Noelia (thisbookishlove)’s Reviews > Alchemised > Status Update

I’m still in part one—page 152 and I’m so beyond lost and absolutely nothing is good so far and I’ve not come across any “good” writing yet.

The masterpiece will be your review, at this point. :D

I feel you on that Marquise 👏

Yikes.... Telling over showing is a pet peeve of mine, I've DNFed books over this!

I read M for the sake of properly reviewing it and someone I know who bought the book (she also know Manacled) said that there's not much changed actually. They just changed the names and magic system (copy it off of an anime lol) and greedy Penguin is making people rate it 5 stars. I bet a lot of these people who rated it 5 stars didn't read it either. It's all part of the marketing

That sounds like a painful reading 🫠

Misty wrote: "I’m still in part one—page 152 and I’m so beyond lost and absolutely nothing is good so far and I’ve not come across any “good” writing yet."

Same. Honestly, I would like to have some words with the people comparing this to Tolkien or Rothfuss. Yeah, don't look at me that way. I've seen it, and I too can't believe the guts to say that.
And to the overall sense of feeling lost, I'm too, but I made peace with not understanding a single thing about the politics or the reasons why they're at war or the nonsense that is the magic system. At this point, I just don't care. Almost 500 pages in and still I don't have a single clue of how it's supposed to work. 🤣

Marquise wrote: "The masterpiece will be your review, at this point. :D"

Now, I'll have to live up to that. 😂😂😂

Isadora (tbr is too big) wrote: "I feel you on that Marquise 👏"

Thank you, darlin'!!! 💕

MH wrote: "Yikes.... Telling over showing is a pet peeve of mine, I've DNFed books over this!"

We're on the same boat. And this book is over 1000 pages long. It suffers from the syndrome of being born as a fanfic. As such, it relied on the seven Harry Potter books' backbone, so the worldbuilding, the magic system, and the reasons for why there was a conflict were already there. Here, the author had to change stuff to avoid copyright infringement, but still, the story doesn't work. It doesn't flow naturally, because there's a lot of stuff we don't know, so she relies on telling to put us in perspective.
Part 2 relies on flashbacks but starts at the wrong moment. We actually don't understand why they're fighting, and because the author focuses solely on two characters (Helena/Hermione & Kaine/Draco), this means there's a lot of stuff we never get to know or experience firsthand. She tells you they're battling, but she tells you. There's a difference between being at the battle and telling you there has been a battle. The emotional impact hits different. And it changes the overall picture of the book.

Nadia wrote: "I read M for the sake of properly reviewing it and someone I know who bought the book (she also know Manacled) said that there's not much changed actually. They just changed the names and magic sys..."

I'm doing the same. I was about to call it quits at 8%, because I knew back then how bad it was. Call it a gift or whatever, but I tend to get the overall vibe of the book and how good/bad it would be almost from the beginning.
But a fan called me out on the comments, saying the book is not romanticizing rape, that I have to get to the flashbacks to understand, and given that skimming couldn't give the whole picture, I took up the challenge, so here I am. 🫡. LOL.
To get a better insight into the book, I'm keeping track of forums, just to see what people are saying about it, whether it's positive or negative. And yes, I've read that too. That is practically a copycat version of the fic, especially parts 2 & 3. Pity.
And to the bit about the magic system, I've read that too. I've just googled it and you're absolutely right. It's just a copycat version of Fullmetal Alchemist and I can't believe how the author got away with it, because it's straight up plagiarism. To the homunculus, to the mixing of earth/water/fire/air, to the transmutation bit, to the arrays, to the chimeras and the whole soul binding. My jaw has dropped to the floor. How this got a pass????

Mai wrote: "That sounds like a painful reading 🫠"

It is......😭. But I'm taking one for the group. I'm doing this for all of you, so keep in mind all the sacrifices my brain cells are making. 🤣🤣🤣

I guess people fail to understand that romanticization of rape is not about writing the SA scenes aesthetically, or making it sexy. It's a message that the author delivers through their writings that in some sense, SA is acceptable or excuse-able or even being a part of a sacrifice for "true love", that it is a part of true love and the rapist is in a way, a martyr or a "victim too". The fact that Helena/Hermione is also in on it in the beginning or if they were lovers first does not matter, if anything it tells me that the author is working hard just to make the victim of SA here also become the "legislator" of her own sexual assault

Fun fact: This used to be draco/hermione fanfic on AO3! LOL