Alchemised Prologue Reveal

An exclusive first look...

The manuscript is typeset, Advance Reader Editions printed, and over the last month early copies of Alchemised have begun quietly making their way into the hands of book industry folk.

Entering this new phase feels a bit like riding a rollercoaster as it reaches the peak of the first drop.

I must admit, I’m so accustomed to posting projects almost as soon as they’re finished, this process of having to keep things under wraps for practically eons has been a profound test of my fortitude. I’ll have news sometimes that makes me legitimately feel as if I might explode as I’m forced to live and breathe without saying anything.

It is most especially trying because everyone is SO curious, and I am terribly prone to going on and on when it comes to things like lore and my current research fixation. As a result, I have been forced to delete almost all my social media apps, because otherwise I risk compromising manuscript security by being too chatty about things I am not yet allowed to speak of.

All that to say, my dear publicist has taken pity upon my sad attempts at escaping my enclosure, and as a reward for my good behaviour (read: exhaustion from keeping me on a leash), has given me permission to share the prologue of Alchemised with everyone.

I truly hope you enjoy it, and stay tuned for more news in the coming weeks.

---

PROLOGUE

Helena wondered sometimes if she still had eyes. The darkness surrounding her never ended. She thought at first if she waited long enough, some glimmer of light would appear, or someone would come. Yet no matter how long she waited, there was nothing.

Just endless dark.

She had a body; she could feel it wrapped around her like a cage, but no amount of effort or determination could make it move. It floated inert and unresponsive except when jerking violently as the surges hit—jolts of electricity tearing through her, beginning at the base of her neck and making every muscle in her body seize violently. As suddenly as they came, they’d be gone. They were her only sense of time.

They were done to ensure her muscles couldn’t deteriorate altogether while she was in stasis. Helena remembered that detail. Remembered that she’d been placed there as a prisoner, kept preserved, but someday, someone would come for her.

At first, she’d counted the time in between surges to calculate their frequency. Second by second. Ten thousand, eight hundred. Every three hours without fail. Always the same. Then she’d counted the surges, but as the number grew and grew, she stopped, afraid to know.

She forced herself to focus on other things, not the wait. Not the endlessness. Not the dark. She had to wait, so she gave herself a routine to keep her mind fresh. Imagined walks. Cliffs and sky. Visited all the places she’d ever wandered. All the books she’d read.

She had to endure. To stay alert. That way she would be ready. She had to stay ready.

She would not let herself fade away.

Excerpt from ALCHEMISED by SenLinYu, copyright © 2025 by SenLinYu. Used by permission of Del Rey, an imprint of Random House Group, a division of Penguin Random House, LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.