Alchemised cover art

Alchemised

The 2025 debut novel phenomenon everyone is talking about and no one can put down

Preview

Get 30 days of Standard free

£5.99/mo after trial. Cancel monthly.
Try for £0.00
More purchase options

Alchemised

By: SenLinYu
Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
Try for £0.00

£5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for £15.24

Buy Now for £15.24

Brought to you by Penguin.

***The record-breaking debut and instant Sunday Times Bestseller***


In a world ruled by necromancers, a woman with missing memories threatens the dark order that keeps her captive - and the man sent to break her. Gothic in tone, epic in scope - this debut is destined to become a modern classic.

Once a promising alchemist, Helena Marino is now a prisoner – of war and of her own fractured mind. The Resistance is crushed, her allies dead, her abilities suppressed.

The world she knew is gone.

Paladia’s corrupt guild families and their necromancer overlords, aided by vile undead creatures now rule - and hold Helena captive.

Resistance records claim she was a healer of little importance. Yet, Helena’s inexplicable memory loss makes her enemies wonder: Is she truly insignificant, or do her missing memories conceal the Resistance’s final secret?

To uncover the truth, Helena is delivered into the hands of the High Reeve – Paladia’s most feared and merciless necromancer.

Trapped on his crumbling estate, she must fight to protect what remains of herself and unearth the secrets buried in her mind, her prison, and her captor . . . whatever the cost.

‘A work of quite staggering ambition. Detailed world-building, intricate plot, Gothic claustrophobia, wraps the readers in its dark embrace’ Daily Mail

‘A superb dark fantasy novel set in a war torn world of black magic and alchemy’ Sun

© Forest Rain Inc 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025

Action & Adventure Best of 2025 Dark Fantasy Editors Select Epic Fantasy Women's Voices Magic Emotionally Gripping Scary Necromancy War Magic Users
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1

Critic reviews

A work of quite staggering ambition. Detailed world-building, intricate plot, Gothic claustrophobia, wraps the readers in its dark embrace
Very readable
A superb dark fantasy novel set in a war torn world of black magic and alchemy
All stars
Most relevant
I enjoyed the narrators performance overall but the book is too long, too dense and too repetitive. Could have been much better with a major edit in my humble opinion! It’s a shame because the universe is cool and grim! It would have been far more interesting to spend more time out in the war than constantly in the same bloody room saying the same bloody things over and over again.

Great audio book but too long and repetitive

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

I must say that narrators voice for Helena made her sound pathetic, while it is not what I feel feom writing...

I think that the narrator thought that this was romantasy, which it was not, as even Canes voice seemed always distorted as if growling.

war, survival and trauma bonding

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Im on the fence- totally out of kilter with my friends who LOVED this book. I was gripped in the middle but just didn't hit me in the way I was hoping it would. also has to buy the book so I could have it while listening as it took soooo long to get to grips with everything.

confused.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

I don’t even know where to start with how much I love this. It is such a brutal beautiful story, so incredibly written and it will just change you forever. I really recommend going back and listening to section 1 after about half of section two because you start to see everything very differently. It is absolutely heartbreakingly beautiful, raw, honest, real, confrontational but not for the faint hearted. I will come back to this again and again I think. Cannot recommend enough.

A modern classic

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

There are so many good reviews on here I’m not going to write an essay - suffice to say this is an extraordinary piece of writing and one which stays with you - I was so sorry to get to the end even after 36 hours! I shall read it again!

Amazing

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

See more reviews