The Alchemists of Loom (The Loom Saga)

Loom. This world is way more developed and complicated than the Air Awakens Series. And no, they are not related. The beginning of the book feels kind of slow because of all the descriptions and world building, I got a little annoyed about not knowing all the facts and being left to guess, but as the book progresses things start falling in place and I was eager to find out more.Fenthri and Dragons are the main races. A mix of both gives birth to a new one, Chimera. Dragons have magic and Fenthri don't, they used to live independent lives until the Dragon King used his entire forces to submit the Fenthri to his will. After that, the Fenthri are forced to live in casts or divisions, like Divergent.There are 3 main characters: Arianna, Cvareh and Florence.Arianna is Chimera, Cvareh a Dragon and Florence a Fenthri. Arianna and Florence are teacher/students/best friends with a really deep relationship. Cvareh is a Dragon in seek of ways to help overthrow the Dragon King's empire in order to put his sister on the throne. He seeks Arianna's help in order to get to the Alchemists and fulfill his purpose. These 3 have completely different personalities, they blend, they clash, they explode, they laugh, they forgive, they fight and somehow they start liking each other.There's magic, there's intelligence. This world feels futurist, we have metal, flying things, color, I pictured this as a 5th element kind of environment.I feel Elise Kova has grown a lot in this book. The way she writes, I saw no grammatical errors, they sentiment she put on each character, she even made me like Leona! And thankfully this doesn't end in a horrible cliffhanger. I was truly entertained.

I have no idea why I didn’t like The Alchemists of Loom more. It has a lot of the elements I want out of a book… but for whatever reason, it just never landed.Once Loom was a free world, but then it was conquered by the Dragons in the world above, the cloud filled Nova. Ari knows that direct resistance to the Dragons’ rule is futile but she fights against them the ways she can: from the shadows and as a thief. Cvareh is a Dragon who’s stolen plans from the king and fled down to the realm below, hoping to get to the Alchemist’s Guild, the only group who could possibly help his family over throw the reigning house. He’s pursued by the king’s guards with orders to kill, and the only thing that saves him is running into Ari. They make a deal. She’ll help get him to the Alchemist’s Guild, and in return, he’ll give her a boon.First off, the world building. I love fantasy world building, and I’m always looking for well constructed, imaginative settings. In this regard, The Alchemists of Loom really should have been perfect for me. The story contains two different worlds (one on floating islands in the sky, another on the shadowy ground) that were both fairly well realized. I also liked that they’re undergoing an industrial revolution instead of being stuck in the medieval stasis of so many fantasy settings. It gives it a bit of a steampunk vibe, although I wouldn’t classify it as steampunk.However, I think I wanted to get more of a sense of the culture and society of the Loom. It took me a long while to figure out the functions of the five different guilds, and I would still liked to have seen more of how family structure and such worked. I feel like I never got a complete picture.Regarding the characters, I liked them okay but never felt super attached to them. Again, some of them fit into the categories of characters I usually like! Ari is competent, driven, and doesn’t have a trace of “Not Like Other Girls” about her. In fact, her most significant relationship is her mentorship/friendship with her apprentice Florence. Oh, and Ari’s bisexual, one of the things that initially drove me to read the book. I’m not sure how I feel about the tragically dead girlfriend in her backstory though. Since it’s not about a man, I wouldn’t call it fridging, but I’m still tired of tragically dead girlfriends as character motivation.For the first eighty percent of the book or so, the plot didn’t excite me much either. It’s mostly a pursuit story. Ari, Florence, and Cvareh are trying to get to the Alchemist’s Guild; the King’s guards are chasing them. Dangerous situations and fights ensue, and Ari and Cvareh reluctantly learn to trust each other. I have a feeling their relationship arc is heading towards the “enemies to lovers” trope. The good news is that towards the end of the book, there were some pretty good plot twists. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to make me change my mind about not reading the sequel.Again, I have no idea why I didn’t like this one more! It has elements I’m primed to enjoy, but it just never inspired me to keep reading.

