattered Mind
We begin our story with Helena Marino, once a gifted alchemist, now a captive of war and her own fractured memories. The Resistance she once gave her everything for and fought so hard alongside has been wiped out, her comrades and friends all brutally slaughtered, and her own power is suppressed.
Now, Helena finds herself being held captive by Paladia’s victors. This new ruling class is made up of corrupt guild families and necromancers.
According to the Resistance records, Helena was just a healer of little importance, but the blank spaces in her memory leading up to the final battle might suggest otherwise. Thinking her mind might hold key memories of the Resistance’s desperate last-ditch effort to bring this new world order crumbling, she is sent to the High Reeve, known as one of the most powerful and ruthless necromancers in this new regime.
Trapped in a crumbling estate that seems just as haunted as the High Reeve himself, her battle of protecting her lost history and preserving what’s left of her shredded mind has just begun.
The Heart and Its Haunting Foil
Helena is the heart of this story. She’s unyielding, selfless and always willing to lay her life down for those she loves. From the beginning of this war, she has done whatever was necessary, what no one else was willing to do. Everything Helena did was for the benefit of others, even if it meant losing herself in the process.
Throughout the story, she endured trauma after trauma, but still, somehow found the strength to fight. Helena’s courage, loyalty and devotion to the cause left me in complete awe of her.
Our High Reeve, Kaine, by contrast, is a haunting foil. We see Helena give herself to the cause, then Kaine gives himself wholly to her. Everything Kaine does, no matter how ruthless, is in Helena’s name.
Kaine’s past is one of cruelty and coercion: tortured and forced into serving the Necromancer to save his mother at 16, and reshaped into a monster. Years into the war, he has become the most feared mass murderer and is seen as unstoppable. Despite all that, Helena sees the glimmer of humanity in him.
His character forces us to confront an unsettling question: when love drives someone to commit atrocities, can those acts ever be seen as truly evil? Kaine is both the villain and a victim, and his bond with Helena only proves how blurred the line between the two can be.
She Fought, Even If History Denies It
One of Alchemised’s most powerful themes is its unflinching portrayal of systemic oppression against women. The story doesn’t shy away from showing how the work of women is often dismissed, their voices silenced and their bodies controlled.
Helena’s journey is devastating proof: sterilized as a teenager, sold to the enemy for insider information, taken advantage of by her superiors, and in the end, her efforts during the war are erased from history with nothing more than a mocking footnote.
“She was a non-active member of the Order of the Eternal Flame, and she did not fight.” Even after everything she sacrificed, to see her contributions reduced and written off as insignificant is one of the most devastatingly gut-wrenching and, unfortunately, achingly familiar parts of this book.
Alchemised doesn’t just tell a tale of war and survival, but it captures what it feels like to be a woman who gives away everything, even parts of herself, only to be overlooked. It’s infuriating, heartbreaking, and the sting lingers long after you’ve turned the last page
Beautiful, Brutal and Impossible to Forget
Alchemised is nothing short of extraordinary. The world-building is rich and immersive, its characters are layered and unforgettable, and the story is devastating and thought-provoking.
This book absolutely shattered me over and over again, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Alchemised by SenLinYu is both beautiful and brutal in equal measure and a must-read. This story has haunted me for years and has had a profound effect on how I now judge fiction going forward.
About SenLinYu:
SenLinYu (she/they) grew up in the Pacific Northwest and studied classical liberal arts and culture. They started writing in the Notes app of their phone during their baby’s nap time. Their collected online works have garnered over twenty million individual downloads and have been translated into twenty-three languages. They live in Portland with their family. ALCHEMISED is their first novel.
