Synopsis
Alchemy is the hidden art of transformation, an exclusive power wielded by crime syndicates who market it to the world’s elite in the form of sand – a drug that enhances those who take it into a more perfect version of more beautiful, more charismatic, simply more.
Among the gleaming skyscrapers and rolling foothills of Angel City, alchemy is controlled by two rival syndicates. For years, Grand Central and Lumines have been balanced on a razor’s edge between polite negotiation and outright violence. But when two childhood friends step into that delicate equation, the city – and the paths of their lives – will be irrevocably transformed.
The daughter of a poor single mother, Sam would do anything to claw her way into the ranks of Grand Central in search of a better life. Plucked away from his family as a boy to become a Lumines apprentice, Ari is one of the syndicates’ brightest rising stars. Once, they might have loved each other. But as the two alchemists face off from opposite sides of an ever-escalating conflict, ambition becomes power, loyalty becomes lies, and no transformation may be perfect enough for them both to survive the coming war.
Review
This, like King Sorrow, was another fomo read for me. Lots of people utterly adored this, so I grabbed it on audio. Also like King Sorrow, this was a disappointment.
I feel like people throw “Romeo and Juliet” into a description of anything where two people from opposite factions are in love/forbidden romance, without considering in the original they are teenagers whose love is seemingly all-encompassing (because they’re teenagers and haven’t yet had enough experience to learn this isn’t the case) rather than real true love/soulmates/anything more meaningful.
I suppose this also has two teenagers who fall in love after a brief period (“you are my beginning and my end”) but there is also a lot of sex with their respective mentors (which made me deeply uncomfortable with the almost grooming angle to it) while loving/deeply desiring said mentors, except when they see each other again and then “its always been you” which doesn’t land for me – especially as during their youth they shared nothing of any substance from their personal lives or emotions (which to me is the foundation of a trusting friendship > relationship). At most I could see a childhood crush but nothing more than that?
For me, the best part of the story (and Sam’s character) was her entire relationship with her mother. I was hooked on every page of their interactions and dialogue, and the emotion felt so real and intimate with every tiny detail. Ari, as a character, was less interesting, but I definitely wanted Sam to succeed after the slow and deliberate opening with her mother that really set the scene of who she was as a person and what her struggles were.
The world building here was a little strange. We have alternate versions of Los Angeles (City of Angels) and London (Londinium) but also apparently Sydney is referenced, so I guess alternate Australia wasn’t touched?
This is referred to as a similar story to Fonda Lee’s Greenbone Saga, and I can kind of understand that on a surface level (warring factions in a city, especially over a produced magical substance and drugs) but this doesn’t have the emotional depth or weight of the Greenbones – either from a character or world building standpoint.
The alchemy/magic system was interesting, although after a brief “learning” period, we are then told both our main leads, Sam and Ari, are excellent at their respective branches of alchemy. Both can do everything as and when needed. It doesn’t go into much more detail other than some people who have “strong souls” can “see” the elements that make up the world. And then imagine them differently. So it’s quite on the hand-wavy side, there.
Sam also has an “invisibility” quirk to her personality, where people don’t notice her or forget she was there. This is never explained, and I thought it would have been. Likewise, Ari’s quirk is his incredibly high charisma and striking looks. Again, just because.
Both of these “talents” allows them to rise high in the ranks of their respective mafia-esque alchemical gangster factions.
The story is somewhat predictable with their meetings and consequences of being discovered.
It’s solidly written, but doesn’t lean too heavily in the adult tone (aside from the explicit sex scenes, of which there are several), so it feels at times YA, at times heavier than YA, at times adult. The danger never really felt threatening, and a lot of the tension fell flat (aside from what I thought would be a really interesting twist/subversion of expectations in the final fifth of the book, but that ultimately didn’t happen).
Overall it was a quick read, but not really for me.
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