This book drew me in with the beautiful cover and the promise of alchemy mixed with psychological confusion. I'm a sucker for a good possession story arc and this book quenched that thirst for me.
The romance between Thea, Dominic, Will, and even Thea's parents was realistic and not overly cliche, which I always appreciate in a YA novel.
Overall, this was a highly enjoyable read for me and I would definitely recommend it for anyone who likes historical fiction and romance, mixed with a little bit of magic!
I can't wait to see what else Samantha Cohoe brings us in the future!

Thank you to Net Galley and the publishers for the eARC.

I have voluntarily read and reviewed a copy of this title given to me via NetGalley. Wow what can I say about this title it was just an awesome read. This book was just something so wonderfully different I’ve never quite read anything like this. You should read to find out you won’t be disappointed. I’m definitely going to read more by this author.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to read an ARC of this wonderful book! I was hooked by the description, and it did not disappoint. The main character, Thea, is interesting and I wanted to know more about her from the first page. The plot is full of twists and turns, madness and mayhem, and some beautifully poignant moments as well. I loved the relationship building between Thea and all the other characters, especially her father, and I loved the world-building as well. It was easy to imagine myself there in late 18th century Britain and France, following right along with Thea and her friends and enemies. The magical elements fit in well with the non-magical elements, and I loved reading about Thea's attempts at alchemy and where they led her. Overall, a wonderful book, and I would definitely recommend it to fans of historical fantasy or anyone who wants to read a good story!

I was gifted this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Oh boy, hold on tight, this book was a very bumpy ride. I don’t even know where to begin. The characters, the plot, the setting, the whole alchemy situation . . . It was not as I thought it would be.

I thought it would focus on the world of alchemy and making this wonderful stone. I thought it would be glorious and wonderful adventure.

I was wrong.

There isn’t any adventure. There is plenty of focus on making the famous stone, but other than that. Meh.

Usually when a book tanks, I can pick on one thing I really enjoyed, but in this book it is just small pickings. I will say I enjoyed the character Dominic and Valentin. I enjoyed the full snark of Rahel.

But again, I wasn’t rooting for anyone and I wasn’t heavily interested in the plot either. It was just meh.

The main character in particular wasn’t really intriguing me and I felt no connection to her. I felt sorry for her, but even that was not a strong emotion. I will give the author credit for bringing out all of my ire to two particular characters: the father and Will.

I do not understand why most male characters in this book are portrayed as jerks with special bonus points for Will and the father. I usually love the mean characters. Seriously I do, but both of these guys were just downright nasty mean.

I like my jerks or charmers with a heart of gold or at the very least reasonable and funny jerks, but Will and the father are just selfish, arrogant jerks.

There was a point that I had to put the book down since the father made me so mad. I stepped away from it for two days. Two. Whole. Days.

Then just when the father is gone, Will picks up the selfish jerk ways and takes away the trophy for being one of my most unlikeable characters I read in a very long time. He is just downright slimy and disgusting. I cannot put down why because it will ruin the book for you.

The plot is a little bit better than the characters, but not by much. It jumps around alot and the actions of characters don’t make sense other than to move the plot along. Now the whole back story with Will and Thea makes perfect sense, but everything else fell short. I wish I could get into it, but if I do, again I will ruin it.

I will say the big plot point was so heavily foreshadowed that it ruined the whole big plot twist. I literally saw it coming from a mile away. It’s really unfortunate that it was so poorly executed. It could have been a good plot twist, but it was just so obvious.

To be fair to the author, the end is not predictable in the least bit. It does tie in nicely with the overall themes of love and acceptance, but the ending was not satisfying at all. I was just not happy with the redemption arc of the father whatsoever. And the whole fantasy of the world is just moved to the side. It’s a whole new world without any of the happy Disney magic. The ending fell flat and made me hate the make characters even more.

