Short review:

This story is not for everybody but I loved it with every viber of my being. It scratched an itch for a level of my love for dark themes, slow burns, and yearning that I didn't know I had. I definitely had moments of being shook, pausing and looking blankly at a wall or kicking my feet in the air. However, if you want something easily digestible, this may not be for you. It is world building and story heavy with the romance woven into it. The spice level is also pretty mellow so if you're looking for a lot of smut, this isn't the story for you.

For my full review:

I'll start with the critisms just to get it out of the way especially for those that are looking for aspects that the book, in my opinion, lacked. My biggest gripe is how the world building was handled. While it may be flesh out enough to understand the story, it felt rushed. The constant throwing of terms before the reader is given the chance to digest it can be overwhelming. I had to reread some sentences a few times and even whipped out a spoiler free glossary to refer to every now and then. Some people kept saying that you're supposed to be just as confused as the main character, and that's true, but it doesn't really excuse the rush of terminology. Admittedly, it did largely affect the pacing of this book for me.

I also would have preferred this to be split into different books mainly because I felt like the relationship between characters could have been fleshed out a bit more. I didn't feel like I grew that much of an attachment to certain characters other than the main couple due to the constraint of everything being condensed into one book. The story would have been more impactful this way and would have given opportunities to explore the character's pasts. I'd definitely be interested in that.

I've also come across some reviews saying there's errors in the writing, but I honestly haven't encountered any other than stylistic spelling choices that match the genre. I'm going to assume that was a problem that has now been solved. I also realized this was written in British English after seeing "enrolment" twice and realizing it's not an error in earlier chapters.

Another one I keep hearing is how rape feels glorified in this story. I would have to disagree. I never felt like the story was trying to promote sexual assault. It occurred in the story, sure, but when I'm reading these, I'm not looking for some profound life lesson, the story just takes its course with the unfortunate events that happen and the characters will handle it the way that that they do even if it's morally gray. The characters are flawed and faced with challenging decisions but nowhere in the writing did I ever got the feeling like it was glorifying the idea of rape/SA. I can understand when someone can't handle SA, everyone has different tolerance when it comes to such a sensitive topic. I am also saying this as an SA victim and survivor that I can personally handle it, but my experiences with it will not reflect the same for others. Thread lightly with this book if this is a theme that makes you uncomfortable.

That being said, I became so obessed with Alchemised to the point I would read it every chance I got. If it weren't for my previous critiques, I would have given it a 5⭐️. Truly, I could not put this book down without experiencing withdrawals. I'm sure my friends are tired of me talking about it.

The pacing is arguably slow but it was perfect for it's length. It allowed me to let everything sink in enough, and it helped with the immersive feeling of being trapped with days feeling repetitive and routine along with the main character Helena. Some people may have problems with this, but I think this aspect fit pretty well with the themes of captivity and war. Not to say this is an overbearing aspect of the book, but it is present.

The development of the main characters held me captive and I couldn't wait to read how their relationship would develop. I gained an appreciate with how the characters are widely influenced by their experiences because it gave them depth rather than being one-dimensional. Their goals and reasonings made sense for their character, it felt very human. Admittedly, there were some characters I felt like should have been more fleshed out, as I said before, because while their choices made sense to their character, it felt rushed at times. Which is crazy since my copy is already a whopping 1024 pages! I truly believe this would have worked well to be extended and split into a series of books.

I also liked the use of "amnesia" in this book. I'm typically not one to like the trope because it has felt so overused, but the choice of allowing it to happen at the beginning of the story rather than something abruptly sprung up in the middle of the plot was a creative choice that worked well for this story.

I enjoyed how significant and intentional some of the dialogues and events were as they were called back in later chapters. I've been accustomed to it happening only once in stories, but it would happen frequently enough for me to gain appreciation for it. There has been a lot of thought given to the plot of this story that made it satifying to read with every revelation it gave.

Definitely do try reading Alchemised at your own pace because non-stop gave me a headache from staring at words all day. Be sure to at least get to Part 2 of the book if you ever see yourself wanting to DNF! The experience, in my opinion, felt very different afterwards.

With all that being said, I loved Alchemised and it has become permanently tattooed on my heart and soul. I will be giving Manacled another shot after I binge Harry Potter because I forgot literally everything about that series after watching it once as a child.