Review: Highly imaginative fantasy from a master story teller!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 03 25, 2014
One of the things I like about the fantasy and paranormal genres is that these can take readers to worlds unknown and yet familiar. It thrusts them into a world filled with magic and magical creatures who live such adventurous and sometimes (well, most of the time), dangerous lives.In Double Alchemy, Susan Mac Nicol, an author well known for her contemporary, drama-filled and sometimes highly erotic books, has come up with a new twist to her style in story telling. She embarks upon a magical world that is dual in nature. Hence the title.Here, we have warlocks who, by age seven, undergo a psychological change with their acceptance of an immortal Withinner from a different time and space. This is a symbiotic relationship which amplifies both individuals' powers as well as keep them long-lived. One of the most formidable warlocks of his time, Quinn Fairmont, with his Withinner, Taliesin, is the Grand Master. He did not reach that esteemed position without sacrifice. He is powerful. He is ruthless. He is a leader who weighs his options always in favor of his people.He is a man with too many secrets and with those secrets come many enemies.Cade Mairston walks into the life of Quinn and there is an instant and irresistible attraction. He is immediately recognized by Quinn as someone not totally human. He is also blissfully ignorant of the paranormal world. With their affair burning new and bright, Cade is seen as the one weak spot of the Grand Master. As the flame between these two men burn hot, so does it burn for Taliesin.Then the killings begin. And these were violently heartbreaking. Vicious. Blatantly evil in its deadly act. The Witchfinder General has found it somehow easier to destroy Warlocks. With it and Quinn's arch nemesis lurking in the shadows, things get complicated and potentially fatal for both men, and Taliesin.This change in the plot sets the read to a different path. This is the point where the reader sits up and starts reevaluating.Double Alchemy is a conundrum. It's main character is actually two individuals which complicates the relationship with Cade making it a twisted form of menage. The setting itself is also curious. It is not steam punk, neither is it the fantasy world we are more accustomed to which entails either an alien world or a dystopic one. There are the magyckal and the paranormal beings, where magyck has to be paired to two individuals. It is a duality that complicates the whole art. It is symbiotic and essential.Reading this was an adventure. I am a fantasy addict and what I had to do for this read was to throw away and close the door on everything I thought I knew about this type of world. Ms Mac Nicol has created a familiar and yet intriguingly unfamiliar world and it can confuse. Add in the elements of the dual nature of warlocks and their relationships with their Withinners as well as their life partners, it can be pretty complicated. And yet it was simple in its complexity. It was  a highly imaginative, mystical, complex and fascinating read. It was unbelievably believable.Can't wait for the climax!