I love the idea and mystique of alchemy so I was very excited to read this one. It was a bonus that the main character was a female alchemist. I loved the first half of the book, the setting was well done, I liked Thea and her story was headed in an interesting direction. Then we got to the second half of the book and the story diverged into something a whole lot different than I was expecting and I was thrown off. I didn't like the ending at all but that is probably a personal thing and I think many others will like it. Overall the writing was well done, I liked the characters and the pacing and I think it was an interesting story even if it wasn't quite for me.

Everyone who has tried to create the Philosopher’s Stone has gone mad right before the last step. Thea didn’t believe in this curse, until one night when she goes to see what her mother has been working on since she banished Thea from their lab, when her mother finds her she destroys the stone and attacks Thea. Thea is then sent to live with her father, who doesn’t know she exist, in Oxford. When on of her father’s employees goes mad from helping create the stone, Dominic, accidentally kills him in self-defense and Thea helps him escape the law by taking him to London with her to her friend Will, only to find herself in the same situation again. 

I really enjoyed Thea’s character because even though she was living in a male-dominated time period, she was strong and a better alchemist than most of the men. I think everything that she went through only made these aspects about her stronger. Her character development was intriguing even if I didn’t agree with everything she did.

I’ve never read historical fiction from this time period, but I really enjoyed reading this book. I liked that it wasn’t deeply rooted in fantasy and was mainly about Thea. I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a book about alchemist or historical fiction.

Thank you, NetGalley and Wednesday Books for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

I knew I was going to like A Golden Fury as soon as I saw the cover and that the publication date is the day before my birthday. I knew I was going to love it as soon as I skimmed the description.

Setting: It’s set in the late 18th century England and France which is a fascinating period in European history. It’s rife with political turmoil and guillotine executions. The book starts off in France in 1792 which means the French Revolution is well underway, the monarchy is gone, Britain is preparing to declare war, and the Reign of Terror is coming up fast. Most of the book is set in England but tensions are still high in England and France.

Characters:

Theosebeia “Thea” Hope is the main character and she’s extremely smart. She speaks several languages, five I believe, and while her mother is the most prominent female alchemist in the world, it’s clear the Thea will surpass her.
On the precipice of a creating the Philosopher’s Stone, her mother, Marguerite Hope, cuts her out completely so the glory is hers alone which I think sums her up pretty well.
I don’t think we ever actually learn Thea’s father’s full name, he is always “the Professor,” “Professor Vellacott,” or “my father.” Given how little we and Thea know about him, this seems fitting.
Dominic did not play the role I expected him to. I thought for sure we were going to end up with a love quadrangle or even a pentagon but thankfully that was not to be.
The Philosopher’s Stone gets it’s own little bullet point since it is technically the star of the show. Everyone wants it but they don’t even know what it is.
Then there is Will, the Jacobin Alchemist who is at the root of the story, I won’t say more than that.
Plot: The pacing wasn’t always super consistent. It lagged at times but I still read it quickly. Alchemy in general is fascinating and this is one of the only Alchemy related books I’ve ever come across. The antagonist situation was the best part by far in that there are several and who poses the greatest threat changes throughout the story as new information comes to light. It definitely kept me on my toes. The threat of madness also kept things interesting and was the largest contributing factor of this being on the darker side for YA which I have no complaints about.

Overall rating: 4.25 stars! This was an excellent debut and I fully expect Samantha Cohoe to blossom into a 5 star author.

Thanks so much to Netgalley and Wednesday Books for the e-arc!

On the eve of the French Revolution, the most brilliant alchemist in France is on the verge of discovering the fabled Philospher’s Stone… when she descends suddenly into madness, leaving her teenage daughter Thea to somehow attempt to finish her work and use the Stone to cure her. Sent away to England by her mother’s well-meaning patron, Thea must negotiate an unfamiliar country, manage the father she never knew, and complete the work of making the Stone… even knowing that it drives anyone who attempts it mad.

Seeking a cure for her mother’s madness alone would be enough incentive for Thea, but the stakes keep getting higher, with her friend Will dying of consumption and Dominic, her father’s assistant, also taken by the Stone’s madness. And then there are the Prussians Will failed to deliver the Stone to… and Thea’s growing fears that her mind might not be quite her own any longer.

