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.
My Thoughts
2020 has to be year of the cold and standoff ish mother in
YA. Funnily enough all encountered in fantasy this reading year. Difficult and
nuanced motherly figures, Thea Hope is the daughter of such figure, She’s the
daughter of a famous alchemist who looms over her. A Golden Fury is about Thea
Hope, a young alchemist, who has the knowledge to make the Philosopher’s Stone.
Before finishing the Philosopher’s Stone her mother goes mad and smashes their
work. Because of this and escaping her mother’s anger she travels to find her
beau, Will, and to make the stone before anyone else does.
Cohoe really focused on the scientific side of SFF in A
Golden Fury. The alchemy was more science based than magic based. It was all
puzzle for Thea and her cohort to find out. Managing temperatures and putting
in the right ingredients at the right time.
Science is a real puzzle, figuring out the elements instead of cardboard
pieces. It was great to see the fictional scientific methods and scenes in the
lab where Thea looked at Arabic texts for instructions. The magic system was
different and it's great to see different interpretations of alchemy. Cohoe
really blended the alchemy in a historical setting. this book nailed the
historical setting pretty darn well. Set
in the backdrop of a weakened France before the revolution.
I really enjoyed the plot and I was engrossed in it from the
start to the end It had a great pace and was action-packed. Cohoe used the
slower parts to her advantage were she used of knowledge of the half magic –
half science practice to build the world. Bit by bit. I had to page at both
paces in the story, eager to see what happened next. Cohoe’s lines and phrasing
is a delight to read and roll of the tongue or in my case the mental version of
that.
And lastly a book is nothing without its characters. If you don’t
care the characters no matter how creative or beautiful the writing, I can’t
care. But you do care for Thea, how she’s treated by the people around her. Get
mad how the men in her life don’t trust her or see her ingenuity. Loving
Dominic so much how truly cares for her and wants the best for her. No one was
that good or all that bad. Even our quick-witted lead Thea who could be selfish
and have an ego at times. I loved how deeply flawed she and others were.
People that love Historical fiction where magic doesn’t over
power the story. Where the SF of SFF comes to play and a story with a flawed
but human girl tries to be recognized for her talents. They for surely will
enjoy A Golden Fury.
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.
