Quicksilver by Callie Hart
Series: Fae & Alchemy #1
on June 4, 2024
Genres: fantasy, romantasy
Pages: 624
Goodreads

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 fo...

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...

more

I have no notes.

Quicksilver and I took a long journey together. I was heavily on #booktok when it first came out and booooooy did it land at the top of my TBR pile pretty quickly. But then I decided against it (thanks to a slew of poorly written indie books I’d boughten at the time, unfortunately). Then I decided to get it. And then I never actually bought it.

Fast forward to a trip to Chapters, and it was in my hands. Except then I read some reviews on Goodreads that made me put it back on the shelf.

Fast forward a little more and I impulse bought it when purchasing some Christmas gifts for family. I can’t really explain why, it just happened. I will not be justifying my book purchases to anyone.

I opened it Christmas Day (a girl’s gotta wrap some bookish presents for herself, you know) and it lasted less than a week on my shelf before I decided to start reading it.

My fate was sealed the moment Kingfisher, that asshole, opened his mouth and Saeris tossed his words right back at him. The world building, immaculate. The MCs, fabulous. The side characters, well-rounded. The dialogue, hilarious. The banter, exquisite. The sexual tension, tense. The quicksilver, silvery.

I will not be making the same mistake twice. The next book will be in my hands the moment it comes out.

Also, extra points for such a floppy paperback. What a pleasure to hold.

And that’s basically how I started 2025 with a 5 star read. Wild.