If you’ve been following us for awhile, you know I’m definitely a fan of fantasy books. A Golden Fury was one that caught my eye and I was definitely excited to join the tour hosted by TBR and Beyond Tours. Today I’m going to tell you what I thought of this book. There’s also a tour giveaway going for US readers. Keep on reading to find out more!

A Golden Fury by Samantha Cohoe
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Publishing Date: October 13, 2020

In her debut novel A Golden Fury, Samantha Cohoe weaves a story of magic and danger, where the streets of Oxford and London come to life, and the curse of the Philosopher’s Stone will haunt you long after the final chapter.

Thea Hope longs to be an alchemist out of the shadow of her famous mother. 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.

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. With the threat of the French Revolution looming, Thea is sent to Oxford for her safety, to live with the father who doesn’t know she exists.

But in Oxford, there are alchemists after the Stone who don’t believe Thea’s warning about the curse—instead, they’ll stop at nothing to steal Thea’s knowledge of how to create the Stone. But Thea can only run for so long, and soon she will have to choose: create the Stone and sacrifice her sanity, or let the people she loves die.

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Review

Lately I’ve really been enjoying stories that take place quite some time ago and A Golden Fury fit that perfectly taking place in the late 18th century. Even though this was a fantasy, I really enjoyed the little pieces of history that are in this story. It’s something that really interests me and a nice added touch.

Our main character Thea is a strong main character and very smart. Her mother is an alchemist and has been trying to figure out how to create the philosopher’s stone. Things don’t go as planned and she’s determined to do it herself. I really enjoyed Thea as a character. She has to overcome a lot of obstacles, especially as a woman, in this setting, but she doesn’t let that stop her at all! It’s clear she wasn’t planning on sitting around and act like how society thought women should act. And why should she?!? She was very smart and should use her knowledge.

A Golden Fury is pretty fast-paced and I loved the adventure and magic we get in this book. It’s a darker story and has elements I wasn’t always expecting. The cast of characters is actually quite interesting and I enjoyed seeing the development throughout the story! If I’m honest, I could’ve done a bit without the romance element in this story, but all in all, I highly recommend this debut fantasy. Samantha Cohoe is an author to keep an eye on!

Tour Schedule

During this tour there are a lot of amazing bloggers and bookstagrammers participating. If you want to check out there posts as well, click here for the full schedule.

Giveaway (US Only)

One reader has the chance to win a finished copy of A Golden Fury. The giveaway ends on October 20th. Click here to enter.

About the Author

Samantha Cohoe was raised in San Luis Obispo, California, where she enjoyed an idyllic childhood of beach trips, omnivorous reading, and writing stories brimming with adverbs. She attended Thomas Aquinas College, a Great Books college in California, and graduated with a BA in liberal arts. After studying Philosophical Theology at Yale Divinity School, she decided academia wasn’t for her.

In the midst of marriage, child-bearing, and the identity crisis that followed, she rediscovered her early love of writing and adverbs. In 2011, she moved with her family to Denver, where she currently divides her time between teaching Latin, mothering, writing, reading, and deleting adverbs.

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I haven’t read many books about the philosopher’s stone, but I loved the take on it in A Golden Fury. This was a great debut book and I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on this author for new releases!