I Took PTO to Read This Book as Soon as It Came Out—and It Just Got One of the Biggest Movie Deals *Ever*

Last year, I made one of the best decisions a book lover can make: I submitted a few days of PTO to read Sarah J. Maas's House of Flame and Shadow (the third book in the Crescent City series) and, now, taking time off from my everyday routine for at least one or two of my most anticipated reads of the year is simply a must. I mean, it allows me hours of uninterrupted reading time, and I don't have to worry about finding myself at the end of a cliffhanger chapter just as my lunch break is ending.

Given that I've been waiting for Alchemised by SenLinYu to come out since the second it was announced (and the fact that it comes in at a hefty 1,024 pages), I naturally had to make sure I had time set aside to read it—because I certainly wouldn't have been able to focus on anything else on its release day. And since it was recently announced that the book just got one of the biggest movie deals *in history* (described as a "significant seven-figure deal"—which may have been over $3 million), I thought this would be the perfect time to share why I, and so many other readers, are considering it one of the top reads of the year. After all, you'll need some time to dive into it before it hits the screen.

But despite the dark themes in this book, I (and I imagine many other readers, considering it's already racked up more than 28,000 ratings on Goodreads resulting in an average of 4.61/5 stars) found many of Helena's emotions to be entirely relatable. As SenLinYu has previously discussed (as shown in the TikTok video from creator @whimsy_bookowl above), many of the feelings the character grapples with stem from the author's own experiences navigating motherhood.

There is a romantic plotline in the novel as well, but I wouldn't classify it as a typical romantasy or romance read. Rather, in my opinion, it's more about two people finding their way together and holding on to their sense of humanity through each other in the worst circumstances.

If you've made it this far, you've probably guessed that I definitely recommend reading Alchemised, especially if you're a fantasy lover and love reading stories with complex worldbuilding, plotlines and magic systems (and have checked those triggers linked above in advance). And since the movie deal was just recently struck, you have plenty of time to savor those 1,000+ pages before filming even begins.