Book Review: Alchemised by SenLinYu

I've never read the Harry Potter fan fiction Manacled, which Alchemised is based on. 

So I went into Alchemised with no prior background of the book that was popular amongst Dramione fans. I picked this book up mostly because of the hype I kept seeing on BookTok and, well, simply because I'm a Harry Potter fan. 

I was also curious after reading about the author, SenLinYu. Manacled was so popular that she received offers to publish Manacle as a book, which was reproduced as Alchemised to avoid copyright issues with the Harry Potter franchise, and even received a movie deal shortly after. 

When a book gets offers left, right, and centre like that, you start thinking... okay, this must be good, right? 

What is Alchemised About?

Helena Morino - Official artwork from Avendell

Alchemised is a dark fantasy romance set during a brutal war against the Undying. 

The central character is Helena Morino, a healer who tends to wounded Resistance soldiers. This book carries heavy themes around war, power, blind religious loyalty, female status in society and how narratives can be manipulated to serve those in control. 

But beneath all that? 

It's also a deeply intense love story between a spy and his handler. Two lonely people who fell in love during the war. 

Spoiler Free Review. 

This was a painful read, and I don't mean emotionally. 

At 1,040 pages, this book is heavy. Carrying it around actually threw my shoulder out, so I eventually caved and bought a copy on my Kobo. 

So what's inside this 1,040-page brick? 

Alchemised is broken into three parts. 

Part 1 was confusing. So confusing, in fact, that I stopped reading and left the book collecting dust for a good two months before picking it up again. 

The world-building was impressive, but the magic system and terminology tripped me up constantly. Animancy, vivimancy, necromancy, all the "-mancies" started to blur together. I found myself constantly looking things up repeatedly just to keep track. 

If you're planning to read this, do yourself a favour and print out a terminology list for reference. Trust me, it'll help. 

I eventually picked it back up during the long year-end holidays, and I'm glad I did. Trudging through Part 1 was worth it because Part 2 is where the book truly shines. 

I was so high-strung through Part 2 and the early sections of Part 3 because both Kaine and Helena faced so many challenges that when the book finally ended, it felt... flat. 

And that's where my mixed feelings come in. 

What lingered days after I finished was a feeling of unease. 

The story doesn't offer a clean finish. It doesn't reward sacrifice with recognition, and it doesn't provide a neat closure. That made it deeply unsatisfying yet strangely compelling. 

Long after I finished the book, I found myself scrolling through TikTok endlessly, talking to my book club members who had read it, trying to understand why the story stayed with me. 

Alchemised isn't a comfort read. It's a book that asks you to sit with moral ambiguity rather than resolving it neatly. 

And honestly, I'm still sitting with it. 

Some books end, and you go, "Okay, that was good/bad," rate it a few stars, and move on. 

And then there are books that live rent-free in your head long after you've finished reading them. 

This was definitely one of those books. 

So, would I recommend you pick up this book? 

Yes. It's definitely a one-of-a-kind reading experience. 

That said, please pay attention to the trigger warnings before you decide to jump into reading this book. This is not a light or casual read; it's the complete opposite. 

There were moments while reading Alchemised when I was completely drawn in.

But is it a five-star read? 

I can't say. I'll need to get back to you. I'm still processing. 

The part I really enjoyed in the book was Part 2. The rest was confusing, and the ending, while unsatisfying, did make me think deeper about the themes. 

And with that, I'll stop here because the rest of my thoughts live firmly in spoiler territory. What follows are my personal notes and reflections, written mostly so I don't forget how this book made me feel. 

So, if you want to avoid spoilers, stop here. 

What Stuck with Me (Spoilers Ahead)

⚠️ Fair warning - spoilers below ⚠️

Sigh. Where do I even begin? There's a lot to unload here, and this might be a long post. 

1. Characters from the book

There are so many unlikeable characters in this book. 

