Portland author finds viral success with debut dark fantasy novel

The war is over, her side lost. But Helena Marino is still fighting.Marino is the main character of the new dark fantasy novel, “Alchemised,” by Portland author SenLinYu. The book follows a healer under interrogation in captivity in a time of war, exploring themes of women’s unrecognized labor and the violence of losing one’s autonomy. And if that already sounds dark, the story is also full of necromancy, magically altered memories and unflinching descriptions of the horrors of war.