The Alchemy Trials Books in Order

The Alchemy Trials begins with one of those setups that is instantly sticky. In The Alchemary, Amber Fallbrook wakes up having lost the last two years of her life, including the time she spent studying at the prestigious Alchemary of Aethermere. That would be bad enough on its own. It gets worse because the deadly third-year Trials are close, and Amber has to somehow recover her knowledge before the school, or the Trials themselves, destroy her chances.

It is an academy story, but with teeth.

Amber is not entering a magical school full of wonder for the first time. She is trying to get back into one after something has clearly gone wrong. That changes the whole tone. Instead of discovery in the usual sense, the series opens with missing time, broken trust, and a constant sense that the people around Amber may know much more than she does. Even her closest allies, Wilder and Desmond Gregory, come with emotional complications and unanswered questions.

The school setting matters, of course. The Alchemary is demanding, competitive, and tied to a discipline that feels both technical and mystical. Vincent seems especially interested in the pressure of mastery here, what it means to build skill under extreme expectations, and how frightening it can be to realize you no longer trust your own memory in a place where mistakes can be costly. That gives the fantasy a strong mystery spine from the beginning.

At the same time, the series is clearly interested in relationships as much as curriculum. Amber's past with the Gregory brothers, and her uncertainty about what those connections became during the years she cannot remember, adds a personal layer to the school intrigue. So does the larger question of whether her amnesia is an accident, an attack, or part of something older inside the institution itself.

Because the series is just beginning, there is still a lot of room for the world to widen. But the core appeal is already clear. This is for readers who like fantasy schools, dangerous tests, hidden histories, and heroines who have to solve themselves before they can solve the larger puzzle. If that mix of fantasy, romance, and mystery sounds good, The Alchemary is the place to jump in.