Marrough is not the only villain. Ilva Holdfast, Jan Crowther, and especially Falcon Mathias, members of the Resistance council, were the ones I found deeply unsettling. 

What disturbed me most about the council wasn't that they were obvious villains. They were unlikeable not because they were evil, but because they were protected by blind belief, rank, and a narrative that conveniently suited them. 

Kaine Ferron - Official artwork by Avendell

On the flip side, Kaine Ferron is easily my favourite character in the book. Not because he's flawless or romantic, but because he constantly pays the price quietly. He keeps his promises. He carries loyalty, restraint, and emotional cost without recognition, and he feels like someone trying to remain decent caught inside a system that punishes decency. 

Also, his dry wit and humour genuinely made me laugh, which made me love his character more. 

Helena Morino, on the other hand, disappoints me at times. She's intelligent, capable, and deeply burdened by responsibility and deep loyalty to the Resistance. My frustration comes from the fact that she always prioritises the Resistance. Her actions mostly reflect that without fully considering the cost to Kaine. 

Reading from his perspective, it often felt like Kaine consistently gave, while Helena gambled, and he absorbed the fallout. That imbalance felt unfair, and yet, I still loved them together. 

2. The Themes

There are so many heavy themes woven into Alchemised, from gender inequality and the ethics of power to how narratives can be controlled to serve a political purpose. 

But these were the ones that stayed with me the most:

One line that had me literally shaking my head in agreement was: "There's nothing to rival war to money."

Simply put, war isn't just ideology or belief. It's an economic engine. I think that single line frames the entire story well; it shows how war reduces human life to insignificance.

Another moment that lingered with me was the theme of blind faith. 

In the story, Helena is reprimanded for suggesting necromancy to revive fallen Resistance soldiers as a strategy to win the war. The idea is met with immediate backlash by the Council. It's labelled heretical and deeply immoral by the Resistance, whose ideology is built around preserving life and preventing necromantic corruption. 

In one scene, shortly after the incident, the Resistance is celebrating a win, and in one conversation, the belief is that the win came because they held firm to their faith, i.e. not agreeing with Helena on using necromancy, which shows their commitment to Sol. 

"They thought the war was being won because her proposal for necromancy had been so sharply reprimanded that the resistance passed some final spiritual test, and all the success of the last year was a reward for it."

This blind belief is dressed up as moral certainty. The Resistance convinces itself it's winning because it held firm in its belief. In their minds, Sol is now rewarding them for their righteousness. 

They were so deep in their faith, so convinced that belief alone can save them, that it ultimately led to the Resistance's downfall.

Then, towards the end of the book, after Kaine and Helena have escaped safely, they read reports that neighbouring countries are finally going to intervene and help free Paladia from Marrough's clutches, and this line hits hard: 

"How different it could have been if the international community had decided to put even a negligible amount of effort into caring sooner." 

Tell me that doesn't echo real life. 

This is where the book stopped feeling like fantasy and started feeling current. Alchemised doesn't just critique war; it critiques apathy. 

Alchemised also explores memory and truth. The novel comes across as a reflection on history itself: how records can be falsified, burned, or rewritten, and how those who shape the events are remembered as something they never were. 

Kaine will be remembered as a mass murderer, a figure of pure evil. Helena will not even be recorded, but behind that are two legends who sacrificed everything and fought in their own way to end the war. 

The world will never know the truth, and the idea that memory and history are illusions is what makes it devastating. 

This is what I think is special about the book: the author includes heavy themes but lets you think for yourself. 

That's why the book stays with you long after you finish: you need to process it all to understand where you stand on each theme. 

3. The Plot Twists

There are two plot twists in this book that really got me. 

Look, it's no secret that Kaine Ferron and Helena Morino are lovers. The relationship revealed between Kaine and Helena in Part 2 wasn't the twist; the timing was. 

What impressed me was how the author revealed why Kaine behaves the way he does in Part 1 only after showing us their history in Part 2. Things Kaine says early on in Part 1, his restraint, his exhaustion, his quiet loyalty, feel emotionally loaded even before we understand the full context. 