There’s also a couple of nitpicks that I have to include which was the information dumping. I literally skipped pages upon pages of information dumping to the point that I probably skipped over Thea’s thoughts. I debated about skipping over her thoughts, but then I realized sadly that I didn’t care about her or her feelings. She had the tendency to whine about her mother, about the various situations that I stopped caring about her constant whining and paid more attention to the plot.

Another nitpick was the alchemy, and the lack of magic thereof. It was more science based than magic based. In fact, now that I think about it, nothing with this world’s alchemy had any magic in it. It was all puzzle and science based. Managing temperatures and putting in the right ingredients at the right time. I will not lie, I was looking for more magic and mystical than sciency like The Sin Eater’s Daughter series. That type of alchemy blended science and magic really well. This book just focused on the science too much for me.

In fact, this book nailed the historical setting pretty darn well but lacked the amount of fantasy that I needed. If I went in knowing it was going to focus on history and science and less on the fantasy aspect, I would have liked this book more and tempered my expectations. But as it stands I’m super disappointed.

Overall, I cannot recommend this book as it is. There was just not enough to hold my interest plot wise or character wise. This book promised me fantasy and it didn’t deliver. So with a heavy heart, I cannot recommend it for anyone. However, if you would like to read a young adult fantasy book with a good dash of history then I would suggest reading The Sin Eater’s Daughter series by Melinda Salisbury. Read it and thank me later.

This book is well- written and has a very interesting premise. I love that it’s both historical and personal. The main character is flawed, driven, and incredibly relatable. I did find the book didn’t really hook me unfortunately... I think it was more of a compatibility thing though rather than a reflection on the quality of the book. I think that there will be a lot of readers of this genre that will adore this book, and I hope that they find it!

First Thoughts: It’s finally over.

CW: attempted suicide, assault, torture, gore, toxic parents

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book to review.

Mild spoilers.

I’m going to try and keep this short and sweet.

A Golden Fury is about Thea Hope, a young alchemist, who has the knowledge to make the Philosopher’s Stone. Through a series of misfortunate events she travels to find her beau, Will, and to make the stone before anyone else does.

I had two problems with this book. First, the plot kept moving to left field. Don’t get me wrong, I love books where I don’t see the twists in the plot. I get super excited when authors do wild things with their plots. In this case, it just didn’t work. It felt like there was a complete lack of structure. And towards the end, it gets melodramatic and nonsensical.

The second issue is that Thea doesn’t have a backbone. She is taken advantage of by every character except her friend, Dominic. Her mother used her translation work to advance her methods of making the philosopher’s stone and kicked her out of the lab right before the stone was being formed. Her father took her notes on how to make the philosopher’s stones and sided with his sexist researcher after he assaulted her. (Yeah, I wish I was making that up.) And then the worst offender, Will.
Will was Thea’s mother’s assistant in her lab and Thea’s beau. Thea deserves so much better than that pond scum. He essentially cheats on her with the daughter of this German businessman (The same one that holds her hostage so she can make him the stone to pay Will’s debt to him for the emotional harm he caused said daughter.) and then lies about it to Thea. This is just one instance of his manipulation of her. He basically admits to manipulating her and she STILL cares for him. Essentially, it seemed that she didn’t care that no one but Dominic truly cared for her. Now for the rest of her personality, it was fairly flat but I didn’t completely dislike her. I just wish that she made showed these characters that there are consequences to their actions.

The one aspect of the book that I did enjoy was that the Philosopher’s Stone chose who it would form for as well as the curse of madness that would go along with it. This helped to balance out the absolute power the stone provided.

Hope absolutely and completely loved this book. The story hooked me from the very start and I felt for the characters. The book ended without a cliffhanging but I’d still love to follow along as they continue the story.

'A Golden Fury' has a great premise and a lot of great ideas and themes going for it. Freedom, control over one's own destiny, international politics, alchemy, family, young love, and even madness. There was a lot of promise going into this book and some readers will follow the main character, Thea, root for her despite not seeming to learn from her previous mistakes, and bite their nails as the stakes continue to raise higher and higher for her.

