A rather Literary suspense fantasy with pretensions of SF. Intense in some ways, but not really easy to get into. Some readers will absolutely love it and wonder why the rest of us aren't so impressed. 3.5 stars. ( )

Roland’s teacher blackmails him into spying on his classmate, the solitary and faintly mysterious Jessica Ferret. Roland and Jess strike up an unlikely alliance that gradually shifts as Roland grows ever more dissatisfied with his pretence at a normal life. As their friendship deepens, rival magicians close in on them. It’s a slightly psychedelic YA novel that deals with teenage identities and family more than magic. ( )

It seemed kind of unstructured at first, but by a third of the way through the threads were pulling together, and I was drawn right in. This book had some strong similarities to The Changeover, in characterization, imagery, and themes. The Changeover is a much more well-formed story, but I still found Alchemy quite enjoyable. ( )

thank you Margaret Mahy. ( )

Margaret Mahy’s urban fantasy really feels like the blurring of two somethings which are distinct and you think they shouldn’t be able to blur together, and then they do, and you (or rather, I), think, Ohhh… The fantasy seems to creep up on reality in a way which is both alluring and disturbing, but it never takes over, and the urban is not just a setting for the fantasy, but an integral part of the plot. Domesticity – family life, school – given depth and insight and importance. I always find something so completely grounding about this – it feels like a world I know very well, a world I maybe walk past or walk through regularly even if it isn’t quite the one I inhabit.

Alchemy reminds me a little of The Changeover but from another perspective; this time, it is a boy who is changing and becoming aware of a supernatural world which is beneath the surface of the one he thinks he lives in. It’s also about family, and power, and relationships, and I liked the way the pieces of the story fitted together – the everyday with the fantastical. I didn’t always like Roland, but I liked how he quoted “Childe Roland to the dark tower came”, and how his chosen quotation came to be more appropriate as the story went on. I liked Jess, with her spoonerisms and word play. I like the way Mahy writes.
It wasn’t exceptionally memorable and it wasn’t the best book I’ve read all year, but I liked it well enough.

“You’ve got all nosy about me for some reason, and you thought I’d fall at your feet with the flattery of being seen – the battery of fleeing scene,” she added, more to herself than to Roland, as if she were testing her own nonsense for unexpected meanings. “Dream on, Fairfield! I’d rather flee the scene, and the battery of the flattery too.”
“Why do you do that?” asked Roland curiously.
“Do what?” she asked, turning with a small measuring cup of ground coffee in her hand.
“Twist words around,” he replied.
“I like trying them out in different ways,” Jess said. “I like spoonerisms… named after Reverend Spooner who used to do it by accident.” ( )