Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Magic and machinations abound in bestselling YA author Lu's vibrant adult debut (after Icon and Inferno), the first in her New Alchemists series. In the 1980s, a pair of alchemists succeeded in creating the Philosopher's Stone and distilled it into a powerful drug called sand, which "enhances everything about who you are." The use of this performance-enhancing drug underpinned the creative tech boom of the decades that followed and led to the development of fabulously wealthy, fiercely competitive, often criminal, and deeply secretive alchemical guilds. In present-day Angel City, two childhood friends keep parallel secrets: Ari was recruited away from his family in India to train with the powerful Lumines syndicate as a master of charisma; Sam's search for a solution to her single mom's financial desperation led her to discover an aptitude for transformations and become a star student within rival syndicate Grand Central. Lu puts these two on a collision course as they both rise in the ranks of their respective organizations, whose violence against each other simultaneously ramps up. Lu builds a rich alternate present that pulls tropes from both magic school and crime drama literary traditions to tell an addictive double "chosen one" story that successfully keeps readers' sympathies divided. It's truly enthralling. Agent: Kristin Nelson, Nelson Literary. (Oct.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
YA author Lu ("Legend" series) makes her adult debut with this launch of a gritty, contemporary fantasy series set in an alternate Los Angeles. In this world, alchemy exists, although most people know nothing of the magic and power that trained alchemists can wield. However, everyone greedily consumes one of the alchemists' most notable creations--sand, a drug derived from the philosopher's stone, which enhances a person's attributes. The manufacture and distribution of sand is handled by crime syndicates across the world, with Lumines and Grand Central dominating Angel City. In order to survive and protect their impoverished families, both Ari and Samantha are pulled into learning alchemy and working for rival syndicates, Ari for Lumines and Sam for Grand Central. Their skills quickly move them into the syndicates' inner circles. However, their childhood friendship (which was almost something more) complicates things as a bloody war brews between Lumines and Grand Central, and their loyalties are tested. Lu has created a well-developed world of wondrous magic and terrifying brutality, populated with absorbingly complex characters. VERDICT Lu's writing feels like alchemy as her words form an utterly gripping and heartrending story.--Melissa DeWild
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
Two children are scouted as promising prospects for opposing magical syndicates in Lu's urban fantasy. Samantha Lang is the daughter of a Chinese immigrant working around the clock to make ends meet in Angel City, California. Her classmate Ari, a boy from Gujarat, India, seems to be the only person who really sees her. They pass each other notes, sharing their feelings but not the specifics of their lives. When Sam's mother loses her job, Sam is so desperate that she seeks out the fabulously wealthy Diamond Taylor, a local celebrity who has a reputation for making things happen. Sam isn't sure what to ask for, but it certainly isn't what she gets: When she's discovered following Diamond's entourage out of a fancy theater, she finds herself initiated into the world of alchemy. As it turns out, there's a secret society of people who are able to tap into the power of their own souls to transmute one substance into another. The popular drug called sand, which is known for making people the best version of themselves, is secretly a product of alchemy. Sand is worth so much money that syndicates--organized groups of alchemists--are in deep competition with each other to produce it. As Sam grows up, so do tensions between Diamond's syndicate, Grand Central, and its main rival, Lumines. Years after their time passing notes in school, Sam and Ari discover that they have both been trained as alchemists, and they are on opposite sides of the upcoming war between Grand Central and Lumines. Lu's magical system of alchemy is straightforward and clever--for example, a person can fight by transmuting a piece of a table into a knife, and they can hurt an enemy by transmuting the water in their body into vapor. But even more than the inventive action sequences, Lu beautifully depicts Sam and Ari's experiences as outsiders in the world of wealth and privilege. Ari as an immigrant, and Sam as the daughter of an immigrant, both have a lot to lose, and their precarity is weaponized against them as they are weaponized against each other. Both heartbreaking and action-packed: an immense achievement. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