A Golden Fury is part mystery, part fantasy & part historical fiction. This book/story is more or less similar to Stalking Jack the Ripper series. An entertaining combination of character & story drives plot, which is very much complemented by the author’s writing. Some parts feel repetitive and I felt the ending to be quite illogical for the story flow! This book is Samantha Cohoe’s debut and I love her writing style. Will definitely read more books from her.
3.75/5⭐️
Thank you Netgalley & St.Martin’s press for the ARC. This review is my own & is not influenced in any way!

Samantha Cohoe’s debut takes readers on a journey through late 18th century France and England, offering a glimpse into the mystical study and practice of alchemy. While this premise might pique readers’ curiosities, the overall execution might deter their enjoyment.

In some respects, it’s difficult to class this tale. Even though the story is set during the 18th century, it’s more like an alternative reality mixed with comedy and satire. Mannerisms and dialogue are in keeping with modern times, rather than the refined tones one might expect from more traditional historical fiction. Conversations are absurdly exaggerated, almost akin to what you’d find in a screwball comedy. Throughout the book, characters find themselves in farcical situations that quickly manifest into something else. There’s lots of shouting and affected mannerisms. The dialogue is often fast-paced and silly. Also, in keeping with the theme, the story plays with traditional gender roles in a comedic way, especially evident among the minor characters.

Comedy does have a place in historical fiction. When done well, it can support and enhance the plot if it supports the subject. Here, the comedic touches make light of the alchemical spiritualism readers are presented. Whatever contextual history, philosophy and early genesis of chemistry mentioned in the story is eclipsed by satire. With this lack of balance, it’s difficult to determine whether or not such a presentation is intentional. Thus, readers seeking a more nuanced, balanced tone might be disappointed.

That said, this is a debut novel. I would be interested in seeing how this author is able to develop her style in future works.

*I've received this digital copy from the publisher in exchange of an honest review*
2.8 stars

I have to say that this book has very good premises and the writing style is very good. Plus, if you love alchemy and alchemic processes, this book could be for you!
You can enter in this world without any struggle, BUT (and it's a very big "BUT"), even if the plot seemed to be very original, and in a certain way it is, it's impossible to find Thea other than annoying.
I understood her character at the beginning: the lack of a father, an harsh and awful her mother and the wanting to achieve the greatest result for every alchemist: the creation of the Philosopher's Stone. The reader could easily emphatize with her disappointment for what happens and the fear for how uncertain her future turns in so little time..
The problem is that from the moment she arrives to England she becomes an even awful person than her mother!
Yes, you understand she meens good too, that she's different but, she's too much. She's too intelligent than the others, she seems to be the only one that isn't affected by the "stone's influence" as a sort of "chosen one", and the only one that does the right thing. Not to mention all the young men appear to have a sort of (big or little) crush on her. Again, too much. Her ego is exaggerated and she's only a teen! She questions too little herself about her decisions and we can see those consequences during the entire book.
To make matters worse she is oftern too angry, ready to give orders even to her captors and despise every sign of emotion or feelings in men, especially her father. I suppose it's all about the sever way she was raised but, I have to say it again, it's too much. I lost my sympathy for her.
I would have excused all of this if I would have found a richer plot than what I've read. There are no big events, the main settings are barely 3-4, most indoors and the other characters are interesting but not well handled. I wasn't even able to understand to whom Thea felt affection, disgust or love, or what people think about her. It's all a confused mess and the ending was just.. poor. If you think a book as a sort of journey with a start, an aim and an ending (including what the characters achieves in terms of new awareness, experiences, relationships, etc.), I've found almost nothing gained because it has been not so well managed. It lacked impact and so lost it's meaning to me.
I'm really sorry because I was so into this book until the 40-50%. Then it just collapsed.

However, thanks to @WednesdayBooks to give me the chance to read it in advance.

