I'm not sure where to start because The Scarlet Alchemist is a trip. I was first intrigued by the promise of a female-centric story comparable to Full Metal Alchemist. FMA is one of my favorite anime and I am always down for more strong female-led books, especially ones like what Baker has done here with the history and world building. Once I started, I could not stop. It was pretty much everything I wanted, right down to the explainable alchemy, the concept of "half", and the idea of what would we give up in order to keep our loved ones alive and near us a little longer.
What I did not love is when we were wrapping up at the end...Baker went full sequel with this. I'm not saying we don't deserve a sequel, because I would love to read one. What I'm saying is it seems pointless after the character growth to not just raise the dead to then go on a journey to raise the love interest (which is what I assume will happen in the second book). I felt a little disappointed by the ending and I actually was hoping there would be more character death than who were actually killed. It felt cheap.
Otherwise, The Scarlet Alchemist was brilliant. I don't know how a sequel would compare but I can imagine this will be very popular.
What I did not love is when we were wrapping up at the end...Baker went full sequel with this. I'm not saying we don't deserve a sequel, because I would love to read one. What I'm saying is it seems pointless after the character growth to not just raise the dead to then go on a journey to raise the love interest (which is what I assume will happen in the second book). I felt a little disappointed by the ending and I actually was hoping there would be more character death than who were actually killed. It felt cheap.
Otherwise, The Scarlet Alchemist was brilliant. I don't know how a sequel would compare but I can imagine this will be very popular.