The Alchemists of Loom (Loom Saga, #1)

by Elise Kova

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Complex worlds are a beautiful thing to read about, if there is Fantasy involved, going all the way should be a given thought process. Now if only there was no awful romance in this book, it would’ve been perfect for me.

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I have no issues when there are classic fantasy elements at play in my readings but when an author goes to the length of creating a whole new world for me to indulge in while adding aspects of it that makes it complex with depth and more interesting things coming up as we go along, it earns a thumbs up from me. Elise Kova showed me a brilliant world in Alchemists of Loom, I absolutely love it when there are guilds or rather a group of people specialized in a certain thing in books or any piece of entertainment I consume, it makes it all the more fun and raises the chances of seeing hidden possibilities as we continue in the story. This book doesn’t have it in the same extent so far but it has enough special things going for it in the “creations” and the “sources of said creations” that I can only wish for more in depth information on the abilities and functions of all of them.

The plot line includes a journey and if there’s anything to know about me then it’s that I love journeys. Seeing the characters make their way from point A to B is the easiest and most effective way of world building and putting your characters through enough instances to invoke growth. While the world building part is not excessive, Elise Kova does go deeper with things that matter to the narrative in that moment but other than that, there are no extra things to read about that won’t be used later on, frankly it was not needed for me, what she provides is more than enough for me to connect the dots and build this world in my head to see the journey through. Growth on the other hand was a more felt notion given the instances we had to go through with them, some got it more than others, some were more subtle than the rest and there are some that are a definite work in progress to be seen very soon.

Of course it’s kind of weird to talk about growth before the characters isn’t it? Arianna was a delight to read about, she’s the first female character that I read about in a VERY long time where she claims to be all those amazing things and she brings them to the table without any holds barred. Even when the expected romance came into play, it didn’t change her battle prowess in the slightest, she was still focused and more importantly a powerful force to be reckoned with. Florence was a nice addition as well, felt like she’s bridging the gaps between Fenthri and Dragon whenever she interacted with Arianna or Cvareh that I really enjoyed seeing what else she’s up to and definitely where she’s going to go from here on out. Cvareh was probably the least one I liked to read the POV of, all of the characters were stereotypical in some way for sure but for him in particular there wasn’t anything that interesting about him that I couldn’t predict would happen at some point in the story so I couldn’t enjoy it much.

The romance part of this book however, ruins it a lot for me. I dislike it when the attraction in anything is built on the cliche ideas of “forbidden”, “new” or “strange” but I absolutely hate it when its basis is animalistic in nature instead. I can never get behind a romance where the two parties do nothing but buttheads, who in their mind would ever want to BE with someone who just annoys them? I don’t understand it and I don’t see how it could ever be a thing either. Now if it was just like how their interactions turned into later on in the book with a makeshift friendship built on earned respect and an opened mind to the other side of this conflict, it would’ve been so much better for me.

Thankfully this book is only the first in the series and I’m definitely going to be continuing it, while wishing that the romance remains to the bear minimum in the upcoming novels. Who knows though? Maybe I’ll end up seeing that it could work now that it might be built on the relationship I mentioned earlier but we’ll see. I’m still going to hope for a focus on the more important and interesting things to me though 🙃

Final rating: 3.5/5