There’s been a lot of discussion in book spaces about publishing fanfiction and whether it can truly stand on its own once the original IP is stripped away, when names, characters, and identifying elements are changed. I felt like I was the perfect test case for this question, since I have no knowledge of the original IP that inspired this story. I never read the original fanfiction, so I went into Alchemised by SenLinYu expecting it to function as a fully independent debut fantasy and deliver a fresh, self-contained narrative.
Since this is a book review, and I firmly believe we can’t just label a book as “trash, period” or “a masterpiece, period” without backing it up with actual reasoning, I want to approach this thoughtfully. And considering this is a 1000+ page book, there are, of course, some positive aspects (well, one in particular) that stood out to me. So I’ll start with that before getting into the reasons why this book ultimately didn’t work for me.
This book offers a perspective on war heroes that we don’t often see in epic fantasy. It highlights how the true heroes of war, doctors and nurses, are frequently overlooked and overshadowed by soldiers on the front lines, even though their role is just as vital.
That’s it. That’s the only positive aspect I can think of after finishing this book. So, let’s get into my full critiques, shall we?
Since this is a fantasy book, I’ll be breaking my review into different parts: the plot, the world-building, the magic system, and the characters.
The plot: Ever since this book came out in September, a lot of book accounts have pointed out that it isn’t actually a romantasy, even though it’s marketed as one (in my local bookstore, it’s shelved in the romantasy section) And they’re absolutely right, there’s nothing inherently romantic about this story; it is, in fact, a dark fantasy.
That said, the main plot still revolves around the “romantic” (and I honestly don’t even know what to call it at this point) relationship between Helena and Kaine. That dynamic takes up most of the narrative focus. We do get glimpses of what’s happening in the war but they’re tiny details compared to how often we see Helena saving Kaine or Kaine saving Helena and them navigating this so-called relationship. After a while, it became repetitive and, honestly, quite boring. I can completely understand why some readers DNF this book, because in the first half, the plot feels almost nonexistent. So even though the book deals with dark themes, its central focus still ends up being the relationship between the two main characters.
The world-building and the magic system: This was honestly one of my biggest issues with the book (apart from the relationship between Helena and Kaine, which I’ll get into later). Because this is such a character-driven story, there’s a heavy reliance on telling rather than showing. Now, in most fantasy books I read, that doesn’t necessarily bother me, I can usually go along with it. But in this case, it was a complete disaster.
I’m sorry, but if I have to go on Reddit and read a fan-made glossary just to understand what’s happening with world-building and the magic system, then something has clearly gone wrong. Either the author failed to properly explain these elements, or the book has a serious structural issue. Readers shouldn’t have to rely on external sources to grasp core aspects of the story.
The world itself feels underdeveloped despite the book’s length. For a 1000+ page fantasy, I expected something immersive and well-established, but instead, everything remains vague and confusing. The same goes for the magic system, it’s introduced in a way that feels fragmented, with rules that are either poorly explained or inconsistently applied.
If I had to sum it up, the magic system feels like a mix between Brandon Sanderson-style structured magic and Fullmetal Alchemist-inspired alchemy, but without the clarity or depth that makes those systems work so well. The execution just isn’t there.
The characters: This is where I think the main argument for why some fanfictions should remain fanfictions really comes into play. Because, honestly, aside from the two main characters, I had no real interest in or emotional connection to the side cast.
They felt underdeveloped and, at times, almost interchangeable, which made it hard to care about their roles in the story or their relationships with one another. This was especially noticeable with Luc and his relationship with Helena. I never felt fully invested in their dynamic, and whatever emotional weight it was supposed to carry just didn’t land for me.
More broadly, it felt like certain characters existed more to serve the main relationship than to stand on their own as fully realized individuals. And in a book this long, with so much room to explore different perspectives and dynamics, that lack of depth becomes even more frustrating.
The relationship between Kaine and Helena and the “problematic” content in this book (SPOILERS):
In this section, I will be discussing spoilers, so proceed with caution.
SPOILERS
SPOILERS
SPOILERS
If I hear one more person tell me I “should have done my research” and not read this book because it contains dark themes, I might actually lose it. I read military fantasy regularly, including stories that deal with war crimes and heavy subject matter, and I was fully aware of the kind of themes Alchemised was expected to explore.
That being said, the way this book handles the relationship between Kaine and Helena, as well as its portrayal of sexual assault, felt deeply uncomfortable (and gross) and, in my opinion, poorly executed.
In the second part of the book (the flashback), Helena is essentially “sold” to Kaine as a tool (reduced to something like a “toy” or a “whore” as he likes to describe her multiple times) in exchange for information for the resistance. In the present timeline, she is effectively his prisoner, held captive in his manor. This extreme power imbalance defines their entire dynamic.
I genuinely tried to understand the intention of portraying Kaine as a morally grey character, but throughout the 500-page flashback, I could not get past the rape scenes introduced at the end of Part 1 and how they framed everything that followed. To briefly return to the world-building and magic system: the fact that this world has the ability to reverse a tubal ligation, yet the only narrative solution used to force a pregnancy is rape, felt extremely inconsistent and difficult to justify within the logic of the story. Throughout the book, Helena is repeatedly placed in horrific situations and continues to sacrifice herself for the resistance. I initially thought this would lead to meaningful character development, but instead it often felt like her suffering was used primarily for dramatic effect and to emphasize Kaine’s internal conflict. We are shown him being “torn” by his actions but moments like him vomiting after assaulting her read, to me, less like meaningful moral complexity and more like an attempt to soften the impact of his actions. As if this reaction alone reframes him as a victim in the situation.
And to be clear, this is not me saying that SenLinYu is romanticizing sexual violence. They are not. My issue is with how these events are framed narratively, and how responsibility and agency are sometimes blurred in a way that feels unsatisfying and, at times, dismissive of the gravity of what is happening.
This is obviously not me saying that SenLinYu is a bad writer (even though this book clearly needed some editing). I truly believe they have a talent for creating gothic atmospheres and writing beautiful, lyrical prose that can feel immersive and emotionally evocative at times.
However, for me, strong prose and aesthetic atmosphere were not enough to carry a story that felt structurally uneven, underdeveloped in its world-building, and ultimately difficult to connect with on a character level. I can see what this book was trying to achieve, but in execution, it often fell short of its ambition.