Lit Witches: A Fantasy Book Podcast
'Alchemised' by SenLinYu, and how a 1000-page gothic fantasy epic became a record-breaking bestselling book
09 Mar 2026
Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
This podcast is recorded and produced on Cammeraygal country. We acknowledge the traditional custodians and the first storytellers of this land and pay our respects to elders past and present. In this episode of Lit Witches we will be discussing Alchemised, which includes some dark themes such as complex trauma, suicidal ideation and sexual assault that may not be comfortable for every listener.
Chapter 2: What inspired SenLinYu to transition from fan fiction to traditional publishing?
It's one of those lines that on the first read you kind of go, oh yeah, okay, that's a bit sad and then like the more you think about it it's like,
oh yeah okay that was that's genius I think it definitely hit me while I was reading it but definitely not in the same way it's like because you turn the page you're kind of expecting more and you're like oh that's the end oh my god how do I feel about that and now coming to it I was really out loud and I was like don't but it feels so much more when you've had time to sit with it yeah for me it was three days later in the shower oh kind of the layers came out I'm like
Oh, it hasn't been three days for me yet, so I think I'm still like, you know.
Chapter 3: How does 'Alchemised' explore dark themes and trauma?
I'll come visit you tomorrow and see if you're weeping softly.
Hello and a very warm welcome to Lit Witches, the podcast for fantasy readers, writers and all things in between. I'm your host Adelaide Jensen and this episode I'm joined by Lily Crozier and Vishali Sushadri.
Chapter 4: What unique challenges does a 1000-page epic present?
Welcome to the podcast.
Chapter 5: How is the magic system structured in 'Alchemised'?
Hello. I'm so excited to have you both here. Lily is an author, marketer, TikTok star with a true dedication to enemies to lovers. And Vishali is our fantasy apprentice who would sell her soul to a demon for a festival ticket. On today's roundtable, we'll be discussing Alchemized by Sin Lin Yu and the dark fantasy genre. As always, let's start with a little icebreaker game.
If you were in a fantasy world, what would your ideal magic power be? Silence.
Chapter 6: What role does the class divide play in the story?
Silence.
Oh, my gosh. Invisibility? I don't know. Why? I don't want to be perceived.
Because you just would not want to find yourself in a fantasy world so hard that you're like, I'm not here.
Yeah, like, get me out of here. Because you think you'd just be immediately murdered. Maybe. I think I could just do cool stuff and be a fly on the wall and just... I've always wanted to have invisibility, so that's where that comes from. It's not really fantasy related.
I wish we had the time to psychologically delve into that.
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Chapter 7: Can morally grey characters like Kaine ever be redeemed?
Lily? I reckon I'd have telekinesis.
Chapter 8: What are the favorite fantasy tropes discussed in this episode?
Probably... I can't think of an actual, tangible, practical use for it other than just lying on the sofa and making things move around as appropriate. But I also don't think I would be doing too many high intensity adventures in a fantasy world, I think I would still be on the sofa in the fantasy world.
Yeah, you're still just like, bring me my tea. All right, well, it's time for us to get chatting. And then we did mention at the top of this episode, Alchemized has some confronting themes. So do think about your own personal safety while you're listening. Sen Lin Yu is the internationally bestselling author of Alchemized, which is their debut novel.
Their online works have been downloaded over 20 million times and have been translated into 23 languages. Alchemised is our story, which focuses on Helena, the sole survivor of a doomed rebellion. To uncover the memories buried deep within her mind, Helena is sent to the High Reeve, one of the most powerful and ruthless necromancers in this new world.
Helena must fight for her life to protect secrets that even she herself cannot remember. As the truth starts to come out, Helena is left to question everything about her past and her reality. The bulk of this chat, as always, will be spoiler free and then we will move into our After Dark segment where everything is on the line.
We will note some timestamps in the show notes for you in case you want to avoid that section. Well, let's get started. As most people probably know, Alchemised was originally a fan fiction. It started its life that way. And Lily, you were a fan of that story. Tell us, you must have been so excited when it made its way into the traditional fantasy publishing world.
I was. I was so excited. The second it was announced, like, I remember sending emails to people being like, guys, guys, you've got to pay attention to this book. Yeah, it was, I think anyone who was around in the sort of fandom for Sending You at the time was excited. very, very mindful of, I suppose, the gap in the market as fan fictions were becoming adapted for traditional publishing.
There was always the question of how come this one hasn't? And so we were all so excited to find out how it had been adapted and how it was going to be transformed into its own entirely new work. And it has, they've done such a good job creating a whole new world. And so that was what I was really looking for in when I was reading this for the first time, which was actually quite a while ago now.
And yeah, I mean, since done such a good job. But what is interesting now looking back is that these are two works I hold completely separately in my mind, but occasionally because the plot points and the plot progression is quite similar, occasionally I do catch myself going, wait a second, was this from the old version or is this from this one? And so it's too similar, but...
Totally different works that I have to hold in my head at the same time.
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