Transmute is a bad card, Possession is annoying and Philosophers Stone is way too much effort IRL and not particularly strong, even in fat decks where it should be strong.
If you like games with lots of Actions then University, Golem and Scrying Pool are great, but otherwise they're annoying. Vineyard is a great addition. Alchemist and Apothecary make good use of the potion mechanic but all the shuffling can be annoying IRL. Herbalist isn't the best card but it's what a $2 card should look like IMO (not strong, but useful to pick up in quite a few games due to the +buy, and it has some great combos), and it fits the set. Apprentice is a unique and useful card and the only Alchemy card you wouldn't think twice about using in full random kingdoms.
IMO 3 duds out of 12 cards, which is a better ratio than the base set but not any other set.