Quicksilver By Callie Hart

Quicksilver is an addictive and thrilling start to a new romantasy series.

Favourite Quote:

My vision was going at last. Blackness crept in, rolling before my eyes like a midnight fog. Only it wasn’t a fog. It was something else. It was…

Death. 

The bastard had come to claim me in person. 

Book Synopsis: 

Do not touch the sword. Do not turn the key. Do not open the gate.

In the land of the unforgiving desert, there isn’t much a girl wouldn’t do for a glass of water.

Twenty-four-year-old Saeris Fane is good at keeping secrets. No one knows about the strange powers she possesses, or the fact that she has been picking pockets and stealing from the Undying Queen’s reservoirs for as long as she can remember.

But a secret is like a knot. Sooner or later, it is bound to come undone.

When Saeris comes face-to-face with Death himself, she inadvertently re-opens a gateway between realms and is transported to a land of ice and snow. The Fae have always been the stuff of myth, of legend, of nightmares… but it turns out they’re real, and Saeris has landed herself in the middle of a centuries-long conflict that might just get her killed.

The first of her kind to tread the frozen mountains of Yvelia in over a thousand years, Saeris mistakenly binds herself to Kingfisher, a handsome Fae warrior, who has secrets and nefarious agendas of his own. He will use her Alchemist’s magic to protect his people, no matter what it costs him . . . or her.

Death has a name. It is Kingfisher of the Ajun Gate. His past is murky. His attitude stinks. And he’s the only way Saeris is going to make it home.

Be careful of the deals you make, dear child. The devil is in the details . . .

Review: 

I was slightly reluctant to start this book. Lord, only knows that I don’t need to start another romantasy series. I really need to catch up with the ones I have on the go. But all the hype on Instagram for Brimstone (the second book in this series), especially the hype around Kingfisher and Carrion, had me breaking down and buying this book. And in the end, I’m not super upset that I decided to read it, because I really had a good time with this book and its characters. If you are a fan of A Court of Thorns and Roses and From Blood and Ash series and are looking for something new to read, you should pick up this book. Quicksilver is this delightful blend of these two series. There are fairies, vampires, gods, magic, and of course, the heroine who is destined to save the world.

I enjoyed the overall story. It follows the typical plotline that you find in a romantasy book. The reluctant heroine meets the broody hero who hates her; it turns out she is the key to winning the war, and along the way, the heroine and hero fall madly in love, and they end up being fated mates. This book does not set out to break that mold in any way, and that’s ok. I found the world-building interesting, the fight scenes were exciting, there was humour sprinkled throughout the story (thanks to the delightful Carrion), and the romance between Saeris and Kingfisher was great. The author did a good job of ensuring her readers had the information they needed to understand what was going on, without info-dumping or making parts of the book dull or overwhelming. The one thing that I did find a little strange was that the ending didn’t end on any major cliffhanger. I can see where the series plotline is going, but I wasn’t left with that sense of urgency of needing to get my hands on the second book. The end of this book was kind of wrapped up neatly and on a calm emotional scene. It’s not something I see too often in romantasy series.

I liked all the characters. Saeris is very much that typical, impulsive, mouthy heroine who has no interest in saving the world. All she wants to do is protect her little brother and survive in the world she is living in. I like a heroine who is confident, brash, and isn’t afraid to get down and dirty in a fight. I found her Alchemist’s abilities interesting and unique. I haven’t seen this kind of ability in a fantasy story before. Kingfisher is perfection and definitely deserves all the fabulous hype he has been getting on social media. He is broken, stoic, and just so gloriously broody. He doesn’t think he is deserving of being loved. His character has so much emotional depth, and getting to peel back those layers was so satisfying. One of the things I liked best was the interactions between Kingfisher and Carrion. Someone compared their interaction to Shrek and Donkey, and I kind of have to agree. They are so opposite in nature that it is comical watching them interact with each other. Carrion is just a talkative himbo, and Kingfisher just ain’t got no patience or time for his mouthy antics.

The romance between Saeris and Kingfisher is great. They have that hate-to-lovers vibe to their banter and chemistry for the first half of the book. That always means that the banter is sharp, fast, and sizzling with repressed lusty attraction. Often with a hate-to-lovers situation, when that lusty emotional damn breaks, it REALLY breaks and results in some steamy scenes, and that was the case in this book. The idea of fated mates has become pretty common in romantasy, mostly thanks to Sarah J. Maas’s books. I thought Callie took that fated-mates element and made it her own. She made it unique enough that I didn’t feel like just another typical fated mates situation. I can’t go into detail about the uniqueness because I don’t want to give any spoilers away.

Quicksilver is an exciting and fun romantasy and the perfect way to escape the world for a couple of days.