Line #23 Literature/TheAlchemyOfStone


1	[[quoteright:260:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/alchemy-of-stone_6650.jpg]]
2
3	''The Alchemy of Stone'' is a SteamPunk fantasy novel by Ekaterina Sedia.
4
5	It tells the story of Mattie, a [[ClockworkCreature clockwork]] RobotGirl who must save an ancient DyingRace, navigate deadly political intrigue, and resolve an abusive relationship with her creator, all in a city ruled by borderline-MadScientist SteamPunk Engineers in an uneasy truce with [[MagicVersusScience a competing faction of Alchemists]].
6	----
7	!!''The Alchemy of Stone'' contains the following tropes:
8	* AbusiveParents: Mattie's creator, Loharri.
9	* AerithAndBob: Mattie, Niobe, Sebastian... Ilmarekh.
10	* AffectionateGestureToTheHead: Loharri likes to pet Mattie's hair.
11	* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: The gargoyles are freed from the stone, but are now mortal and will die someday. Mattie is free of Loharri, but her key has been lost or possibly destroyed, and she herself has deactivated for want of winding. Also a lot of people are dead and the revolution, while successfully overthrowing the existing power structure, will probably just result in a new system of oppression.]]
12	* BloodMagic: Niobe teaches Mattie how to use blood in alchemy.
13	%%* BlueBlood: The Duke and his court.
14	* BreakTheCutie: Mattie begins the story with a lot of hope that she can make a difference...
15	%%* ClockPunk
16	%%* ClockworkCreature: Mattie.
17	* CorruptChurch: The whole order of the Stone Monks went awry a long time ago.
18	* CynicismCatalyst: The memory of the dead boy who provided Mattie's hair continues to haunt Loharri.
19	* DeusAngstMachina: Averted. Well, the main character ''is'' a machine, and she ''does'' angst, and supernatural powers certainly ''are'' involved. But generally, though she does have to face a ''lot'' of problems, everything that happens to her is consistent and makes sense within the story.
20	* DidYouThinkICantFeel: Mattie's entire story is this question. Unfortunately, the people around her always seem to explicitly or implicitly tell her "yes."
21	%%* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Mattie and her key. Eventually made quite explicit.
22	%%* DyingRace
23	* EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette: Mattie was built to be one.
24	* EveryScarHasAStory: Loharri's scar is pretty much just there to symbolize his FreudianExcuse abusive childhood. [[spoiler: He cut his own face so he wouldn't be beautiful anymore.]]
25	* EyeOfNewt: Found in Mattie's lab, and useful for Alchemy in general. Well, [[{{Squick}} eye of sheep, actually]]...
26	%%* EyeScream: With Mattie's mechanical eyes.
27	%%* FantasticRacism: Though fairly close to RealLife in some cases.
28	%%* {{Fembot}}: Mattie is somewhere between this and RobotGirl.%%How?
29	%%* FreudianExcuse: Loharri's upbringing.
30	%%* FunctionalMagic: Alchemy works this way.
31	%%* {{Gotterdammerung}}
32	%%* HarmfulToMinors: The orphanage.
33	%%* HealingPotion: Mattie can make these, amongst other things.
34	%%* HiveMind: The gargoyles.
35	* HumansThroughAlienEyes: Though she is quite human in many ways, Mattie definitely has her own way of seeing the world. The Gargoyles provide an even more alien perspective.
36	%%* InnocentBlueEyes: Mattie.
37	* JustAMachine: Mattie is obviously as intelligent as any human, and is a person; but even though she is ''legally'' recognized as one (to some extent), few really respect her autonomy ''in practice''. Even what few friends she has often act surprised to see her exhibit human emotions, and occasionally treat her with little respect.
38	* LandOfOneCity: Ayona is a city-state.
39	* LuddWasRight: The work as a whole doesn't really have this moral (the protagonist ''is a machine,'' after all) but it does have some overtones of this. The Mechanics certainly don't make the city a nicer place to live. Some of their opponents who are hurt most by their policies pretty much become straight Luddites.
40	%%* MadScientist:
41	%%** The Mechanics.
42	%%** Also EmperorScientist.
43	* MagicVersusScience: The city is ruled by a guild of mechanics and a guild of alchemists (read: witches), with the two in constant conflict. Mattie gets caught in the middle as a [[{{Fembot}} robot]] who has learned to do alchemical magic.
44	* MasterComputer: The Mechanics build a SteamPunk version of this.
45	* MindRape: Loharri built Mattie's mind, and he doesn't tell her everything about what he put in it for his own ends...
46	* MisunderstoodLonerWithAHeartOfGold: The Soul Smoker
47	* OfCorsetsSexy: Mattie was made with a built-in corset to give her an attractive shape.
48	%%* OurHomunculiAreDifferent
49	%%* OurSoulsAreDifferent
50	* PinballProtagonist: For much of the novel, Mattie gets swept along by the events and other characters around her. Her seeming inability to influence the world around her, or to be seen as having an agency of her own, are major parts of the story.
51	%%* PunkPunk
52	%%* TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized
53	* RidiculouslyHumanRobots: [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] (well, apart from the whole "ridiculously human ''clockwork'' robot" thing). Loharri made Mattie very human because he wanted a companion, and not a mere tool or servant. The vast majority of other robots in the setting were not made for such a purpose, and are just mindless machines.
54	* {{Robosexual}}: Played with in a symbolic way. Mattie is not physically capable of having sex, but other aspects of her mechanism take on sexual meanings for her. She also feels "naked" when her face-mask is removed, exposing her innermost mechanisms.
55	%%* RobotGirl: With some {{Fembot}} mixed in.
56	%%* SinisterSurveillance: Used on a very personal level at one point.
57	%%* SpiderTank: A SteamPunk version makes an appearance.
58	* SquishyWizard: Mattie is an accomplished alchemist, but physically she is very delicate and not made to fight.
59	%%* SteamPunk
60	* UncannyValley: Invoked on two levels with Mattie. She unsettles humans and she is in turn unsettled by mindless automatons.
61	* UrbanLegendLoveLife: The reader is informed repeatedly that despite the fact that Loharri's scar is a little more disfiguring than romantic and that he's something of a {{Jerkass}}, he gets all the sex he wants. We only see him with one woman.
62	%%* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman
63	* YourSoulIsMine: Subverted. [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast The Soul Smoker]] is very much a ''sympathetic'' character.

Context Literature / TheAlchemyOfStone