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turinthurin's review
2.0
solidly average until the last few chapters where the shallowness of the characters and their interactions and how contrived each plot beat was made my frustration peak into flat out disinterest.
kzofrea's review
4.0
I Received this book as part of A Golden Fury’s Blog tour in exchange for my honest review.
See my ready vlog/review here: https://youtu.be/WM8C4ZohKNs
A Golden Fury follows Thea Hope, who longs to prove herself as an alchemist by her own right and not just as the assistant to her mother, an already well known European alchemist. When they are just moments away from finishing the legendary Philosopher’s Stone, Thea’s mother destroys it in a fit of “madness”. Thea realizes the the legends of the stone driving those who are unworthy of its power mad are true and flees to stay with her estranged Father in Oxford. However she is anything but safe. People in power will do anything to get their hands on her mother’s notes and information on how to create the Philosophers stone. She must make a choice to risk madness and protecting those she loves or saving her mind and possibly losing her life.
I overall really enjoyed my time reading A Golden Fury. It is a historical fantasy grounded in the real world with elements of an almost psychological thriller at times.
This book immediately drew me in. It is fast paced and I never once found it to drag or info dump, which is honestly a relief to see from a standalone fantasy. Once I started I found it hard to put down. There were so many subtle clues woven throughout the book, and while it wasn’t exactly predictable, I found myself constantly trying to guess what would happen next. The ending was especially satisfying and felt complete while still leaving a lot of possibilities for the characters in the future.
I also really enjoyed the parallels between the external vs internal conflicts for our main character Thea. She is at constant battle with herself and her self doubt that was instilled in her with her upbringing and her childhood. I found that the “madness” element and how it manifested differently in different people, contributed especially well this.
My biggest wish for this book was that there was more development with the side characters and their motivations, especially the few female characters. Unfortunately the book did revolve a lot around Thea’s relationship with the men in her life and while her mother is a big part of the story she only actually is in about 5% of it.
I would recommend this books to people who enjoy fantasy elements in their stories but aren’t normally fans of high fantasy.
See my ready vlog/review here: https://youtu.be/WM8C4ZohKNs
A Golden Fury follows Thea Hope, who longs to prove herself as an alchemist by her own right and not just as the assistant to her mother, an already well known European alchemist. When they are just moments away from finishing the legendary Philosopher’s Stone, Thea’s mother destroys it in a fit of “madness”. Thea realizes the the legends of the stone driving those who are unworthy of its power mad are true and flees to stay with her estranged Father in Oxford. However she is anything but safe. People in power will do anything to get their hands on her mother’s notes and information on how to create the Philosophers stone. She must make a choice to risk madness and protecting those she loves or saving her mind and possibly losing her life.
I overall really enjoyed my time reading A Golden Fury. It is a historical fantasy grounded in the real world with elements of an almost psychological thriller at times.
This book immediately drew me in. It is fast paced and I never once found it to drag or info dump, which is honestly a relief to see from a standalone fantasy. Once I started I found it hard to put down. There were so many subtle clues woven throughout the book, and while it wasn’t exactly predictable, I found myself constantly trying to guess what would happen next. The ending was especially satisfying and felt complete while still leaving a lot of possibilities for the characters in the future.
I also really enjoyed the parallels between the external vs internal conflicts for our main character Thea. She is at constant battle with herself and her self doubt that was instilled in her with her upbringing and her childhood. I found that the “madness” element and how it manifested differently in different people, contributed especially well this.
My biggest wish for this book was that there was more development with the side characters and their motivations, especially the few female characters. Unfortunately the book did revolve a lot around Thea’s relationship with the men in her life and while her mother is a big part of the story she only actually is in about 5% of it.
I would recommend this books to people who enjoy fantasy elements in their stories but aren’t normally fans of high fantasy.
questsandcrimes's review
4.0
3.5/5
Thea Hope is an alchemist’s apprentice to her mother, who is possibly the most famous alchemist of the age. Together they’ve achieved the ultimate goal, the Philosopher’s Stone. Her mother has been acting strangely for weeks, and when the stone is completed she looses her mind. She smashes the stone. Now Thea must recreate their steps to save her mother, but she’ll have to travel to London to do so. France is no longer safe for the British due to the war. London might not be safe either, because she’s not the only one looking to make the stone.
First and foremost, this cover is goals. I am obsessed with it. Whoever made it is a talented genius.
When I heard the plot I was like, “yaaaas, feminist alchemist story
Thea Hope is an alchemist’s apprentice to her mother, who is possibly the most famous alchemist of the age. Together they’ve achieved the ultimate goal, the Philosopher’s Stone. Her mother has been acting strangely for weeks, and when the stone is completed she looses her mind. She smashes the stone. Now Thea must recreate their steps to save her mother, but she’ll have to travel to London to do so. France is no longer safe for the British due to the war. London might not be safe either, because she’s not the only one looking to make the stone.
