Is it worth the hype? Quicksilver by Callie Hart. Review

Synopsis

From USA Today Bestselling Author Callie Hart comes a highly addicting enemies-to-lovers Romantasy with razor-sharp banter, heart-stopping action, and blistering hot romance that you won’t be able to put down!

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

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

N.B. Quicksilver contains depictions of graphic violence/adult situations and is therefore recommended for readers 17+. For a full list of tropes and TWs, please visit the author’s website.

Review

4,5 stars

Is the hype deserved? At least as much as When the Moon Hatched!

Both are very good fantasy with an imaginative world building, lots of actions, a grumpy and feisty main female character and a sexy main male character.

With a mystery/quest to boot.

The universe

We begin in Zilvaren. It’s a dark place to be with two scorching suns that make breathing without a scarf akin to inhaling sandpaper thanks to the desert. If you are unlucky and living in the third district, you have to fight for more water ration.

The action will soon take us to a  Fae realm  of ice and snow with a tyrant for a king and a centuries old war against creatures I won’t reveal.

Alchemists are extinct yet they played a huge role creating relics with quicksilver to protect the Fae against their enemies.

The action/plot

Saeris had always lived in squalor and when she stole a queen’s guard gauntlet she will be tortured and should have died if not for an ancient sword.

This will propel her in faerie land, saved by a tall, dark, handsome and half mad Fae warrior: Kingfisher.

That’s the beginning of a lot of action packed scenes and a quest to rediscover the mystery of quicksilver.

The characters

Saeris is human, opinionated and very feisty.

She is also extremely stubborn and never backs down from a challenge. Under her bravado, she also cares deeply for her brother and soon, her new found family.

Kingfisher is your tall, broody and handsome hero with a twist because he is slowly becoming mad. Warrior of legend and hated by the king, a lot depends on him.

The romance

This is a romantasy riding the trope of enemies to lovers or maybe kidnappers to lovers? I don’t know exactly.

What I do know is that the chemistry was palpable and that I am rooting for Saeris and Kingfisher ship.

It’s part of a series and ends on a cliffhanger but it was not one that made me want to hurl the books to the wall! I certainly will read the sequel and I have ordered the physical copy even before ending the ebook! The cover is just too pretty…

Thanks for reading.

Sophie