Quicksilver by Callie Hart | Book Review

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 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 herself 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…

My Review

I absolutely ADORED this book! I enjoyed it way more than I thought I would and would probably rank it in my top romantasy favorites of all time. I listened to this one on audible and really want to go back and do a re-read once the hardcover is released as I know I missed quite a few details while multitasking.

Saeris comes from a pretty broken rebel community. I really liked the sort of dystopian vibes mixed in with this series that reminded me a little bit of the factions in the Hunger Games. Her community struggles a lot because the evil queen knows their strong spirits and sees them as a threat that could one day start an uprising, which is why she doubled down on trying to weaken them as much as possible via strict rations and other malicious methods of control over their community.

I really love a story about an underdog, the more broken the better, and how they find their strength in the face of adversity.

“I’ll hurt you if it means I keep you safe. I’ll force you to follow me to the ends of this realm, because that is the only way I can make sure you stay alive.”

When she ends up in the Fae realm (I won’t divulge into specifics how she got there, because spoilers), she meets Kingfisher, and their relationship is pretty rocky at first but the attraction is undeniable. For a long time, she didn’t want to be there, despite him saving her life, and despite her not having a great life back at home. She wanted to go back to save her loved ones from the evil Queen who intended to destroy her community. So despite her life being saved, she’s not happy being forced to stay in the Fae realm to help with certain tasks that are detrimental to the realm’s survival and holds a grudge against Kingfisher for awhile because of it.

“I’ll be grateful for every second that I can say that I belong to you, Saeris Fane. Eighty years or eighteen hours. It doesn’t matter to me. It’ll still be the highest honor of my life.”

What’s revealed later on in the book absolutely clutched my heart and fair warning, the following info and quote is a major spoiler so skip ahead past this section and the next quote section if you don’t want it spoiled. In a nutshell, there was so much put in their way to prevent fate from bringing them together, yet, they defied all odds and divine interventions. Also, the following passage absolutely tied the whole thing together into a pretty bow and ultimately, I think is what made this book one of my favorite reads of the year. I absolutely loved this. Skip ahead if you want to avoid this spoiler – OR, read it to convince yourself to read this book. ♥

“And, yes. I told you once about the Oshellith. Yes, I told you that they hatched and died in a day. But I was being cruel, Saeris. I didn’t tell you about them properly.”

Nothing inside the bedroom changed. Nothing moved, but the air seemed to still. The figures in the paintings on the walls, with their faces slashed to ribbons, seemed to all hold their breath. “What do you mean?” I whispered.

“The Oshellith hatch once in most Fae lifetimes. Up north, in the wastelands, far beyond Ajun Sky, where the dragons used to live. The air’s so cold there that it’ll freeze in your lungs if you breathe it in without a mask. No life exists there for long. But once in a thousand years, the howling winds drop, signaling the coming of the Oshellith. News of that event travels quickly. That’s when the bravest of our kind set out. They go on foot where no horse can go. When they reach the valley where the Oshellith hatch, they find the butterfly’s cocoons and they shield them with their bodies. They give them whatever heat they can, for as long as they can. It can take up to twelve hours for them to break out of those cocoons. But when they do…” Kingfisher swallowed, shaking his head. “It’s the most beautiful thing a person can experience in this lifetime. They glow blue and pink and silver, with an ethereal light. They have music, though no one knows how. A sweet, soft song that’s capable of healing. The Oshellith mate and lay their eggs, but once that’s done, they fill the air, and they dance. Protecting them while they live is considered a sacred rite that many die in order to perform. That’s what Oshellith means in Old Fae, Saeris. Most Sacred.”

He closed his eyes for a moment, his expression pained. His breath came ragged and uneven. “All names hold power in this place. Every name means something. We have true names that we don’t share with anyone. Not our friends. Not our families. Our mothers are often the only people who actually know it. And even a mother might use her child’s name to her own advantage in the pursuit of power. This place—it’s fucked, okay. And you show up, and you have one fucking name, and everybody knows it. And I couldn’t say it because I was scared. Of what it would do to me when I did. It would be like acknowledging you were here after all this time. So I called you Osha instead. But it meant more, Saeris. To me, it meant more.”

He wasn’t being serious. There was no way. “All of this time…” I whispered. “But…you called me that from the very start.”

Kingfisher nodded slowly, eyes shining bright. “Most sacred,” he repeated, whispering the words.

I covered my face, and I gave in. I sobbed. The name he gave me, the name I hated, was a declaration of what I meant to him even then.

Augh. There are so many heartfelt quotes in this book. I could probably write about this book for hours just rambling about each of the quotes, but I’ll keep this fairly brief. If you’re a fan of the ACOTAR series, you will absolutely adore this book. It’s got a great plot, there’s loads of tension, there’s spice, there’s heartwarming moments, there’s humor and wit, Quicksilver has got it all and I absolutely can not wait for the sequel release.

“Human, Fae, or Vampire. It doesn’t matter how long you live, Saeris, you will always be most sacred to me.”

The Cozy Cat Rating: ★★★★★