First and foremost, this cover is goals. I am obsessed with it. Whoever made it is a talented genius.
When I heard the plot I was like, “yaaaas, feminist alchemist story
starlightbooktales's review
3.0
Alchemist + female lead = YES
Everyone who reads my reviews knows that when there is a strong female lead in a man’s world, I am immediately in love. Thea is no different, a smart strong female trained by her mother to be an alchemist. Together they are seeking to complete an alchemist’s greatest achievement, the philosopher’s stone. But when Thea’s mother locks her out of the lab and suddenly goes mad, Thea is forced to go live with her father and soon discovers the stone’s true power and the consequences that come with it.
Like I stated above, Thea is a strong female lead and I really did enjoy her character. I thought she was incredibly smart and brave. Now I don’t want to give too much away but she sacrifices a lot for her family and friends. And I can always appreciate a character who does what is right to save her people.
This is the kind of book that I had a hard time putting down. Very fast-paced and had lots of interesting plot twists. I was slightly disappointed with the ending but overall it was an interesting book.
Thanks to Netgalley and Wednesday Books for sending me a copy!
Everyone who reads my reviews knows that when there is a strong female lead in a man’s world, I am immediately in love. Thea is no different, a smart strong female trained by her mother to be an alchemist. Together they are seeking to complete an alchemist’s greatest achievement, the philosopher’s stone. But when Thea’s mother locks her out of the lab and suddenly goes mad, Thea is forced to go live with her father and soon discovers the stone’s true power and the consequences that come with it.
Like I stated above, Thea is a strong female lead and I really did enjoy her character. I thought she was incredibly smart and brave. Now I don’t want to give too much away but she sacrifices a lot for her family and friends. And I can always appreciate a character who does what is right to save her people.
This is the kind of book that I had a hard time putting down. Very fast-paced and had lots of interesting plot twists. I was slightly disappointed with the ending but overall it was an interesting book.
Thanks to Netgalley and Wednesday Books for sending me a copy!
bookishtiff's review
3.0
I was really excited to read this book, it’s not every day that you get a book that mentions the Philosopher’s Stone. I’ve honestly only ever heard of this stone from Harry Potter. I really thought that J.K. Rowling just made this magical stone up. But this book explains the whole origins of the stone very well. It’s still fictional but has a bigger historical aspect to it than Harry Potter did.
I’ve never been a big fan of science so I really wasn’t too sure what alchemy was. However, after reading this book it gave me some big Frankenstein and Lord of the Rings vibes with some very similar themes. In case you were wondering what alchemy was here’s a definition from Google, “the medieval forerunner of chemistry, based on the supposed transformation of matter. It was concerned particularly with attempts to convert base metals into gold or to find a universal elixir.
Our main character in this book is Thea Hope a young alchemist who is trying to make a name for herself, which is very hard to do with her mother who’s a very well known alchemist is worried that her daughter is better than her and refused to let her daughter help any more with the making of the Philosopher’s stone or even give her any credit. Thea is treated very poorly in this book by almost everyone. Thea was very young a naive which lead to her getting taken advantage of for her brain. I’m surprised she was able to do most of the things she was doing in this book. During this time period, most women weren’t allowed to do the things she was doing let alone a woman be allowed to study science. I’m not entirely sure that this book was historically accurate in many aspects
The other character’s including our main character Thea fell very flat for me. They were well-rounded characters. The only character I really enjoyed was Dominic. He was such a sweetheart. I think I would have liked the book better if it was from his perspective. All the other characters weren’t very loving at all and I feel so bad that Thea had to put up with them all.
Plotwise this book didn’t have a whole lot to it. It’s a standalone but there’s still very little information we are given. The book’s focus is solely on the Philosopher’s Stone and what Thea will do for those she loves. The ending was disappointing. A lot of things were left open and I was really rooting for something to happen that never did. It was a very slow read for me despite being just 320 pages.
The cover for this book was amazing and it was one of the sole reasons I wanted to read this book. I just wish there was more depth to the characters and more history to make it read like the genre it’s meant to be. Overall I thought it was an okay book nothing special but with it being the author’s debut book she still has a lot of room to grow and I’m sure her next book will be better than this one.
I’ve never been a big fan of science so I really wasn’t too sure what alchemy was. However, after reading this book it gave me some big Frankenstein and Lord of the Rings vibes with some very similar themes. In case you were wondering what alchemy was here’s a definition from Google, “the medieval forerunner of chemistry, based on the supposed transformation of matter. It was concerned particularly with attempts to convert base metals into gold or to find a universal elixir.
