Title: A Golden Fury

Author: Samantha Cohoe

Pub. Date: October 13, 2020

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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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. 

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This will be a spoiler free review. Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for the free copy in exchange for an honest review. I’m super excited to be a part of the blog tour for this book – so thank you for including me!

Samantha Cohoe takes readers back to eighteenth century England as they follow a young alchemist trying to save the people she loves from the curse of the Philosopher’s Stone. The streets of London and Oxford come to life as this historical fantasy unravels. Weaving together an alluring story of magic and danger, A GOLDEN FURY has heroine, Thea, making messy decisions as she toes the line between good and evil while it becomes blurred.

If you’re anything like me, then maybe HP and the Sorcerer’s Stone ignited this mildly weird fascination with Nicholas Flamel and the Philosopher’s Stone. Which then might have lead you to the Michael Scott series – the Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel.

If this is you by any stretch of the imagination, you can imagine my excitement when A Golden Fury first crossed my radar back in January or February.

It sounded lush, dark, intriguing – a battle to see how far you’re willing to go, which lines you’re willing to cross in the battle between good and evil. Basically, it sounded like everything I could ever want in a book – and in most ways it was.

But I will admit that I didn’t love it quite as much as I had hoped and expected to.

Thea is my favorite character in this book. I found her arc to be really fulfilling and I liked how her naiveté disappeared as the story progressed. I really enjoyed her internal struggles – the mental wars she has to play with her mother, with her father, with Will. Her arc was just really satisfying.

And speaking of Will – I didn’t really understand his role. Other than to be an obstacle for Thea to overcome, he was kind of just *there*. Same with Dominic. I mean, Will’s façade was interesting enough to add conflict, and Dominic was your token Actual Nice Guy, but I really didn’t care for either of them.

Actually, I really didn’t care for anyone outside of Thea. Except for maybe Valentin. I don’t know – maybe I’ve been reading way too many “enemies to lovers” books. but I could have very well gotten behind pairing the two of them up.

What can I say – I know what I like, and what I’m weak for.

Outside of the characters – the world/setting had to be my favorite thing. It was atmospheric, vivid – came to life in my mind. I could see everything, I felt like I was there. It legitimately played out like a movie in my head. Everything was so clear – and the emotions. I could go on and on about how much I enjoyed the life the author breathed into this setting – because oh my god it was perfect. For that alone, I had to bump up my rating. Thea paired with this world was stunning and I was immediately transported.

I couldn’t have guessed the ending – what the Stone actually was. In hindsight, I probably should have seen it coming, because all the things that the Stone could theoretically grant someone could border on being a gift or a curse.

Overall, I enjoyed this book – just not as much as I expected. I found myself confused at some places and like I said, I didn’t necessarily care for all of the characters. But if you’re looking to be completely transported into a world, then I really wouldn’t look any further. It’s been about an hour since I finished reading the book, and scenes are still vividly scrolling through my mind.

I hope you check out this book when it comes out October 13, 2020. Make sure you pre-order/buy the week it comes out, request at your library and add it to your Goodreads Shelves!

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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Samantha’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/smcohoe

Samantha’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/samanthacohoe/

Wednesday Books Twitter: https://twitter.com/wednesdaybooks

Wednesday Books Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wednesdaybooks/

Buy link for A GOLDEN FURY: https://read.macmillan.com/lp/a-golden-fury/