#heeelpppp

So the book is obviously a war story with heavy fantasy elements. I picked it up because I love fantasy and wanted to venture into more adult themes as well. I’ve read The Handmaid’s Tale, and while it disturbed and upset me, I still finished it.

I’m currently on the second part of Alchemized (Luc has disappeared), and I have many issues with it, but I just can’t put my finger on what exactly they are.

I don’t understand the “love” between Kain and Helena. I really don’t understand why Kain is seemingly so obsessed with her, and after he confessed that the runes made his feelings toward her stronger, I found it odd rather than romantic (especially why he chose her in the first place).

The sentence “like a rose in a graveyard” is meant to be romantic, but to me it just sounds sad.

The “love” feels like being trapped in a house fire and finding a cup of water. You know it won’t save you, and it won’t really help, but you drink it anyway and enjoy a few seconds of relief before the fire closes in again.

It’s just sad, and it doesn’t make me feel excited or hopeful for them.

My second issue with their relationship is intimacy. Over 500 pages in, and I still feel like I don’t really know Kain. He’s an enigma to me. When he and Helena had an intimate scene in Part Two, I couldn’t read it. It made me very uncomfortable, and it honestly felt like another assault scene, especially based on Helena’s feelings and how Kain acted afterward.

My next issue is with Luc, Solen, and Lila. I really love Luc, and I felt close to Helena whenever she talked about him. But when Helena breaks off her friendship, it felt like all that buildup suddenly didn’t matter. Nothing major changed in Helena’s life afterward, and I think the book would have benefited a lot from fewer Kain-and-Helena scenes and more focus on her friendships.