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The Alchemy of Stone

By: Ekaterina Sedia
Narrated by: Eileen Stevens
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Publisher's summary

Mattie, an intelligent automaton skilled in the use of alchemy, finds herself caught in the middle of a conflict between gargoyles, the Mechanics, and the Alchemists. With the old order quickly giving way to the new, Mattie discovers powerful and dangerous secrets - secrets that can completely alter the balance of power in the city of Ayona. This doesn't sit well with Loharri, the Mechanic who created Mattie and still has the key to her heart - literally.

©2008 Ekaterina Sedia (P)2010 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Sedia's evocative third novel, a steampunk fable about the price of industrial development, follows Mattie, an emancipated automaton, as her home city is rent by conflict between alchemists and the mechanics whose clanking, steaming inventions are changing society....Sedia's exquisitely bleak vision deliberately skewers familiar ideas from know-it-all computers to talking statues desperate for souls, leaving readers to reach their own conclusions about the proper balance of tradition and progress and what it means to be alive." ( Publishers Weekly)

What listeners say about The Alchemy of Stone

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Dark gothic steampunk fantasy? Yes please

A very good surprise this one.
Picked it up from the plus catalogue, and it's worth it.
A very compeling story about possessiveness, relationships, humanity at it's best and at it's worst, racism, the cost of progress and conflict.
I really liked the story and how the world keeps going into darker and darker places. I liked the characters and specially Maddie, the clockwork protagonist.
Not super fan of the voices for the gargoyles, it's rough to listen to even if they seem appropiate.

A listen worth trying in my opinion.

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