The Scarlet Alchemist is the first installment of The Scarlet Alchemist series. And I thoroughly enjoyed the novel. It contains the right mix of fantasy, horror, mystery, as well as light romance.
The story unfolds through the main character’s point of view. And it works really well for the story. I got to experience the terror, excitement, love, humor, disgust of Zilan — the main character. So as you can tell, I loved Zilan. But I also loved the secondary characters of Wenshu and Yufei. All of the characters were well developed and fleshed out. I enjoyed their banter, snark, as well as humor. All of their personalities shined through to make the story come to life.
There were a number of plot twists that made for an exciting and unputdownable read. A lot of surprises and “oh wow!” moments dotted the story’s landscape. Author Baker’s storytelling skills really shine in this area.
There’s also a bit of romance that lightened the darkly graphic scenes. A welcome respite from the horror interspersed throughout the novel.
Fantasy novels are either a hit or miss for me. But, The Scarlet Alchemist was definitely a hit. There wasn’t anything that I didn’t like about the novel. Except that I have to wait a year before the next installment gets released. *sigh* Five amazing stars.
I received a finished copy of the book from Inkyard Press through the BookishFirst Raffle. The review herein is completely my own and contains my honest thoughts and opinions.
The story unfolds through the main character’s point of view. And it works really well for the story. I got to experience the terror, excitement, love, humor, disgust of Zilan — the main character. So as you can tell, I loved Zilan. But I also loved the secondary characters of Wenshu and Yufei. All of the characters were well developed and fleshed out. I enjoyed their banter, snark, as well as humor. All of their personalities shined through to make the story come to life.
There were a number of plot twists that made for an exciting and unputdownable read. A lot of surprises and “oh wow!” moments dotted the story’s landscape. Author Baker’s storytelling skills really shine in this area.
There’s also a bit of romance that lightened the darkly graphic scenes. A welcome respite from the horror interspersed throughout the novel.
Fantasy novels are either a hit or miss for me. But, The Scarlet Alchemist was definitely a hit. There wasn’t anything that I didn’t like about the novel. Except that I have to wait a year before the next installment gets released. *sigh* Five amazing stars.
I received a finished copy of the book from Inkyard Press through the BookishFirst Raffle. The review herein is completely my own and contains my honest thoughts and opinions.