Editorial Content for Red City

Marie Lu, the bestselling author of books for young adults, makes her adult debut with RED CITY, a picture-perfect mashup of the crime syndicate drama of The Godfather and the dark academia allure of NINTH HOUSE. This first entry in her New Alchemists series invites readers into a glittering alternate Los Angeles, where alchemy is but a cousin of chemistry, and its practitioners rule the city…and its wealth.

At its heart, RED CITY is about two fated children, each plucked from obscurity, poverty and neglect. Their resilient, powerful young souls are identified by their cities’ alchemists as worthy of something more. For Samantha “Sam” Lang, this means a reprieve from lonely nights awaiting her mother’s return from long hours with little pay. It’s a chance to better their circumstances and finally make her mother proud. Raised in Angel City, Sam spends long days alone while her mother slaves away at a restaurant that is mysteriously frequented by elegantly suited men who wear golden fox broaches on their lapels.

Gifted with a photographic memory and an eerie ability to remain unseen and unnoticed, Sam latches on to the men’s discussion of “Will Taylor,” the son of the city’s richest businesswoman, Diamond Taylor; of the Lumines and their leader, Alexander Reed; and, most alluringly, of alchemy, a word thought previously to Sam as the stuff of fantasy, but spoken by these very serious men in a very serious way --- a way that seems more real than the cutlery they effortlessly transform into other utensils.

Sam obsesses over this conversation for years, until a tragic accident injures her mother and puts her face to face with Diamond herself. Diamond sees a quiet power in Sam, which she can use to further her syndicate in the emerging war between criminal groups. What she also sees, though, is desperation, which she can weaponize.

"If alchemy is real --- and Lu will have no trouble convincing you it is --- then RED CITY is a perfect crystallization of it. It’s an intoxicating blend of themes both escapist and searing that transforms both itself and its reader into something far greater than it was on page one."

Meanwhile, across the globe, Ari Rathod captivates the residents of his small town of Surat, Gujarat. Blessed with an almost supernatural beauty and an effortlessly commanding presence, Ari struggles with his shyness even as he notes that people are always drawn to him. When a wealthy older man spots him at the market, he makes an offer to Ari’s parents: he will take Ari away --- room, board and education covered --- and give his family a monthly stipend. Mr. Rudra is a powerful alchemist within the Lumine group, but Ari won’t know that until it is much too late. By that point, he already will have been swept away to Angel City and sent to public school, where he makes friends with a quiet, almost invisible girl named Sam.

Unbeknownst to Sam and Ari, each has been scouted by powerful alchemy syndicates: Grand Central and the Lumines. Unlike the philosophers of fantasy, these alchemists have turned to science and chemistry to turn alchemy into something real. With the touch of a hand, they can turn water to ice; the more powerful of them can even pull a weapon out of a brush against a wall. But more than that, they have advanced their training to delve deeper: to send a rush of serotonin to a man they are trying to bribe, who instantly feels confident and excited about his choice to accept their conditions; to send rushes of dopamine and oxytocin into the veins of a lover; and, of course, to transform the living into the dead, often in brutal, graphic ways that transcend the creativity of even the toughest street gang. Their goal is certainly power, but even in this alternate America, power is fueled by only one thing: money.

As Ari and Sam begin a cautious friendship at school --- each of them wary of the other, sworn to secrecy about their after-school activities --- they also begin a rigorous training in the science of alchemy. Ari is a diligent student, and with his family’s access to wealth and stability on the line, he puts in long hours, desperately trying to memorize the chemical breakdowns of simple materials. Sam, meanwhile, cares little about learning (she is incredibly gifted but often thinks outside the box, a practice frowned upon in traditional schools). But she takes to alchemy like a natural, outperforming her peers and catching the attention of both Diamond and her son, Will, a darkly handsome man born into power and accustomed to wielding it like a sword.

For the first time ever, each child is taken care of, exposed to wealth and finally able to contribute something to their struggling family. But they also fall victim to the trappings of wealth --- that peculiar alchemy of work, talent or cunning that transforms not just into green paper bills, but unending bank accounts, homes on the good side of town, and, of course, the promise of everlasting security. 

However, trouble has long been brewing among the alchemy syndicates, which began when Grand Central patented the production of Sand, a drug that grants its user a Sorcerer’s Stone-like amplification of their natural talents…and flaws. Scientists on sand make earth-shattering breakthroughs, models on sand are angelically, captivatingly beautiful as they strut down the runway, and alchemists on sand can transmute almost anything. But each syndicate takes a different approach to production and sale, and Grand Central and the Lumines have been racing toward an all-out battle for a decade. But now, with their newest, cleverest and strongest alchemists finally trained, they each have what it takes to take the other down: a secret weapon, a powerful alchemist who was once just a lonely child.

When Ari and Sam rise in the ranks, exposed to further levels of greed and depravity, they must ask themselves: What am I willing to risk to have it all? How much does my humanity cost?

In a lesson in alchemy from Mr. Rudra, Ari learns that “All of alchemy is an adaptation, training your mind to think in as many ways as possible.” If this indeed can be considered a definition, then I regret to inform all hopeful philosophers that Marie Lu has already discovered and harnessed alchemy, infusing it into every page of RED CITY. Effortlessly balancing themes and storylines of international intrigue, crime, urban fantasy, childhood longing and even romance, she has concocted a devilishly good brew here --- tender and heartbreaking in its rendering of Ari and Sam as children, while also maintaining a breakneck pace of action and adventure.

It will be no secret to fans of her young adult works that Lu is gifted in the art of crafting a believable, immersive setting, but her alternate Los Angeles is particularly good, with alchemy explained cleverly and concisely as a science rather than magic. This strong foundation allows her themes of belonging and marginalization to soar, revealing an even deeper, more urgent exploration of the trappings of capitalism and the ways that it pits us against one another, while a select few become rich at the top. It’s a deeply, powerfully political statement, yet she writes it so naturally that you can almost read the book on two levels: at surface a rip-roaring, heartbreaking adventure with plenty of heist action, and just a step below, a galvanizing call to action against capitalism’s exploitative, unstable grasp on our society and its inequities. 

If alchemy is real --- and Lu will have no trouble convincing you it is --- then RED CITY is a perfect crystallization of it. It’s an intoxicating blend of themes both escapist and searing that transforms itself and its reader into something far greater than it was on page one.