A Golden Fury tells the story of Thea, a young woman raised by her alchemist mother, as she is tries to save those she loves by creating the legendary Philosophers Stone.

I was totally blown away by the book. Thea is a fantastic character, fiercely protective and striving for independence. I loved her strength in the face of friends and family who didn't deserve her, and felt she really learned and grew from her experiences.

The plot itself is part historical fiction, part fantasy. The writing is beautiful, with each setting feeling real. I thought the pacing was just right, and I was gripped by the excitement of the story to the point where I couldn't put the book down!

A really phenomenal book. I felt it was in a similar vein to Kerri Maniscalco's Stalking Jack the Ripper and Veronica Rossi's Rebel Spy - a clever, engaging, dramatic adventure that I would recommend wholeheartedly.

I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This review has been posted to Goodreads and will be submitted to Amazon after release.

LOVE.

LOVELOVELOVE.

LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT.

LOVE AT LAST FLIP OF THE PAGE.

LOVE AT BEGINNING, MIDDLE, AND END.

JUST LOVE.

With each majestic flip of the page, I was transfixed, and completely drawn into the world and the lives of the characters.

Love at first glance aside, (I mean, just look at that oh so enchantingly beautiful cover!) I just knew that after reading the synopsis for this book, that I was going to adore this story; Just knew that it was going to be my perfectly made cup of tea, my flawlessly concocted elixir.

I finished this book in less than a day, as I just couldn’t pull myself away from the story (and it was also just the distraction I needed from the ugly events of the world still currently raging around me. Thank you so much for that Samantha Cohoe, I will be forever grateful to you) and I completely fell in love with both the story and the characters.

There are so many things to love and savor about this book, and first and foremost (for me anyway) the fact that its a fantasy/historical fiction that centers around alchemy! Heck yes! The blend of mystical, scientific elements of the alchemy storyline were so cool to read about, and made it that much more fascinating. It also made both the plot and storyline that much more mysterious, ominous, and even eerie at times because of the dark elements to it.

The alchemists in this book all have a common goal, despite how they differ going about attaining it: creating the Philosopher’s Stone. Of course creating it is no easy task, as creating it can cause you to become possessed and go mad, which is where the eerie, sinister parts of the story come in. Watching the characters’ descend into madness over the Philospher’s Stone is certainly a study in both greed and just how far people will go in order to obtain what they want no matter how high the price.

The main character of the story is a young girl named Thea, who is an alchemist, and a very good one at that. Her mother is a famous alchemist of sorts, and they both live in France, during the tultumous time of the French Revolution. One terrible night, her mother descends into complete madness, and that is when Thea realizes just how very high the cost is of completing the creation of the Philospher’s Stone. Due to her mother’s madness and the raging revolution, Thea is sent to England for her own protection, to stay with her father, also an alchemist, who she has never met. Once there, she is sent down on a dangerous path of treachery, madness, and other dangers as she tries to save the lives of her beloved, her mother, friend, and herself, all the while trying to finally complete the task of making the Philosopher’s Stone.

The setting of this book also very much helped to set the mood, as the characters journeyed through an ever bleak, ominous London city scape. I could picture myself right along side them, running through alley ways with an overcast sky overhead, carriages rolling past in the distance, the sound of horses hooves clomping past.

So so good!

And Thea!

Love love loved her!

She was such an amazing character! I loved her strong spirit, and unbending will, and her willingness to do whatever it took to help to protect and save those she loved. I just found her to be such a badass! Despite all of the obstacles she was facing throughout her journey, she remained strong, and I admired her so much and was rooting for her on each and every page. Definitely one of my favorite heroines of 2020!

Do yourself a favor and definitely preorder a copy of this book! I could go on and on talking about how much I loved it, and I still wouldn’t be doing it justice. There’s magic, an engrossing plot that will keep you turning the pages in anticipation, and a main character that you will admire and root for! Plus, have you seen the cover? That alone is reason enough to preorder it! But seriously, buy this book!

