The Alchemy of Forever by Avery Williams

Title: The Alchemy of Forever
Author: Avery Williams
Release Date: January 3rd, 2012
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Pages: 256
Format: Hardcover
Acquired: Bought
Interest: Series
Age Group: Young Adult
Rating: 3 Stars

Seraphina's first love made her immortal...her second might get her killed.Incarnation is a new series that introduces a fresh mythology perfect for fans of bestselling series like The Immortals by Alyson Noel and Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl.

After spending six hundred years on earth, Seraphina Ames has seen it all. Eternal life provides her with the world's riches, but at a very high price: innocent lives. Centuries ago, her boyfriend, Cyrus, discovered a method of alchemy that allows them to swap bodies with other humans, jumping from one vessel to the next, taking the human's life in the process. No longer able to bear the guilt of what she's done, Sera escapes from Cyrus and vows to never kill again.

Then sixteen-year-old Kailey Morgan gets into a horrific car accident right in front of her, and Sera accidentally takes over her body. For the first time, Sera finds herself enjoying the life of the person she's inhabiting--and falls for the human boy who lives next door. But Cyrus will stop at nothing until she's his again, and every moment she stays, she's putting herself and the people she's grown to care for in great danger. Will Sera have to give up the one thing that's eluded her for centuries: true love?

When I first bought this book I failed to look at the reviews. Throughout the entire thing I kept thinking to myself, "What is she doing? Why is she doing this? I don't get it." And I think that was my main problem with this book. Williams is a beautiful writer, but she doesn't exactly capture Sera in the way that helps the reader connect to her. I felt like I was watching a movie and not really in the action itself.

Sera's intentions are very noble; I could not imagine what it would be like to live 600 hundred years, but at the same time I think that there are a lot of things that she doesn't understand about Cyrus or herself or her very existence.

I think that there was a lot of room for character development. I was shocked by how small the book was, because I didn't really pay attention to the page numbers. Just the size of it and the type of story that Williams is trying to bring out is not meeting up. I mean, the author basically goes, here's point A, point B, point C - go. It was like the surface of the story was being scratched and a reader can't go into the very meat of it. If I were to live 600 hundred years I would have a lot to say, and I'm not saying that Williams has to run on and on about everything but there is room for improvement.

Now, what I did like about this novel is that it was very original. I wish that Williams had been able to make the readers dislike Cyrus a little more if he was such a monster that Sera describes him as. I loved the ending, talk about a cliff hanger. And I really liked how Sera and Noah's relationship was developing. I hate insta-romance type stuff, so that there was some actual connecting going on helped me believe the story a little.

Overall, it has some kinks I think should be worked out, but it still keeps the reader. It's a quick read, I finished this in less than two hours in one sitting. So just in case anyone wants to get another book off their reading goal, this is one to go to because you'll be done before you know it. It was enjoyable in some areas, but I say give this book a chance, hopefully the next book will be even better.