While combing through her mother's notes, Thea learns that there's a curse on the Stone that causes anyone who tries to make it to lose their sanity. The two of them are close to creating the legendary Philosopher's Stone-whose properties include immortality and can turn any metal into gold-but just when the promise of the Stone's riches is in their grasp, Thea's mother destroys the Stone in a sudden fit of violent madness. Thea Hope longs to be an alchemist out of the shadow of her famous mother.

It's obvious, though, that Thea will not fall prey to the Stone's manipulation, and a satisfying ending sees her setting off to pursue her own scientific interests.In her debut novel A Golden Fury, Samantha Cohoe weaves a story of magic and danger, where the curse of the Philosopher's Stone will haunt you long after the final page. Thea is ambitious and analytical, narrating even her descent into madness with an inquisitive tone of scientific observation (except when her lucidity lapses) her calm, collected descriptions of the black figure that begins to nightly haunt her rooms make those scenes even more chilling. Cohoe situates the supernatural among the historical, referencing the French Revolution and the Enlightenment (and the many classist and sexist hypocrisies within) while nonetheless keeping a sense of urgency as Thea struggles with the magical, demonic pull of the Stone.

Thea is determined to pursue the Stone for her own reasons, and she's willing to risk the madness that her mother suffered.

After a violent attack Thea must flee again, though, this time to her childhood love, but he too turns out to be a cad, forcing her to create the Stone to pay off his debts. He's not particularly interested in her existence, but, as an alchemist himself, he's quite interested in her notes about the Stone. In 1792, Thea's mother is the greatest alchemist in France, but her attempt to fashion the Philosopher's Stone costs her her sanity, and seventeen-year-old Thea finds herself on her way to England to find a father she has never met. ISBN 9781250220417 $9.99 Reviewed from digital galleys R Gr.

A golden fury