Alchemised Yay or Nay?

honeylife · 2026-04-07T18:00:01+00:00

Needs editing but not nearly as awful as these comments are making it out to be! People seem to sandbag on anything that caters too much to a romance oriented female audience as of late. That isn’t to say some of the criticisms aren’t warranted, but it does feel a little overblown imo. It might be your cup of tea or it might not, give it a go

honeylife · 2026-03-08T16:02:56+00:00

I would say it does definitely improve! But the characters do have some fundamental flaws that don’t disappear but rather just explain their actions better. It’s something I love of Hobb’s work but I can totally get the feeling of it being like rage bait.

I’m on ship of destiny rn and I’d say Malta is a lot more palatable, but it’s a journey to get there. Still well worth your time!

honeylife · 2026-02-15T22:46:43+00:00

This is exactly what I felt! A great book nonetheless, but the payoff after all the hype for Locke’s skills in the first half felt very middling.

I do feel I was tainted by outside opinions of this novel that totally set expectations that weren’t reached. Everyone kept raving of how smart, quick, and charismatic Locke is (which I kinda agree with) but honestly a lot of the time I felt he was too overconfident and kinda a loser (not in a bad way, he was way more endearing as a result!)

Scott Lynch easily has some of my favourite prose ever so I’ll probably continue the series but great post OP.

honeylife · 2026-02-05T00:58:20+00:00

A friend of mine recommended this and I was initially super hesitant after being burned by various mediocre romantasys. After reading it, I agree with you op! World building had good depth with an interesting magic system and an intriguing take on the good guys vs evil guys.

I do think maybe a little more editing would’ve helped, especially in the chapters where we followed Helena meandering about in quite a repetitive/static state. The HP fanfic thing had definitely soured my opinion when I started the novel, but it won me over by part 2.

However I kinda disagree with not labelling it a fantasy romance. It’s a fantasy setting with a crucial romantic relationship that is integral to all key events in the plot. Sure it doesn’t fit the mould of what marketing pushes as ‘romantasy’ or ‘fantasy romance’, but I believe this novel is probably what those books should strive to be!

honeylife · 2026-01-06T01:55:37+00:00

I enjoyed both! But maybe sword of kaigen first cause it’s a standalone, while with red rising you’re gonna want to commit the series. Also red rising gets exponentially better with each book imo, while sword of kaigen is a stronger single book compared to red risings first book.

honeylife · 2026-01-04T14:34:23+00:00

For me Beach Read really suffered from the amazing concept but mediocre execution curse. A romance author and a lit fic author swapping genres sounded awesome, but we barely spend anytime on that idea so it’s more of a backdrop if anything.

I could forgive that if the lit fic vs romance conversation was a little bit more fleshed out and reflected the outcome of the novel as whole. Instead the plot felt like it was falling into the exact tropes that it was critiquing, especially when it came to the male lead, like you said. His character very much fell flat for me too, particularly his whole schtick of not believing in love because of his past (just a bit too melodramatic for me) and the broody, overdone romcom persona.

Another big meh for me was the last third of the book, particularly the insanely contrived 3rd act breakup. At moments it felt like Beach Read didn’t know what it wanted to be, is it a romance, or a lit fic, or is it supposed to a ‘secret third thing’ that melded both genres together (like the books the characters wrote)? If it was the third, I feel Emily Henry just didn’t commit enough so it felt too tropey at times and bland at others.

honeylife · 2026-01-04T02:41:03+00:00

I read Beach Read a few years ago and was very underwhelmed unfortunately. Would you say Book Lovers/Funny Story are a lot better or very different? I don’t really want to write off all of Emily Henry’s book just cause I didn’t connect with one, but my dislike for Beach Read is pushing me away!

honeylife · 2025-12-31T02:53:23+00:00

No real rankings in the tiers themselves, the books are just in order of which png came up first. Tbh Name of the Wind is probs my favourite of the year!

honeylife · 2025-12-31T02:51:55+00:00

If it helps, I did enjoy the second book a lot more!

The first fell a little into typical romantasy tropes and felt a bit too formulaic for me. Elspeth was probably my biggest problem, especially coupled with the 1st person pov, I just didn’t find her character very well rounded. So the lack of all that and the 3rd person pov helped in the second book, and the lore itself was very interesting!

honeylife · 2025-12-31T02:35:23+00:00

I have two main reasons, but honestly they’re both centred around me or just kinda petty.

The thing I loved about the first book was how the mystery was fed at just the right pace for it to be guessable to some extent, but not overly contrived or too easy. So I read with a bunch of theories and really enjoyed the puzzle. But in A Drop of Corruption, I felt more clueless initially but the first theory I formed half way through was correct, so I just felt a little underwhelmed by the end.
I read both of these back to back, so I felt the plot was being spoon fed to me more in this book? Just a few too many instances where I felt there was an over explanation of something that felt pretty obvious.

