Book Review: A Conspiracy of Alchemists

A Conspiracy of Alchemists by Liesel Schwarz

My rating: 3 of 5 stars





A fusion of Steampunk, fantasy and mythology. The effect was kinda cool. I was totally interested in the storyline and characters. It was inventive -- there were fairies and warlocks, oracles and scientists. The setting of Victorian Era Italy, Budapest, and Paris were vivid and lovely.

Mr. Marsh was a good leading man. He was a strong character with a lot of power, but his abilities didn't overshadow Elle. Elle was great -- strong, intelligent, "powerful", and just cool. She felt helpless but came into her own and turned out to be pretty darn awesome.

There was some language and some... not-quite, but almost explicit bits. No full-on sex scenes (I don't think. I started skimming when they started kissing) or anything, but just enough description of "feelings" to make one blush a little and skim for a paragraph or two.

Overall, I was totally interested in this book and liked the way it ended. I would be interested to see where the Epilogue leads us in what I assume will be a sequel. I would say this is not a waste of time.

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