I really enjoyed this novel and found myself unable to stop thinking about what might happen next when life beckoned me to put the book down.

A Golden Fury didn't resemble anything I had ever read before... That is until I read a review relating it to LOTR and the obsession of the ring. Regardless, that's the only moment.

I would completely recommend this debut novel by Samantha Cohoe to any of my friends. Five stars from me!

There's a lot to like with Cohoe's <i>A Golden Fury</i>: the plot is well-paced and the stakes are certainly high (and believably so) for the characters. I also appreciated the unique idea of a female alchemist. The events of the book zip right along; with each chapter, I couldn't believe that next big thing Thea was facing WASN'T the climax. I was definitely invested in the story throughout. In addition, The Philosophers Stone and the descent into madness felt like natural, believable stakes for the characters and situation they were in. I was 100% onboard with Cohoe's authorly logic there.

The so-so: Thea herself is a middle of the road, okay character for me. She was believable, more or less. She was flawed, but smart and interesting, coming off pretty human, especially for a YA fantasy protagonist, so nicely done there, Cohoe. I *was* frustrated by some of her decision making that came off very juvenile, but I'm not sure if that's just the benefit/curse of being an adult reading a YA book or if some of her decisions, especially toward the latter half of the novel, really are that silly. I am okay with characters making poor choices, especially when it makes sense for the character, but I get frustrated when an otherwise logical, smart character makes crappy decisions for the sake of ~*the plot*~, which some of her choices seemed to do.

The bad: Thea's mother, the...er, romance?, and the historical setting itself. Thea's mother is the least believable character in the book. She's so "evil" its comical. She is a caricature of a person to set up Thea's trauma; her scenes were nearly unreadable for me because I was rolling my eyes. The romance (if I should call it that?) between Will and Thea was always cringe-worthy to me, and the last half to third of the book is just...not well done. And it felt like Cohoe was setting Valentin up to be a secondary love interest, but then it...went...nowhere. I guess either I wanted more romance or much less, not the weird middle ground that we actually got. And lastly, the historical setting/world itself felt more incidental than important. I never FELT like I was in the 18th century, just an Earth-adjacent fantasy world. There wasn't any one thing that made it unbelievable, just nothing that ever made it feel real, either. And to that end, alchemy and the Stone didn't make sense to me: there was no explanation for how they fit into the logic of the world. Worldbuilding is crucial for me to be invested in a historical fiction novel, and thanks to the the lack of that, I never could tell if I was supposed to believe this *was* a historical fiction novel, a magical realism novel, or a straight fantasy novel. To me, this is an issue, especially since the novel SEEMS to claim that magic used to be real and the events of the book are what cause its absence in our modern world.

So, all in all, a debut novel that I overall enjoyed. 3.5 / 5 stars for me. I'll be looking forward to the next book that Cohoe writes to see how her skills grow, though I don't know that this one is going on my shelf, personally.


I received my ebook copy of <i>A Golden Fury</i> from NetGalley and St. Martin's Press/Wednesday Books in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are mine alone.

A Golden Fury is a strong debut novel filled with the wonders and horrors of alchemy. Thea is strongly written character that strives to make a name for herself as an alchemist but quickly learns that creating The Philosopher’s Stone comes with a heavy price. Overall a very strong debut I look forward to the author’s next book Bright Ruined Things.

I found this story to be very enjoyable, especially for fans of Deborah Harkness's "All Souls" series. I think Thea's development of self-reliance and journey into the world of relationships was a good story. Since she had been only exposed to her mother's patrons growing up and her one friend, to watch her learn the true meaning of friendship and love made you relive your own first steps into the world.

Thea is a feisty 17 year old who has been raised by her cold alchemist mother for years. Now she’s the only hope for her mother who’s gripped by a madness after nearly completing the philosopher’s stone. She travels to England and her estranged father. But the madness creeps in closer and closer.