Thea and her mother are both remarkable women, determined to make their mark in a field utterly dominated by men. Marguerite is driven by ambition, though, and careless with the feelings of others; Thea has more empathy, which does make her vulnerable to manipulation, but in the end I think this is what causes her to win the day as she’s willing to sacrifice what the others weren’t.

As a lover of romance, I was a little disappointed that there wasn’t more of it in this book. There were two potential love interests for Thea; I won’t spoiler things but one of them betrays her and the other one meekly leaves at the end without a word. I suppose it’s possible this could become a series and the major players could potentially end up in the same place together again, but it ended fairly finally and Thea seemed happy with her final position, so maybe not.

The alchemical research is superb and felt so believable; the magic was interwoven seamlessly with the real science in the book such that it was occasionally hard to tell which was which, quite a trick to pull off, and I applaud the author for it. Thea is a sympathetic heroine it’s easy to root for, dismissed by her mother and viewed as lesser by almost all the men in the story. In the end, though, nobody else could have done what she did… but I couldn’t help but wonder how things would have turned out if she’d chosen differently.

Despite my hankering for a bit more romance, I’m still giving this five stars because it really is a superb read and didn’t need the romance to make it complete.

A Golden Fury: A Tale of Conflicting Narratives

Imagine a rollercoaster ride. Now, imagine riding that rollercoaster, filled with tons of loop-de-loops, sharp turns and even sharper drops. You’d probably leave the ride with shaky legs, out of breath from screaming and with an exhilaration you can’t explain. That’s reading A Golden Fury. It’s pretty clichéd to describe a book as a rollercoaster ride but there’s no other way to describe it. As I reached the end of the book, furiously flipping the pages, I was left dazed, utterly confused yet feeling a rather chilling sense of thrill running through my bones.

A Golden Fury is a beautifully written standalone, filled with eerie yet romantic Gothic atmosphere with compelling characters and a fascinating use of alchemy. However, there is almost a confusingly written feminist theme and a severe lack of trigger warnings. But, the flaw that plagues A Golden Fury the most is that the book seems to be split into two narratives that suffer a fierce disconnect with a rather trippy and disorienting narrative in the second half.

We begin in Normandy, France, where we meet Thea Hope, who has been trained her whole life to be an alchemist by her mother, one of the most famous practitioners of alchemy in Europe. The pair are so close to the ultimate alchemist’s dream: the Philosopher’s Stone. At the same time, trouble stirs in France and being English, Thea and her mother find themselves in a sticky political situation. But, before they can embark on the final step of the process, Thea’s mother locks her out of her laboratory which infuriates Thea; there can only be one reason why her mother has done so: she wants all the fame and glory for herself. However, Thea’s mother insists that it is love, that has made Thea unworthy of finishing the Philosopher’s Stone, after discovering Thea with her apprentice, Will.

In the midst of a political uprising and the breakdown of a mother and daughter’s relationship, Thea’s mother succumbs to madness while making the Philosopher’s Stone, almost killing Thea. Thea learns that there is a curse on the stone: anyone who attempts to make it will lose their marbles, unless the stone deems them worthy. Thea has nowhere to turn to but to her birth father in Oxford, a man she has never known her entire life. But Thea leaves behind a dangerous political environment and a mad mother for more danger and death as she finds that there is no one she can trust; everyone is out to get the Philosopher’s Stone and they will stop at nothing to have it.

Fascinating with its alchemy and hauntingly beautiful in Gothic-styled story telling, A Golden Fury suffers from one major flaw, it feels like two different books. However, before we get into that, let me tell you what I loved about A Golden Fury.

Characters: The Stars of the Show!

Although the characters of A Golden Fury will not make my top ten favourites of all time list, there is no denying that they are well-written and compelling, encouraging the readers to cheer them on despite some illogical decisions they might make. Especially Thea Hope.

