Title: A Golden Fury
Author: Samantha Cohoe
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Historical Fiction
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: October 13, 2020
Rating: ★★★★
Goodreads Synopsis:
Thea Hope longs to be an alchemist out of the shadow of her famous mother. The two of them are close to creating the legendary Philosopher’s Stone—whose properties include immortality and can turn any metal into gold—but just when the promise of the Stone’s riches is in their grasp, Thea’s mother destroys the Stone in a sudden fit of violent madness.
While combing through her mother’s notes, Thea learns that there’s a curse on the Stone that causes anyone who tries to make it to lose their sanity. With the threat of the French Revolution looming, Thea is sent to Oxford for her safety, to live with the father who doesn’t know she exists.
But in Oxford, there are alchemists after the Stone who don’t believe Thea’s warning about the curse—instead, they’ll stop at nothing to steal Thea’s knowledge of how to create the Stone. But Thea can only run for so long, and soon she will have to choose: create the Stone and sacrifice her sanity, or let the people she loves die.
Review:
Thea Hope is the daughter of an alchemist, who has been trying to make the Philsopher’s Stone. Just before her mother can complete it, she is taken over by madness. Thea finds her mother’s notes, which says anyone who creates the Stone will go insane. Because of her mother’s madness, Thea is sent to find her father in Oxford, who doesn’t know she exists. Her father is also an alchemist who is trying to figure out how to make the Stone. When someone close to her father becomes mad with the Stone, Thea has to run away again to find some way to complete the Stone herself and end this curse.
This was a fast paced story. Every time it seemed like things were going well for Thea and she was doing what she planned, there would be a drastic event that changed everything. Thea had a strong character development. She had grown into a different, more mature person by the end of the story. I really liked how the story and characters developed.
I’m not interested in science, but I liked the alchemy in this book. It was a combination of science with some myth surrounding the Philosopher’s Stone. The alchemists had to use a wide range of knowledge to complete their work, including knowing multiple different languages. I learned a lot about alchemy and the mythical Philosopher’s Stone in this story.
I really enjoyed this story!
Thank you Wednesday Books for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
What to read next:
Cadaver and Queen by Alisa Kwitney
The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein
About the author:
Samantha Cohoe writes historically-inspired young adult fantasy. She was raised in San Luis Obispo, California, where she enjoyed an idyllic childhood of beach trips, omnivorous reading, and writing stories brimming with adverbs. She currently lives in Denver with her family and divides her time among teaching Latin, mothering, writing, reading, and deleting adverbs. A Golden Fury is her debut novel.
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