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sydspages

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sydspages is Currently Reading

sydspages is currently reading

Leather & Lark (The Ruinous Love Trilogy, #2)

by Brynne Weaver (Goodreads Author)

bookshelves: currently-reading, romance

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— Jun 05, 2026 05:04PM

Jun 05, 2026 05:03PM

sydspages is currently reading

Alchemised

by SenLinYu (Goodreads Author)

bookshelves: fantasy, currently-reading

Reading for the 2nd time

read in October 2025

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sydspages said: " In the aftermath of a long war between necromancers & alchemists, Helena is now a prisoner. Once a talented healer, she seems to be the only survivor left of the resistance. However, she can’t remember anything in the months leading up to her capture In the aftermath of a long war between necromancers & alchemists, Helena is now a prisoner. Once a talented healer, she seems to be the only survivor left of the resistance. However, she can’t remember anything in the months leading up to her capture. Sent to the High Reeve, one of the highest ranking necromancers, to uncover these memories she learns her captor & prison hold secrets of their own.

I will start by saying I did read Manacled & loved it, making Alchemised one of my most anticipated reads. In the beginning it was hard to separate them, comparing them & seeing what characters represented who. After a while though I was able to see it for what it is, a completely separate work. It has the outline of Manacled that can be glimpsed throughout, but the rest of the story was changed into something else. I enjoyed the changes made that made it its own work. This world was interesting to be apart of & learning their magic system that felt unique. If you are debating on what to read first, I’d suggest going into Alchemised first to give this book the attention it deserves. I wish I could’ve went in blind myself.

This is a dark book about the pains associated with war, elitism & other heavier themes with a romance subplot. Please read the trigger warnings & read at your own discretion.

As much as I loved this book, it’s not perfect. It has its flaws & could benefit from maybe more editing or rewriting.

I felt the world building throws us right in the middle of everything. Some stuff was extensively explained while others that we were expected to pick up with context clues. I ended up looking up a term guide made by another reader as I didn’t understand the difference between certain terms. By the end I think I got the hang of (most of) them, but I’ll admit there’s some I still didn’t quite nail down even with the long page count.

A lot of the side characters felt like little more than names. We don’t have any prior experience with them, unlike our characters who have been around each other for years. What we were given didn’t compel me to be emotionally attached to most if not all of them. At certain points it was hard to keep track of them all. I took my time reading this so when certain names came up I felt like I was supposed to know who they were as if they were mentioned one time previously 400 pages ago, but by that point I had forgotten who they were. Especially in part 2 when a bunch of new players entered the field it took me awhile before I could get everyone straight.

The ending also felt slightly rushed. Once we got to a certain point I thought we were going to sit in the ending for a bit just like the rest of the book was a slow burn. It felt like we were marking off a checklist of certain events & not getting one on one time with our main characters before we were to say goodbye to their story.

What SenLinYu did with this story was amazing for a debut novel. At the time of writing this Manacled isn’t fresh in my mind, however I really enjoyed this new world they created & the changes they made to the story. Certain aspects like a full cast of new characters seems to have been a bit of a struggle but there’s no doubt this author can write. I look forward to their other books & seeing what they can do with a full original story that doesn’t need to be stripped down or changed.

PS - For all my map readers if you go to SenLinYu’s website she has a world map not included in the book. Unfortunately I didn’t learn this until after I was 80% through the book but hopefully this might help someone else out. ...more "

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(page 34 of 1030)
— Jun 05, 2026 11:01PM

Oct 19, 2025 01:17PM · see review