Far from your run of the mill YA heroine with nary a hair out of place and is perfection incarnate, Thea Hope is flawed to a point where I almost dislike her character but love her for it. Like her mother, Thea is arrogant and selfish; after all, if you have been raised by the best, you’d think you were the best. As she accuses her mother of wanting fame and glory, so does Thea, at her core. She often wants to be recognised for the work she has done at helping her mother. At the same time, Thea is incredibly naïve and ignorant to the ways of the world, trundling about France and England like a lost lamb. However, despite all these negative and frustrating qualities, Thea has a lot of heart and it shows when she desperately saves Dominic, her father’s assistant, from being wrongfully accused of a crime he didn’t commit by dragging him halfway across England. And as the series of events in the books escalate, constantly sacrifices herself to save the lives of those she loves.

As A Golden Fury is told from the first person point of view, we hardly get to learn about the other characters except through Thea’s eyes. This lends the characters to being rather cardboard and one-dimensional but as human nature goes, we tend to separate people into categories as well. Despite this, we are introduced to a wide range of characters that I both loathe and empathise with like:

Dominic, whom I absolutely adore but sadly has less page time than I expected
Will, Thea’s one-time lover and her mother’s ex-apprentice, whom I absolutely hated but understood
Vellacott, Thea’s father, whom I absolutely hated but came to accept
Valentin, one of Thea’s captors, whom I fell in love with and wanted to know so much more
Rahel, daughter of Thea’s captor, who is so confusing and unlikeable
Marguerite, Thea’s mother, whom we barely get to spend enough time with to dissect her motivations and actions

and the list goes on. The impression of these characters are often fleeting and if you noticed the same thing that I did, you get a cookie!

Confusing Flaws: Are We Talking About Feminism? Where are the Trigger Warnings?

Feminism or Not?

Yes, if you guessed that almost everyone Thea seems to interact with is a man, you get a cookie. Save for her mother, Rahel and Rahel’s sister who is only alluded to in character dialogue.

It is clear that on some level, there is an element of feminism at play in A Golden Fury. Marguerite espouses about how love made Thea weak and she was too easily swayed by the ways of men all while she takes men as patrons and lovers, using them for their money to fund her work. And, she is revered and sought after as one of the most famed and beautiful alchemists in Europe despite alchemy being a male-dominated field. Rahel also laments the wicked ways of men and about how women should know better and rise above their social expectations. And, although it is her father who wants the Philosopher’s Stone, we see Rahel commanding the army of men sent out to retrieve it. However, despite this demonstration of women being in powerful positions, both Marguerite and Rahel are painted as antagonists. And both women have a common goal: getting Thea to believe that men have ulterior motives, specifically Will, and will use any way to get what they want.

Although Thea is no less independent and seems to be able to traipse through Europe despite being rather sheltered, every decision she makes seems designed to save the men around her (and her mother as well but, the motivation to save her is weaker). Furthermore, men like Dominic, Valentin and Vellacort are shown to be remorseful, full of emotion and caring. While Marguerite and Rahel are portrayed as one-dimensional I cannot help but wonder if this line of feminism had been given any thought or if it is just a coincidence of the storytelling.

Where are the Trigger Warnings?

A Golden Fury, like a lot of YA books, suffers from a severe lack of trigger warnings in a book that is filled with triggering material. Even I felt incredibly uncomfortable reading these parts and would have appreciated being warned beforehand. Henceforth, there will be a trigger warning for the subject material referenced in this section. Please do skip ahead if you’re not comfortable or feel unsafe with the following triggers: sexual assault, implied rape, attempted suicide, self-harm, abuse.

The most common crime that crops up in A Golden Fury is it’s use of rape as a threat and even in one situation where Thea experiences some form of sexual assault. In this instance, the assault occurred under the madness brought on by the curse of the Philosopher’s Stone and although Thea named her assailant, her father refused to believe her. It is incredibly disappointing that this scene had to be written as such as I believe that the events that occurred here could have been written without the need for sexual assault.

In other situations, Thea’s captors used rape to threaten her into obeying their orders but they also resort to abuse in order to demonstrate their power. It is clear in this situation that it was a power dynamic that this threat intended to show. Again, this was not necessary in order to demonstrate her captors cruelties and could have been written differently yet carry the same weight.

