This Wretched Alchemy by Tina Mars

This Wretched Alchemy

By Tina Mars

Release date: November 2026

What's The Premise?

---Revel is on a quest to free her mother and sister, after her murderous vengeance streak landed them all in prison. So, she’s training for this world’s version of The Amazing Race meets the Hunger Games. Revel is expected to assassinate a well-known, extremely lethal (and of course attractive) enemy, while finding a “god shard” to win her family's freedom and help her House (community) save face.

The Verdict:

Worth it, if you're looking for a slightly different twist in the romantasy genre.

Although I thought there were some pacing issues at the beginning due to “info-dumping” — major world building happened quickly in the first few chapters, using a lot of jargon — the story picked up quickly. It was a fun, refreshing, and surprisingly unique read. The Japanese imagery gave grown-up Studio Ghibli vibes, in all the right ways — but still held true to the romanic fantasy genre. This story has the enemies-to-lovers trope with a strong female main character but is still unique.

--Read this if you liked Throne of Glass (who didn't), and want a fun new series, with a different twist.

Thank you St. Martin's Publishing Group for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

4/5 stars.