When their past is revealed later, those earlier moments click into place. It's not a surprise about the relationship itself, but a revelation about its depth and duration. The story doesn't change what happened; it changes how you understand what you already read. 

Hats off to SenLinYu for this, because she really managed to craft the storyline and merge it well as we move through the book. One day, I'd love to read this again just to see what I missed the first time around. 

The other plot twist which broke me was when Helena found out that Marrough had taken control of Luc's body, thus explaining why Luc was acting so strangely. By the time Helena realises what's happening, it is too late, and he ultimately meets his death. 

Luc's death completely shifted the emotional weight of the book for me. Especially the reveal that he was already lost before Helena realised it. 

This was the only part of the book that made me cry. 

Luc's death - Official artwork by Avendell

4. The Love Story

Kaine and Helena - Official artwork by Avendell

Helena and Kaine's relationship feels less like a traditional love story and more like trauma bonding, forged under constant danger, secrecy, power imbalance, and survival.

Their relationship is captured perfectly in this line: 

"They were the inverse and counter to each other. A healer and a killer, circling slowly, the push and pull inexorable."

 

 Kaine's love is quiet, protective, and possessive. 

"You're mine. I'll always come for you." 

"I'm going to take care of you. I swear, Helena. I'm always going to take care of you."

"If you die, Helena... I'm done. I won't continue this. I'm tired."

This isn't soft romance. 

Their love was built on loneliness and shared purpose during wartime. They didn't fall in love despite the war; they fell in love because of it.

Both were deeply isolated long before they were romantically involved: Kaine by duty and conditioning. Helena by responsibility and moral burden. Working toward the same goal forced proximity, trust, and dependence in a world where genuine connection was rare. 

War compressed time and intensified emotion, turning shared agenda into intimacy. Their love becomes both refuge and risk, not ideal or pure, but deeply human. 

And maybe that's why it felt so powerful, and so fragile at the same time. 

5. The Ending

The problem I have with the book's ending is that it felt flat. 

The reason? 

There was so much intensity in Parts 2 and 3 leading up to the end that, when Helena and Kaine finally managed to make their escape, I was anxious. I kept thinking they were going to get caught, or recognised, or that Marrough would somehow find out and go after them. 

Then, when they finally made their escape to the island and seemed to live a happy life, it was a good ending, but the anticipation made it fall flat. 

I was, however, left with an ending where I really felt sorry for their daughter Enid, who eventually returns to Paladin to pursue her studies, only to end up reading a distorted narrative of her father, the merciless killer, and the mother who had sacrificed everything but wasn't given any recognition. 

That ending sat with me because I realised that their greatest sacrifice in the war was anonymity. 

While the ending didn't break me, it still stayed with me, and maybe, that was the point. 

6. Final Thoughts

Alchemised might look like a fantasy novel on the surface, but at its core, it's a war story. One that strips away any illusion of glory or simple morality. 

What makes it a powerful story is its refusal to divide its world into good and evil. There are no heroes in war, only people driven by their philosophies, fears, and desperate choices. 

In war, nobody truly wins. 

And at the centre of it all is a love that's not romantic in the traditional sense. It's tragic, painful and achingly human. 

Quotes I'm Keeping

• "I think the hospital's worse than the battlefield ... in the hospital, every battle looks like losing."
• "In combat, there's no difference between an angry person and a stupid one."
• "Do as I say, not as I do."
• "I thought we could suffer enough to earn each other."
• "Women were always defined by the lowliest thing they could be called."
• "Love isn't as pretty or pure as people would like to think. There's darkness in it sometimes. Kaine and I go hand in hand. I made him who he is. I knew what that array meant when I saved him. If he's a monster, then I'm his creator."
• "All those years. All the people she'd healed, her resonance knitting them back together so they could live to fight another day, and for what? So they could be tortured to death, or enslaved or - worst?"