PWP: Plot What Plot?

Although not including trigger warnings with severely triggering material is an offense in and of itself, the worst offender of A Golden Fury is it’s conflicting narratives. And, I am not alone in feeling this way, judging from the Goodreads reviews.

A Golden Fury seems to be a book split into two different parts. It starts off incredibly strong with a voice and narrative that is without a doubt, Young Adult. Thea is strong and independent, wanting to find her place in this world and prove her capabilities while trying to save her mother’s life. She also meets a bevy of characters along the way. But as the plot progressed into the second half, the narrative seemed to fall apart and disconnected from the first half; except that we have alchemy and all the same characters.

We were removed completely from the settings established in the first half of the book and thrown into a different and disorienting one. It’s like the characters and plot were plucked from a different book and fused to the end of this one. Not much about the second half made much logical sense and things moved too fast and too weirdly for any of it to really sink in and make an impact. It lost a lot of it’s cohesiveness and focused almost singularly on Thea trying to make the Philosopher’s Stone, the alchemy curse and trying to save her loved ones. And while typing out the rough plot makes sense, reading it felt like a wild, rambunctious drug-induced trip.

But don’t get me wrong. The second half wasn’t badly written and in fact, I was drawn further into the story, if only to figure out the mystery at the end of it all. It had the same style of storytelling at the first half but the pacing and the underlying narrative took a strange turn that made reconciling it with the strong beginning very difficult. It seemed like two entirely different worlds.

Like the rollercoaster I described at the beginning of this review, I was just along for the ride and hanging on for dear life. After all, I had already gotten on and there was no way to get off.

In conclusion, A Golden Fury is a beautifully written piece of art and I admire Cohoe’s ability to tell a stunning standalone story in less than 400 pages. While I loved the characterisation of Thea and the other characters, the beautiful writing and breakneck pace as we reached the ending, much is left to be desired in the confusing and conflicting plots and the severe lack of trigger warnings. But I did enjoy reading this successful, spooky debut and cannot wait to read more from Cohoe!

Fans of Sabaa Tahir and Elizabeth Wein will enjoy this new young adult fantasy novel set during the French Revolution.

A Golden Fury is an action packed coming-of-age tale following a young alchemist, Thea Hope, in her quest to make the Philosopher’s Stone while searching for her place in the world. The story moves at a relentless pace, quickly travelling from the French countryside to the dreaming spires of Oxford and the slums of London.

I liked the ambiguous morality of most of the characters, reflecting the reality that people are made up of a complex mixture of emotions and experiences, and are inconsistent: kind in one particular moment but cruel in the next. I found myself categorising certain characters as villains or heroes, and getting those assumptions turned upside down in the next chapter. Thea is an interesting protagonist and narrator; fiercely intelligent and determined not to let others hide or steal her achievements, to the point of desperation. I could understand how determined she was to make her mark as this is a theme very much based in reality, instances of men taking credit for women’s achievements in science, music, and more fields being well documented. I also liked how the novel explores her prejudices and flaws, and shows through her experiences how difficult it is to know who to trust or whether you are doing the right thing.

At its heart, this is a coming of age novel following Thea as she learns more about herself and the world and forms relationships with people for the first time. Romance does play a role in the novel, but not in the way you might expect, and I liked how the book placed more emphasis on Thea’s complex feelings towards her parents.

One criticism I had was that apart from Thea and a few others, there aren’t any female characters, and only Thea is sympathetic. I don’t think there necessarily has to be an equal number of male and female characters in a book, and I understand at times the context places limits on this, but I found myself hoping that Thea would develop a relationship with at least one woman that wasn’t one of mutual hatred. There is some commentary on gender stereotypes, for instance, Thea dismissing a girl she has never met based on the dresses in her wardrobe, but I feel this point could have been made even stronger if she had met this girl.

The descriptions of alchemy and the curse are refreshingly creepy, striking a real note of horror. Alchemy is an interesting topic, straddling the boundary between magic and science, and the novel even references real life alchemists from throughout history. Interestingly, the book is set in the “real world” and many characters are sceptical of the existence of alchemy (at least, they are at first…).  