Our main character in this book is Thea Hope a young alchemist who is trying to make a name for herself, which is very hard to do with her mother who’s a very well known alchemist is worried that her daughter is better than her and refused to let her daughter help any more with the making of the Philosopher’s stone or even give her any credit. Thea is treated very poorly in this book by almost everyone. Thea was very young a naive which lead to her getting taken advantage of for her brain. I’m surprised she was able to do most of the things she was doing in this book. During this time period, most women weren’t allowed to do the things she was doing let alone a woman be allowed to study science. I’m not entirely sure that this book was historically accurate in many aspects
The other character’s including our main character Thea fell very flat for me. They were well-rounded characters. The only character I really enjoyed was Dominic. He was such a sweetheart. I think I would have liked the book better if it was from his perspective. All the other characters weren’t very loving at all and I feel so bad that Thea had to put up with them all.
Plotwise this book didn’t have a whole lot to it. It’s a standalone but there’s still very little information we are given. The book’s focus is solely on the Philosopher’s Stone and what Thea will do for those she loves. The ending was disappointing. A lot of things were left open and I was really rooting for something to happen that never did. It was a very slow read for me despite being just 320 pages.
The cover for this book was amazing and it was one of the sole reasons I wanted to read this book. I just wish there was more depth to the characters and more history to make it read like the genre it’s meant to be. Overall I thought it was an okay book nothing special but with it being the author’s debut book she still has a lot of room to grow and I’m sure her next book will be better than this one.
bookishlykatherine's review
4.0
I Received this book as part of A Golden Fury’s Blog tour in exchange for my honest review.
See my ready vlog/review here: https://youtu.be/WM8C4ZohKNs
A Golden Fury follows Thea Hope, who longs to prove herself as an alchemist by her own right and not just as the assistant to her mother, an already well known European alchemist. When they are just moments away from finishing the legendary Philosopher’s Stone, Thea’s mother destroys it in a fit of “madness”. Thea realizes the the legends of the stone driving those who are unworthy of its power mad are true and flees to stay with her estranged Father in Oxford. However she is anything but safe. People in power will do anything to get their hands on her mother’s notes and information on how to create the Philosophers stone. She must make a choice to risk madness and protecting those she loves or saving her mind and possibly losing her life.
I overall really enjoyed my time reading A Golden Fury. It is a historical fantasy grounded in the real world with elements of an almost psychological thriller at times.
This book immediately drew me in. It is fast paced and I never once found it to drag or info dump, which is honestly a relief to see from a standalone fantasy. Once I started I found it hard to put down. There were so many subtle clues woven throughout the book, and while it wasn’t exactly predictable, I found myself constantly trying to guess what would happen next. The ending was especially satisfying and felt complete while still leaving a lot of possibilities for the characters in the future.
I also really enjoyed the parallels between the external vs internal conflicts for our main character Thea. She is at constant battle with herself and her self doubt that was instilled in her with her upbringing and her childhood. I found that the “madness” element and how it manifested differently in different people, contributed especially well this.
My biggest wish for this book was that there was more development with the side characters and their motivations, especially the few female characters. Unfortunately the book did revolve a lot around Thea’s relationship with the men in her life and while her mother is a big part of the story she only actually is in about 5% of it.
I would recommend this books to people who enjoy fantasy elements in their stories but aren’t normally fans of high fantasy.
See my ready vlog/review here: https://youtu.be/WM8C4ZohKNs
A Golden Fury follows Thea Hope, who longs to prove herself as an alchemist by her own right and not just as the assistant to her mother, an already well known European alchemist. When they are just moments away from finishing the legendary Philosopher’s Stone, Thea’s mother destroys it in a fit of “madness”. Thea realizes the the legends of the stone driving those who are unworthy of its power mad are true and flees to stay with her estranged Father in Oxford. However she is anything but safe. People in power will do anything to get their hands on her mother’s notes and information on how to create the Philosophers stone. She must make a choice to risk madness and protecting those she loves or saving her mind and possibly losing her life.
I overall really enjoyed my time reading A Golden Fury. It is a historical fantasy grounded in the real world with elements of an almost psychological thriller at times.
This book immediately drew me in. It is fast paced and I never once found it to drag or info dump, which is honestly a relief to see from a standalone fantasy. Once I started I found it hard to put down. There were so many subtle clues woven throughout the book, and while it wasn’t exactly predictable, I found myself constantly trying to guess what would happen next. The ending was especially satisfying and felt complete while still leaving a lot of possibilities for the characters in the future.
I also really enjoyed the parallels between the external vs internal conflicts for our main character Thea. She is at constant battle with herself and her self doubt that was instilled in her with her upbringing and her childhood. I found that the “madness” element and how it manifested differently in different people, contributed especially well this.
My biggest wish for this book was that there was more development with the side characters and their motivations, especially the few female characters. Unfortunately the book did revolve a lot around Thea’s relationship with the men in her life and while her mother is a big part of the story she only actually is in about 5% of it.
