Review : The Alchemy Of Forever by Avery Williams

Summary (from Goodreads)

After spending six hundred years on Earth, Seraphina Ames has seen it all. Eternal life provides her with the world's riches but at a very high price: innocent lives. Centuries ago, her boyfriend, Cyrus, discovered a method of alchemy that allows them to take the bodies of other humans from jumping from one vessel to the next, ending the human's life in the process. No longer able to bear the guilt of what she's done, Sera escapes from Cyrus and vows to never kill again.

Then sixteen-year old Kailey Morgan gets into a horrific car accident right in front of her, and Sera accidentally takes over her body while trying to save her. For the first time, Sera finds herself enjoying the life of the person she's inhabiting--and falling in love with the boy who lives next door. But Cyrus will stop at nothing until she's his again, and every moment she stays, she's putting herself and the people she's grown to care about in danger. Will Sera have to give up the one thing that's eluded her for centuries: true love?

Personal Thoughts

I've been wanting to read The Alchemy Of Forever since some time now. After having read the summary, I knew that I had to have the book since the story sounded so original. I was honestly really hyped to grab a copy of this book!

 The book begins with Seraphina Ames, a young girl in the year 1349, attending a ball. There, she meets with Cyrus, a handsome boy who dazzles her. However, the night takes a deadly turn when Seraphina is stabbed. Cyrus then proceeds by giving her his concoction which results in Sera taking over someone else's body.
Seraphina is now immortal. Seraphina and the other incarnates, which include her best friend Charlotte and Cyrus, survive by stealing other people's body. They have done it for over 600 years. However, Seraphina begins to feel qualms of guilt for all the lives she has taken away. She no longer wants to be an Incarnate and be an immortal, so she takes drastic step of killing herself without informing anybody.Things don't go as planned and Seraphina ends up in the body of Kailey Morgan. She begins to like Kailey's life. Family and love aren't something that Sera has experienced since a long time. Meanwhile, Cyrus is looking for her.

Seraphina was the kind of main character who was consumed with guilt and that guilt formed a huge part of her life. I don't usually like such characters, but somehow I felt connected to her. I really felt for her. She had been through a lot what with Cyrus being so manipulative and controlling her every move and action. She was the quiet, but brave kind. I actually really enjoyed her point of view.

Noah was the sweet and nice boy who lived next door to Kailey. I found him to be really adorable. He was caring and very sensitive. However, I thought that author didn't really develop is character too much. I wanted to learn more about Noah and the lack of information about him left me unsatisfied.

The romance in the book between Noah and Seraphina felt rushed according to me. As a reader, I didn't sense any chemistry between them. I needed to know why the fell for each other. I needed to know more details about their relationship, but all this is not explored in The Alchemy Of Forever.

Cyrus was the creepy, manipulative and controlling according to Seraphina. He was somewhat of the leader of the Incarnates, because he 'made' them. Cyrus was yet another flaw in this book. I felt that he was a bit underdeveloped. We only get tiny bits of information about his character and I wanted to know what was really going on inside his head.

The same goes for Charlotte, Seraphina's best friend.

The plot sounded really original. It was a story that has never been told before.
I'll admit this book had great potential, but the story itself was too fast-paced and was a bit underdeveloped. We don't learn a lot about the world of the Incarnates apart from the basic stuff. I wished that there would have been a lot more details and explanations.

For a debut author, Avery Williams' writing was delightful. It was simple and easy to follow. The book was a bit too short for my liking though!
However, Avery William sure knows how to write a kicking cliffhanger!

Although The Alchemy Of Forever was lacking in certain departments, I look forward to reading the next installment hoping that it'll be a bit better than this one.

Overall, it was an okay read!

Rating

Cover : 4/5
Plot : 2/5
Characters : 3/5
Writing : 3/5