Overall, I found A Golden Fury to be an engaging stand-alone fantasy story with a thrilling plot that keeps the reader hooked until the end.

Psychologically unsettling, darkly magical, and patriarchy-smashing, A Golden Fury was a great debut novel. It’s a highly enjoyable, fast-paced read, with an intoxicating blend of darkness, madness, alchemy, history, betrayal, and loyalty–definitely a good way to get in the mood for fall.

There was so much to enjoy about this book! A lot of it, though, comes down to the central element of defying norms.

At the center of this book is a young woman who, by all measures, is far from normal. In the 1700s, she grew up as an illegitimate child who did not know her father, traveled around Europe with her often-unkind mother, only really had one friend, and excelled at alchemy–which, being science-adjacent, was a heavily male-dominated field, and beyond that, was regarded as a less-than-legitimate course of study by most of society. Her struggles throughout the story were compounded by this outsider status she experienced, and Cohoe did a great job of weaving this “outsider” status through Theosebia’s narrative. Always striving to prove herself, to step out from under her mother’s shadow and cement her own place in the world, drives Thea to make some…interesting choices. In a good way. It also impacts her willingness to trust others, and the depth of trust she is willing to allow them.

On a larger scale, there was plenty of commentary in the book subtly (or not-so-subtly) criticizing norms such as Eurocentrism and patriarchy. For example, Thea remarks more than once that part of why she has an advantage over other alchemists is that she can read Arabic, which allows her to study texts outside of the traditional Western canon and exposes her to more specific (and helpful) directions to create the Philosopher’s Stone. Meanwhile, Thea also finds herself struggling to chart her own path, to deal with expectations that women should marry and act a certain way, to untangle her own complicated feelings toward an old friend, and to thrive in a space where there are few other women. (No, seriously, there are only really two other female characters in the book, three if you count one who is mentioned but never on-page. And one of those two/three is her mother.)

But this book also did a nice job breaking some tropes within the YA fantasy genre that, frankly, I was getting tired of anyway. Without spoiling anything, it takes an approach to romance that is not conventional but is entirely fitting for the story. It also was–thank god–a standalone! Yes, that’s right–the ending feels conclusive, and you don’t have to worry about a sequel or a cliffhanger! It ties things up nicely and leaves just a smidgen of room to imagine where Thea’s story will go next, without creating the need for a follow-up story to tell us about that.

There were a few elements of this book that I wasn’t quite as crazy about. While I loved that it was a quick read, there were some parts where the pacing felt off–things that I assumed would take a long time got resolved unnaturally fast. And this led to my other big concern, which was that the story itself sometimes got a little unclear. Characters took actions that didn’t always feel intuitive, or certain “explanations” didn’t quite answer all the questions they claimed to answer. But as a whole, these issues didn’t detract from my overall enjoyment.

In no particular order, a few other things I liked:

- Plenty of twists and betrayals, but nothing that felt so out of left field that it didn’t make sense
- Amazing psychological complexity! The nature of the madness is captured so well in the writing style. Hallucinations, loss of agency, delusions, the whole nine yards. Good stuff.
- General historical atmosphere, including less-than-savory topics like consumption (the illness, not consumerism…)
- Occasional interweaving of philosophy, emphasizing how the Philosopher’s Stone had major implications from a socioeconomic standpoint, in addition to the obvious personal-fame-and-wealth perspective

As a whole, this was a really solid debut, and I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone who is a fan of fantasy, girl power, and vaguely unsettling moments of insanity.

Trigger/content warnings: suicide, self-harm, insanity, dissociation, torture (off-page), threat of rape

Thank you to St. Martin Press, Wednesday Books and the author for sending me this ebook for free for review purposes.

My want to read this book was very high. I hadn't yet gotten to read a book that had lots of alchemical science tied into it and I have to say, this one is really high up there with some of my favorite reads.

Thea Hope was raised by her mother who is known as a very high individual in the world for being one of the top alchemical scientists. Her mother taught her everything she knows and much more. Every alchemist has dreamed of wanting to make the well known Philosophers Stone and of course after Thea is very close her mother when it comes to trying to create the stone. All of a sudden locks her out of the lab and continues on with the Philosophers Stone, she succeeds and breaks the stone while she is in her state of madness but, never comes out of it.