“The Golden Fury” is a book about loyalty and trust and power. Thea is driven to help, but there’s a darkness that stalks her as the works to complete the stone. She also has so few people to trust as everyone’s motivation for helping her becomes suspect as the stone is close to completion.

I enjoyed the story and wanted to discover how things would turn out for Thea and her new friend Dominic. The pull of power and darkness was narrated very well. I like the ever-changing circle of trust around Thea and how that alters her perspective. No one is who they seem.

The only thing I didn’t get was the title. I think “The Alchemist’s Curse” would have suited the story much better and conveyed the plot better. While this wasn’t quite what I expected, it was a hard to put down story and an intriguing study in the various ways power can manipulate a person’s soul.

A really fun and interesting read. I had an enjoyable time reading this and it held my attention the entire way through that I finished it within the day!

In this historical fantasy we meet Thea, an alchemist’s daughter and a protégé alchemist herself, a very talented one at that. She’s growing tired of the way her mother treats her and dreams of a life together with a boy called Will that used to work for her mother. At the same time, Thea and her mother is so close to reaching the ultimate goal, the creation of the Philosopher’s Stone. It’s a piece what can cure all illnesses, make anything into gold and it’s incredibly powerful. Thea’s mother wants to create to make a name for herself in a world where women are more or less owned by their husbands. So when Thea’s mother excludes Thea from the final steps of the creation, Thea’s furious and can’t believe her mother used her to get the stone but won’t share the credit for making it.

Thea’s mother grows increasingly hostile and when she decides Thea will be leaving the country with a man she doesn’t even know, Thea can’t keep her mouth shut and the fight that follows changes everything. Thea’s mother becomes mad and tries to kill her when Thea discovers that her mother has in fact succeeded in creating the stone. Forced to flee France for London, Thea ends up with the father that doesn’t know she exists. Here, she’s determined to create the stone for herself so she can use it’s powers to heal her mother’s madness. She can only hope that the warnings of a curse that afflicts those who try is just the ramblings of her mother.

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book really took me by surprise. I had a hard time getting into it, and was prepared to give up more than once in the beginning. I struggled with the initial four or five chapters, then something happened and the story really took off. I was hooked. I wanted to know more about what happened and get to know Thea. And I’m glad I followed through because this was a great book.

Thea is a wonderful character, a girl I could sympathize with, someone I wanted to be friends with. She was written very well and it was easy to root for her. She might be a bit naïve at times, but someone it just made her endearing. Overall, I think the author did a great job developing all of the characters in this book, that said, those first few chapters was confusing when it came to characters. I couldn’t really wrap my head around who was who and what they were doing there. By chapter 5, I kind of got it and also, that’s when Thea left her home and met new people anyways.

I can say though that the twists weren’t really twists and I could see the where the story was heading long before it was revealed, and that did take away som of the tension and excitement of reading. Also the book felt a bit safe. What I mean by that is even though there were dangerous situations in the book and our main character found herself in extremely dangerous situations it never really felt as severe as if probably should have. I never feared for Thea or her life because there was something serene about the way it was written, a little poetic perhaps, I’m not sure. But it wasn’t dangerous, it was safe at all times even through torture and death and hell. The book is written in first person, so perhaps it’s just Thea’s personality that does it, if she’s not afraid, what should the reader be. But there are times where she’s too serene for the situation.

The plot flowed nicely even if I at times found that perhaps there was a little too much “nonsense” weaved in that made it unnecessarily slow and tempted me to skim through parts of it, but overall it was really good and I think the author managed to keep the tension and suspense and add new layers to the story as it went on and when it all was slowly unraveled by the end I felt satisfied. I mean, there’s always things to point out and things that could’ve been better, but there’s no such thing as perfect and this is simply a really good book, and a debut at that. So, I’m going to give this five stars because it’s one of the best books I’ve read in a long time.

If you like fantasy, don’t miss this one.