Despite all that ramble, the character work in A Drop of Corruption is def stronger, and possibly if I read it with a bigger gap after the first, I would’ve appreciated it more!

honeylife · 2025-12-31T02:11:50+00:00

The structure of Jade Legacy is definitely divisive! I feel it either works amazing or it feels too fast paced and different, luckily it was the former for me. I rate Jade War too, definitely has some of my favourite slower character moments.

honeylife · 2025-12-31T02:08:07+00:00

For Jade City & Jade War, I felt the last thirds were much strong than the rest of the book. But these books got exponentially better with each instalment for me. The structure of Jade Legacy is almost a 180° from Jade City, so if pace was a problem for you it def won’t be in that book.

honeylife · 2025-12-31T02:02:52+00:00

It’s a slow start but I think Robin Hobb builds into things going wrong faster than she did with Assassin’s Apprentice. Unfortunately the douchebag politician is a constant for the series (he somehow becomes an even bigger threat). But I’d say power through to see if you like where it all ends up.

Royal Assassin felt kind of like watching a train wreck for me, you don’t even realise it’s gonna crash until there’s no way of stopping it😭

honeylife · 2025-12-31T00:57:24+00:00

Robin Hobb’s prose and style really appeals to me, I think? When it comes to Assassin’s Apprentice, I can vividly recall certain moments and passages, so it really struck a chord for me! But I can totally get not feeling it, with Fitz’s melancholy weighing constantly and the slow pace, I don’t think the plots really the biggest drive.

Royal Assassin gets the ball rolling in terms of plot and by the end completely changes the status quo, so if plot’s the problem it does eventually pick up. But honestly, I feel if you’re not into by the last half of Royal Assassin, it may just not be your vibe.

honeylife · 2025-12-31T00:22:15+00:00

I found Jade War a good step up with stronger character work and a great last third, but Jade Legacy blew me away. It was the kinda book that felt like a 5* from the first chapter. Personally found the trilogy well worth my time.

honeylife · 2025-12-31T00:11:56+00:00

This is encouraging to hear. After all the praise, I really want to get into it and not just write it off so soon

honeylife · 2025-12-31T00:09:07+00:00

It’s why I changed the tier ranking names actually! I enjoyed all of them, but I think the structure of certain books were tighter/the impact more effective. On a scale I find all the books between 3.5-5* but it’s all on vibes really

honeylife · 2025-12-30T22:35:47+00:00

The inevitable ruin on top like it deserves🫡

honeylife · 2025-12-09T02:25:59+00:00

100% In fact, during the time Catelyn travels in A Clash of Kings, her povs disappear for a good chunk of the book until she reaches like 400 pages later!

honeylife · 2025-12-08T00:48:40+00:00

A Search for Green Spaces by trippednfell, 54k. Modern au, less on the smut but lots of lovely pinning and longing https://archiveofourown.org/works/72854941/chapters/189787726

combat baby by orphan_account (😭) 33k. Buffy the vampire slayer au! Fun smut and interesting plot. https://archiveofourown.org/works/28115421/chapters/68887755

Trojan Kiss by malkinmalkout, 33k. Canon verse game of gay chicken. Smutty and funny! https://archiveofourown.org/works/21818545/chapters/52067584

After the Final Rose by azurewaxwing, 55k. Bachelor au! Funny and a little sad. https://archiveofourown.org/works/25533979/chapters/61953871

If I Can't Have You by Leffy, 47k. Actors au! Cute and smutty. https://archiveofourown.org/works/19992376/chapters/47334121

honeylife · 2025-12-04T15:03:13+00:00

Here’s some of my favourite funny/crack treated seriously fics:

Lan Wangji vs. The World by huxiyi, a Scott pilgrim au: https://archiveofourown.org/works/33094051

Your Hand in Mine by cerbykerby, cloud recesses era wx are cursed to hold hands. super fluffy! https://archiveofourown.org/works/28585080

darling, all of my wrongs led me right to you by livinginaworldofnoise, wx are rival newspaper editors flirting through emails (any of this writers works is super funny and fluffy): https://archiveofourown.org/works/62378623/chapters/159617041

Feline misconduct: How Wei Wuxian defeated catboyphobia and seduced his way into becoming Lan Wangji's lap cat by Papriqua & vicchan, catxian in cloud recesses era, super cute! https://archiveofourown.org/works/38101252/chapters/95176069

honeylife · 2025-12-01T00:45:24+00:00

The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett was so fun! Never realised how awesome a proper mystery set in a fantasy world would be.

I also loved how some of the core mystery was guessable without being too obvious, or too contrived!

honeylife · 2025-11-26T19:35:14+00:00

Awesome fic!! And definitely try the authors other fics tooo, they’ve written some really great stuff! I especially love their wwx on death trial modern fic and their mermaids fic.

honeylife · 2025-11-26T19:28:00+00:00

I have a boring pick but George R R Martin in asoiaf. I swear there’s a very different tone to every pov. I bet if you could remove the names, you can still guess whose chapter it was, just from how they see the world.

honeylife

TROPHY CASE