Thea is sent away by her mothers patron to someone she never thought she would see in her entire life, with a goal of trying to create the stone herself. The only problem is, will she be consumed by the curse that has caused many alchemist to go mad just from the attempts at creating it?
This books started off kind of slow for me with the first couple of chapters but, it got so much more in depth and it grew this booming voice out of no where and I LOOOOOVED IT!!!
Samantha, you are an amazing author and I wish this wasn't a standalone or I would love to see a novella with some short stories on the lives of all the different characters so many years later.

Character I didn't like...Will, from the beginning I couldn't stand him! He just seemed like he was a vile character and just..UGH!
I promise you, I thought there was going to be some form of love triangle between Dominic, Will and Thea but, it never happened and while I am a huge fan of that trope, I think I just wanted Thea to end up with Dom and be happy!!!!

This book was deliciously dark and steeped in mystery. I had so much fun reading it. The multiple side plots that wove into the story kept the momentum with the strong characters and beautiful writing. Alchemy is always interesting to me and there was nothing missing here in that department. Overall a very atmospheric and intriguing debut! I will definitely be reading more from this author!

Full review will be live on www.readandwander.com on October 17th.

Loved this a lot! It was super fast paced, the characters were interesting, the world and the magic of the philosophers stone was super addicting! I liked the different relationships we got to see, and I thought that the plot was super unique and fun! I couldn't put this book down!

A Golden Fury was an engaging tale of magic, history, and the allure of power. I thought it was going to be more romance based, so I was happily surprised that it focused more on the growth of Thea, our main character.

I loved Thea! She's such a strong and engaging character; brilliant but also emotional, and I'm glad the author showed you can be both. Thea is flawed but kind-hearted; naive but her resilience makes you root for her.

I really enjoyed the alchemy focus, not many fantasies focus on that, which is a shame! Samantha Cohoe writes with such detail that she makes alchemy out to be a true science.

She also writes the history of the time period with great detail, though I'm not a historical fiction fan so I wasn't able to appreciate that as much. Also, while I enjoyed the exploration of the cost of power, and the line between good and evil, I would have liked to delve deeper into some of the side characters and their motivations. The ending seemed a bit abrupt as well, especially since this is a stand alone.

All in all, this was an interesting and enjoyable YA fantasy, and I look forward to reading more from this author!

3.5/5

Thank you Netgalley for this ebook arc in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this one!

I was provided an advanced digital copy of the book from the publisher via Netgalley for review purposes, all opinions are my own.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press/Wednesday Books for inviting me to be on the blog tour for A Golden Fury.

A Golden Fury is a YA historical fantasy centered around aspiring alchemist Thea as she attempts to perfect and contain The Philosopher’s Stone.

One of my favorite things about this story is that it’s historical fiction mixed with fantasy that features women in STEM. Being a female and making her own way in the world is important to Thea, which is such a cool piece to include in a YA story. As the plot would lead one to assume, themes of greed and betrayal are also evident throughout the book.

The plot itself was fun, it was engaging and the story moved quickly with very little lag. Even if you have zero interest or knowledge of alchemy, it’s easy to understand and isn’t mindless info overload.

The characters – there were several. I enjoyed the core characters and thought they were developed well. There were a few side characters who were named but didn’t make an impact and I kind of wish they had just been referred to as ‘the cronies’ or ‘henchmen’ or whatever, as throwing the names in ended up confusing me a few times.

The ending was wrapped up nicely (a little too nicely for my personal taste). I’m slightly disappointed that this isn’t turning into a duology or series because it definitely could’ve been carried on. I prefer series over standalones, so this may be an unpopular opinion.

For a debut, this really was a great read. I’m excited to follow Samantha’s career and watch her continue to grow as an author.

