【 ALCHEMY OF SECRETS 】

Genre: Fantasy (low fantasy)
Audience: Adult
Author: Stephanie Garber
Published: October 2025
Publisher: Gollancz
Pages: 324 (paperback)

This was super duper fabulous right up until the ending, and then things were a little too open-ended for my liking. Which is where the stars have been knocked off – we were full-steam ahead to the five-star rating up until that point.

Ending aside, I found this to be a fascinating read. The Hollywood setting and mystery surrounding the plot was very engaging. We follow a girl whose past we know holds a few more secrets than the reader is immediately allowed to know, who gets tangled up in the myth and lore of Hollywood legends.

I really liked this left-of-centre approach to myth. Rather than it being a well-known tale (to my knowledge, anyway) these were legends taught at an unusual university class – a class you can’t apply to and have to secretly find your way into. And for personal reasons, she gets super invested into proving whether these legends are true or not.

I don’t want to give too much away of the plot, but we end up in an epic time-crunch and with some massive trust issues as she races the clock to resolve all the problems she’s walked into. It’s epic, it’s original, and it’s page-turning stuff.

Where I ended up feeling a bit “oh” was the resolution. The trust issues that I mentioned are not resolved in a satisfying manner (or at all, really). We spend much of the book pinging between two other characters trying to “help” out, and things are repeatedly turned on their heads leaving the reader in the lurch and unable to guess at who is telling the truth. But that is never revealed (and good lord, I hate it when these sort of KEY plot elements are left hanging).

That, and, I just didn’t get the ending. There’s nothing I hate more than reading the final page of a book, finding myself going “wait, what”, rereading it, and feeling none the clearer. I feel really unsatisfied by the ending and had so many questions left unanswered. Which is a frustrating position to be in when you’ve absolutely loved the book right up until that point.

Whether I recommend this or not? Hard to say. Some people get along with open-ended endings. And I want you to read it so you can report straight back to me about what heck you think happened when you’re done. But considered yourself warned of a subpar ending.

Title: Alchemy of Secrets
Author: Stephanie Garber
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It starts with a class in an old movie theater.

Folklore 517: Local Legends and Urban Myths, taught by a woman called the Professor. Most students believe the Professor’s stories are just fiction, but Holland St. James has always been convinced that magic is real. When she tracks down a local legend named the Watch Man, who can supposedly tell you when you’ll die, the world finally makes sense. Except that the Watch Man tells her she will die at midnight tomorrow unless she finds an ancient object called the Alchemical Heart.

With the clock ticking, Holland is pulled deeper into this magical world in the heart of Los Angeles—and into the path of a magnetic stranger. Everything about him feels like a bad idea, but he promises Holland that her sister sent him to protect her. As they chase clues and stories that take them closer to the Alchemical Heart, Holland realizes everyone in this intoxicating new world is lying to her, even this stranger. And if she can’t figure out whom to trust, not even the Alchemical Heart will save her.