The Alchemists of Loom is the first book in the Loom Saga by author Elise Kova. The Loom Saga is a young adult high fantasy series that I have completely fallen in love with. You know the feeling you get when you pick up a book by a new to you author- you are excited and hopeful that the book will be excellent. (but also a little nervous because you want to enjoy the novel so badly…and what if you don’t. What if you are the person that the book didn’t work for.) But then, as you read, the story exceeds all of your expectations. You completely fall in love with the characters and the story and the world. And then you finish the book and you find out that the author has SO MANY OTHER BOOKS! Multiple series with multiple books written. It is like stumbling on to a gold mine. That is what discovering Elise Kova felt like to me. She dropped a gold mine in my lap! And I couldn’t be happier about it.I loved everything about The Alchemists of Loom. I loved the characters. I loved that it was written in multiple perspectives. I beyond loved the world and the magic system. I even loved the tiny speck of romance to come. (which by the way is huge for me. For me to love a book that has little to no romance in it is a big deal for me as a reader.) The Alchemists of Loom was a complete hit for me. I am already reading book 2, The Dragons of Nova and loving it as well.In the Alchemists of Loom we are introduced to two worlds. The sky realm of Nova and the ground world of Loom. Dragons inhabit Nova and Fenhri, Chimera and Alchemists inhabit. The Dragons of Nova rule over both of the worlds. I loved the complex world, magic and caste system put in place. And it was pretty complex. In Nova there are different dragon houses and many different levels within each house. In Loom, the alchemists are divided into different guilds, which are linked to different trades. The guilds are branded into the Fen’s faces. Our main characters are Ari, an unmarked chimera known as the White Wraith. And Cvareh a dragon on a secret mission. I am not going to tell you anything more than that because The Alchemists of Loom was really a delight to read and discover for myself. I love Elise Kova’s writing style. She does drop you in the middle of this intricate world, but she shows it to you in really organic bits and pieces.Ari and Cvareh are fantastic. I loved watching the development of their relationship. It was so fantastic. I am rooting so incredibly hard for these two, you have no idea. I especially loved their stark differences, which turned into similarities as the book progressed. It was really something to behold. Dragons are very showy. They love bright colors and are very fashion forward. Ari on the other hand, is not. She is as her name suggests- white and grey in everything about her. Ari and Cvareh are so special, both in their unique abilities but also in their fierceness. I love how badass Ari is. It is so nice to see such a strong female character.It is really hard to do justice to this book in a short review. The adventure Ari, Florence and Cvareh set out on is so exciting, the magic fascinated me and I love the politics of the two worlds. I am itching for more in this series and more from Elise Kova in general. I need to buy all of her Air Awakens series because I am addicted to her writing. The Alchemists of Loom is one of my favorite reads of 2017 and the Loom Saga is shaping up to be on of my favorite fantasy series. This is a book you do not want to miss.

My first real forray into anything Steampunk and let me tell you I was very impressed.Such an immersive world. I loved Ari and her confidence. She doesn't give a damn and fights for what she believes in.I loved the juxtaposition between the human world and the dragons. Its so different but still the age old problem of greed.I love this series so much.Highly recommend to anyone.