Pros:
The historical elements. Listen, we know I am a sucker for good historical fantasy and this book delivers on this historical side.
The beginning of the story is so strong and left me wanting to know exactly where Thea was going next on her journey.
The Philosopher’s Stone. Honestly, I was a bit worried this may have ended up in the cons due to my expectations of this element of the story, but I was honestly really interested in everything interested in this part of the story.

Cons:
It’s trying to accomplish too much in one book. By the end of the story, it feels like we were rushing to get to the end which ruins the authors writing of this story.

Overall: This is a very plot-driven story that sometimes gets a bit muddled in the execution.

Oh I had such a fun time reading this one - give me a strong, capable heroine with ambition and a huge well of loyalty within her - and you already have me hooked!

In Golden Fury, we have Thea Hope, a resourceful, intelligent young woman who assists her own brilliant mother in her alchemy quest for Philosopher’s Stone. Her mother, who may be brilliant, but is also cold and cruel when it suits her; and Thea for most oft has gotten used to it! She has never met her own father; and knows that he probably has no idea that she even exists.

But when her mother fall mad due to the Curse of The Philosopher’s Stone - just when she and with the rising tensions between the French and The British, she has no choice but to flee to the only relative she has - her father. There, she gets a chance to actually assist or rather work in the field of alchemy, trying to complete her mother’s work while trying to avoid falling victim to the curse.

I've missed downloading my e-galley but I acquired a copy of A GOLDEN FURY since I am quite interested in it. Started slow (esp for the main character), but the prose and setting are easy on the eyes. It doesn't have the very striking awe-inspiring plot and all, but it is definitely worth checking out.

Golden Fury, the debut novel from @samanthacohoe , is a fun historical fantasy set in eighteenth century England. It follows Thea Hope, a young alchemist, as she tries to save the people she loves from the curse of the Philosopher’s Stone. It is primarily set in London and Oxford and has a fabulous magic system along with a realistic and relatable heroine who makes difficult (sometimes messy) decisions whilst trying to balance her morals. I recommend checking it out.

This book was extremely refreshing in my opinion. I haven't read anything quite like it, and I haven't read much about alchemists so that may be why! Let me begin with saying Cohoe is a good writer, a spectacular writer even, in the technical sense. There's a way about her writing that flows so easily and her descriptions completely immersed me in the world (and made me want to go visit France and go back to England). Secondly, Thea was a solid main character. She had the perfect amount of independence while still being a person with emotional and mental needs that made her feel like a well rounded person. It was easy to read from her point of view and I rooted for her from the beginning. I didn't like the other characters quite as much however, but I don't think it was a problem with their characterization but rather the amount of time spent with them. For example, I loved the idea of Dominic, he was kind, and thoughtful, and just the type of male character I like but I felt like Cohoe didn't quite utilize him as a character quite enough.

The story itself was well paced for the most part until the ending where I found it a bit rushed. I did, however, enjoy the plot and wasn't bored at all. I found myself eagerly flipping through the pages and didn't want to put it down.

Overall, while it didn't invoke the emotional impact I look for when I rate books 5/5 stars, I really enjoyed this debut novel and will definitely be keeping an eye out for more by Cohoe.

Very entertaining debut! Much darker than I originally anticipated, which isn't a bad thing. I was immediately hooked by the beginning of the story. The pacing was a bit off for me, but that didn't take away from the overall plot. I really enjoyed the characters. I absolutely hated Thea’s father, but that was his character. I really enjoyed the dialogue and new take on the Philosopher’s Stone.

A Golden Fury was everything I’ve been craving in a YA fantasy.
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What I enjoyed most:
Alchemy and the philosophers stone. 1790s in France and England. ( a time period I don’t read enough about honestly) The story had a strong, brilliant and independent protagonist. Kept me guessing as to how things would end. Story had some thrills and a couple chills.
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What I didn’t care for as much:
A tad slow of a start. I felt the story at the beginning was heading towards a cookie cutter plot line. I was very happy to discover otherwise as the story progressed.
I would have like to have had an epilogue because I was rather attached to the characters and needed to know just a little more of their fate.
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I give this one a 4.5 stars. I loved it, I read almost all of it in 2 days because it kept me flipping pages.
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Small spoilers ahead———
Beware, does not hold back on violence in some spots.