I would recommend this books to people who enjoy fantasy elements in their stories but aren’t normally fans of high fantasy.
recordofabibliophile's review
3.0
I wasn't sure about where the story was going when I started the book BUT I hung in and it ended up turning out to be not too bad.
Poor Thea is under her mother's wing as a junior alchemist, although her mum is not the kindest of people. When Thea's mother and the Comte decide to send Thea away she decides to take it into her own hands. But things go awfully wrong.
I liked the way the Philosopher's stone played a part in the story. It was its own little entity, and the "Alchemists curse" was such a great little spin. I've always read such interesting things about the Philosopher's stone, but I haven't read anything with this type of idea around the stone.
I liked the characters and the way they grow in such a short time is so great to see.
I gave the book 3/5!
Poor Thea is under her mother's wing as a junior alchemist, although her mum is not the kindest of people. When Thea's mother and the Comte decide to send Thea away she decides to take it into her own hands. But things go awfully wrong.
I liked the way the Philosopher's stone played a part in the story. It was its own little entity, and the "Alchemists curse" was such a great little spin. I've always read such interesting things about the Philosopher's stone, but I haven't read anything with this type of idea around the stone.
I liked the characters and the way they grow in such a short time is so great to see.
I gave the book 3/5!
fscottfishgerald's review
2.0
I really loved the premise of this book, but I didn't enjoy it as much as I wanted to. The plot felt very jumpy so I wasn't able to reason why characters did certain things and I couldn't get attached to any of the characters, including the protagonist. I felt like A Golden Fury should have been longer. I got the impression it originally was but like a lot of chapters were deleted by an editor. But I will keep an eye out for the author Samantha Cohoe, because I did enjoy her writing and look forward to what other books she has planned in the future.
carolvescio's review
4.0
"Cheio de reviravoltas, o livro não começa tão empolgante, mas assim que Thea vai pra Oxford, eu não consegui largar ele. Há muitos acontecimentos durante a história que vai prender o leitor (muito mais do que eu escrevi aqui). A traição de Will, a amizade improvável de Thea com Valetin, o perdão de seu pai, uma segunda filha de Burggraf que é um dos motivos para que todos queiram a Pedra Filosofal e o segredo por trás dela quando Thea tem sucesso em criá-la.
Achei que o final do livro ficou sem muitas respostas. A autora criou vários plots, mas não conseguiu chegar ao fim de muitos. Como o que aconteceu com o Will quando ele fugiu dos seus captores e traiu Thea? Ele foi pego por Valetin? Buggraf vai atrás de Thea? Não sei se o livro terá uma nova continuação, porque a história de Thea foi fechada: a Pedra Filosofal salvou a vida de Will, Will continuou um babaca, a maldição de Dominic e da sua mãe foi embora e Thea aceitou morar com seu pai em Oxford (Comte, Marguerite e Dominic foram morar na Áustria para se protegerem da Revolução Francesa; e o Comte ia ajudar Dominic a se tornar um médico)."
Para ler a resenha completa, visite meu blog: wanderlustskoob.wordpress.com/
Achei que o final do livro ficou sem muitas respostas. A autora criou vários plots, mas não conseguiu chegar ao fim de muitos. Como o que aconteceu com o Will quando ele fugiu dos seus captores e traiu Thea? Ele foi pego por Valetin? Buggraf vai atrás de Thea? Não sei se o livro terá uma nova continuação, porque a história de Thea foi fechada: a Pedra Filosofal salvou a vida de Will, Will continuou um babaca, a maldição de Dominic e da sua mãe foi embora e Thea aceitou morar com seu pai em Oxford (Comte, Marguerite e Dominic foram morar na Áustria para se protegerem da Revolução Francesa; e o Comte ia ajudar Dominic a se tornar um médico)."
Para ler a resenha completa, visite meu blog: wanderlustskoob.wordpress.com/
forsakenfates's review
4.0
CAWPILE Breakdown:
Characters: 9
Atmosphere: 8
Writing: 6
Plot: 7
Intrigue: 8
Logic: 8
Enjoyment: 7
This was a very refreshing read. I loved all the alchemy aspects. There were definitely some Stalking Jack the Ripper vibes to this book so if you enjoyed that one I would definitely have this on your radar. I did however appreciate that there was little to no romance in this book. Fantasy books lately always have romance and sometimes I just want the plot and the story no side romance also going on.
Characters: 9
Atmosphere: 8
Writing: 6
Plot: 7
Intrigue: 8
Logic: 8
Enjoyment: 7
This was a very refreshing read. I loved all the alchemy aspects. There were definitely some Stalking Jack the Ripper vibes to this book so if you enjoyed that one I would definitely have this on your radar. I did however appreciate that there was little to no romance in this book. Fantasy books lately always have romance and sometimes I just want the plot and the story no side romance also going on.