Review of “The Alchemy Thief” by R.A. Denny

The best review I can give of this book is to tell you the progression of what I thought as I read along:

“Oh, no. Another book with a young woman sorting out her faith versus an Islamic terrorist kid. Guess I know what this is going to be like.”

“Wait, time travel? Ok, I’m back in.”

“Wow, this is really detailed. I wonder how much of this history is accurate. Are these real people?”

“Holy crap. Didn’t see that coming.”

“No! That’s the end? I want the next book now!”

So, yeah. I ended up enjoying this book. A lot. I’m a big fan of GOOD historical fiction, and this book is certainly that. At the back of the book, the author explains her personal connection to these real-life characters, the extent of her research into this complex part of history, and how she traveled to Morocco to get first-hand insight into a very different part of the world from Martha’s Vineyard. I was very impressed by the detail put into fleshing out both worlds in 1657, and I can only imagine the amount of research this took. Huge kudos to R.A. Denny for that alone.

I will say that multiple times I was very annoyed by Peri’s decisions and actions. She’s smart enough to get into Harvard but is extremely naive and sometimes does things that really only serve the plot. And she has a photographic memory for no apparent reason, which is especially weird given how badly she forgets things sometimes. BUT, nearly every other character is quite interesting, and I didn’t have any problems with how Ayoub (the terrorist kid) grows up and somewhat naturally becomes a pirate. That actually worked pretty well without being stereotypical.

The writing itself is very descriptive and gets to the point without being superfluous. The dialogue must have been tricky to write given the time period, but it was believable and helps to drop you right into a different time and culture.

Overall, I recommend this to anyone who likes historical fiction. There is definitely a romance element, but that did not distract from the mystery, suspense, and well-crafted storyline that drops you into two different – but possibly connected – histories.

See it on Amazon!