Blog #26: Quicksilver

Possible Spoilers!

 I just wanted to take a moment to say I loved this book. I love a good Romanstacy and an Enemies to Lovers. And this book had both and left you wanting Kingfisher, just as much as our MFC (Saeris) wants him but can’t acknowledge her own desires and just thinks about getting home. Which I get, but Fisher (his nickname) is so broody and hot, how can you not like him or want relations with him.

     I won’t say too much but I really like Saeris and Fisher together. I like their banter, and I like that he doesn’t treat her like a delicate flower to be saved. They use the forge together, she shows she can fight. She can hold her own, and I love a good, strong, female character.

     Carrion was one of my favorite characters. Everyone is so stoic and stern, which makes sense because of the war, but he had such funny quips and comments to be bad. He had such funny one-liners, and really made the book good to read. “I’m too pretty to die old anyway,” is one of my favorite remarks for one. I need a book about Carrion, he was legitimately that funny for this whole book. ALSO! His plot twist is amazing, and how he explains it makes him even more amazing. I won’t spoil it here though, I won’t ruin the fun of you getting there!

     Fisher plays the martyr card. After he and Saeris have sex, he sneaks out in the night and leaves a note for her. I’;s him apologizing but stating the only way this can all end is if he sacrifices himself for her and their friends. I won’t dive into that more because y’know, big spoilers and such, but I absolutely HATE the martyr trope. Martyr trope and cheating tropes are probably the main two plot points I just hate to read. Just give your plans to your friends, and figure out a way to fight the baddies together through all of this. Thankfully this book is good in so many other ways, I can forgive this Haha!

     Okay so, where the hell did vampires come from? Just suddenly there’s a whole vampire army, what even!? I did like that they couldn’t cross running water, which is a piece of mythology/fantasy lore that was showcased in this book from our own mythology. And there were two types of vampires, the zombie-ish ones and the more powerful aware one’s that ran the armies. I feel like more lead into the vampire and vampire armies would make it feel less “Where the fuck did they come from!?” That’s just me though, not a fan of surprise vampires! 

     Moving on from vampires, why the fuck is Hayden (Saeris’ Brother) so useless? He’s not a main character, thank god, so I’m glad we didn’t have much of him. All he does is drink and gamble what little rations they have. He doesn’t help his sister, doesn’t listen to her to stop this antics or they’ll die or be imprisoned. They live in rundown attics for christ sake, and he just does nothing. Just, ugh! But y’know who I did love and hope we see more of? Elroy! He was in the very beginning of the book, and was a blacksmith who taught Saeris the talent, and treated her like a daughter. If she could learn a trade she wouldn’t have to steal from others and the guards. But I have a feeling he is going to be murdered. Good people in books tend to wind up dead, especially if they’re close to the main character.

     It’s kind of cool to me that the quicksilver is sentient, and to use it you have to bargain or promise things. It can also burn you,and  it chooses who wields the weapons made with it. And Saeris is the first alchemist in years, so the quicksilver is interested in that and so is everyone else. There’s more to that but SPOILERS! Haha, but seriously it is really cool how the quicksilver whispers to you and wants things. 

     I truly loved this book, all 600 pages of it. The spicy scenes were near the middle to end of the book and had you waiting to see if it would happen. And the wait was worth it! Just saying, it was DEF worth it. 

     10/10

     Signing Off,

     Fenisha Estes