The worlds of Loom and Nova may be within touching distance but they couldn't be more different. The fenthri, who make their home on Loom, are a society of workers who are always striving to learn and create new technology. Their people are split into five different guilds, each with a different speciality, but the guilds always used to work together and people were free to choose their own paths, that is until the dragons from Nova came down from the skies and took control. Now the guild structure has become more rigid, you are born into you guild and if you fail to pass the tests to qualify then you will die, no second chances and no other options. The dragons are much stronger and more powerful than the fenthri but they rely on their magic to get things done so they've never really focused their energy on creating or building. If it wasn't for the fenthri the dragons wouldn't even have the ability to reach Loom but once they arrived they were quick to use their superior strength to take over, the guilds are strictly regulated and they must follow orders sent by the king of the dragons or they will be destroyed.Ari is old enough to remember a time before the dragon king's rule, she lost everything when the Guild's resistance failed and now she's made it her life's mission to do whatever she can to disrupt the dragons. Ari is a totally kickass character, she's more powerful than most fenthri (for reasons I won't go into here) and she's a skilled fighter as well as a master at creating weapons and explosives. Known only as the White Wraith Ari will take any job as long as it disrupts dragon plans and she thrives on causing them as many problems as possible. It is when she's on one of these jobs that her path crosses with Cvareh and her immediate instincts when confronted with a dragon is to kill him and harvest his organs. Cvareh is on an important mission of his own though and he offers her a boon (a powerful magical promise) if she will help him reach the alchemists guild. The last thing Ari wants is to work with a dragon, she knows from experience they can't be trusted, but the boon could be her one big chance to cause major damage to the dragon king so she reluctantly agrees.The Alchemists of Loom does kind of throw readers into the deep end, Elise Kova has created a complex world that it takes time to get to grips with but it's well worth the effort and I loved the way the story dives straight into the action. It's clear from the very beginning that Ari is a fierce warrior bent on revenge against the dragons who subjugate her people, she's quite a prickly character who is wary of strangers and has very little interest in making friends because she is so focused on destroying the dragons. At the same time she is also intensely protective of her young assistant and protege Florence and that makes it easier to like her. Flor is the only one who brings out Ari's softer side and I loved the sisterly relationship between the two of them. It's obvious that Flor hero worships Ari and wants to be just like her but because she's not suffered the same things as Ari she is more open and far less jaded. She's fiercely intelligent and almost as skilled as Ari at creating weapons but she's also the one who brings a bit of lightness to the series and I just loved her character.Cvareh is the youngest son of House Xin, the least powerful of the dragon families on Nova. His older sister has a lot of ambition though and she has sent Cvareh on a mission to Loom to secure an alliance with the alchemists guild against the dragon king. He is fiercely loyal to his sister and his family but he looks down on the fenthri and definitely doesn't consider Ari and Flor his equals. It took a while for me to warm up to Cvareh as he could be a little cold and distant but both he and Ari learn and grow a lot on their journey so it becomes much easier to root for them both as individuals and as a potential couple. There is a lot going on with this story, not only the gradual introduction of the incredible world that the author has created but also learning more about Ari's background and the secret mission Cvareh is on. There are some quite dark parts to the world (as you might have guessed when Ari considered harvesting Cvareh's organs the first time they met!) but there are more lighthearted moments too and there are some brilliant friendships and strong bonds too.This was my first book by Elise Kova but it definitely won't be the last, I can't wait to pick up the sequel The Dragons of Nova and explore the dragon's home and I'm definitely going to be checking out her Air Awakens series too!

I liked it but it was really annoying to find it ended in mid-event with no attempt to bring it to any kind of conclusion. When I buy book 1 of a saga, I expect it to be a complete book, not an unfinished part of a bigger book. Just seems lazy to me. Or as if the author has no confidence that her writing will make you want to buy more and stops the book in the middle to manipulate you into buying the next installment.It was good though, with well realised characters and colourful world building. Interesting magical ideas and a touch of steam punk, all quite fun. Dragons who sound more like vampires - what's that all about?Well I don't know if I'll buy the sequel and find out. I'll wait and see how much I want to know what happens next.

4.5⭐️I absolutely loved this book, the world-building, the characters, the plot. Such a unique world!I have never read a steampunk fantasy before, so I didn't really know what to expect.The book follows multiple perspectives, which I personally enjoy but I know some readers don't.Our main character Ari is such a strong character, she is loyal and kick-ass, one of my favourite characters of 2017.The plot was very fast paced and even though the book is nearly 400 pages, I flew through this in a couple of days!Arianna is also Bi which a such a plus! We have such a shortage of LGBTQ+ representation, especially in fantasy, so it's a great thing to see.Highly recommend picking this up if it sounds like something you would enjoy!

I received this for free in exchange for an honest review!I really enjoyed it. The concept was so unique that it was like a breath of fresh air reading it. The characters were so intriguing and the plot was so good! It was a little slow at some times but those were rare, the pacing was generally pretty on point.My only main problem was the world building, which I'll go into more detail later, but we're thrust into this world with not a lot of explanation. It becomes clearer as the book goes on but I worry it would be enough to make some people DNF the book. I'd say give it a try because it definitely is a very interesting read.