Shoutout to Leslie for buddy reading this with me because it is a super fun book to have someone to exchange thoughts and theories with! 💜

TL;DR: Oops, I’m coming in with a slightly unpopular opinion here even though I ultimately ended up enjoying the story. I’ve seen everyone and their mum reading and talking about this book for months. While my reading experience was fairly average and I can’t say that I fully get the hype, I can understand why it is hyped because it ticks off all of the fantasy romance boxes. From hate-to-love romance and high sexual tension (and steam!) to faeries and vampires, and enough action to keep you invested—this has all of the elements that make this genre so popular and well-loved. Although I didn’t love it as much as everyone else did, I liked it enough to want to continue the series and I look forward to seeing where the author takes our characters next!

I think if this book and I hadn’t gotten off on the wrong foot, I would be writing a glowing 5-star recommendation but unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. I was worried that I’d end up wanting to chuck my Kindle across the room out of the sheer frustration I felt for the FMC. Thankfully, things slowly but surely improve past the (roughly) 30% mark. Although I’m adamant that this didn’t need to be over 600 pages long, I flew through the last 40-50% and found myself eager to keep reading because I needed to know what the heck was happening! This has a great binge-able quality to it if you don’t fixate too hard on the things that could be improved.

This is perfect for readers who live for hate-to-lust/love romances, the fated mates trope, snarky and bold FMCs who aren’t meek bystanders and know how to kick-ass, and tortured, angsty, and glowering MMCs that give off strong “touch her and die” vibes. For the most part, I enjoyed the banter within this friend group. There were times it was cringe but I frequently found myself laughing at the sarcastic quips they exchanged—especially with Carrion and Lorreth. Those two were probably my favourite characters and I’m bummed that we didn’t get more of them on page or more development for them. Lorreth kind of reminded me of Kronk from The Emperor’s New Groove just less dim but complete with the beefy, wholesome, well-intentioned package! 😂 I genuinely loved him and I hope we get to see and learn more about him in the next book. The same goes for Carrion, who I have even more questions about, and I’m keen to see what role he’ll play in the sequel.

Despite the patchiness of the world-building, I did find it interesting. Hart introduces a wide mix of elements in the creation of this world that I found unique and enjoyed a lot—from god myths, faerie and vampire lore, and even other worlds or galaxies existing beyond quicksilver portals. The history of this faerie world is long and from the glimpses we get of the world-building as a whole, there’s still so much potential for exploration. I also found the quicksilver + alchemy aspect interesting but found the explanation/exploration of these elements lacking compared to the internal monologuing and romance. I really hope Hart expands on more world elements as the series continues because I want more!

Obviously, a big part of the attraction to this story is the romance. As with most romances involving fated mates, the connection is usually insta lust/love and that was pretty much how it went with Saeris and Fisher. They do have chemistry and despite the barbed quips they exchange and the less-than-positive views she has about him, it ended up being a “they’ll either kill each other or have sex” situation—and well, we know how that plays out. 😂 I just wanted more development from both characters, especially as their feelings very suddenly changed from loathing to love, but it also could’ve probably helped me feel more connected to them. As it was, these two weren’t my favourites despite the story being about and revolving around them. There were just things about Saeris that made me want to give her a good hard shake because some of them were so obvious it hurt and what do you mean you needed a side character to spell it out for you!? I don’t want to say anymore but… Yeah, just frustrating moments like that added up and made it difficult to appreciate her character.

Aside from Saeris testing me, I also found the writing longwinded. While I usually enjoy beautiful and even flowery descriptions, it didn’t work for me here and I’m not entirely sure why. Often, the verbiage and modernness of the language simply felt jarring and took me out of the story because it felt so oddly contemporary, which this story wasn’t! At times it also felt as if the author was trying too hard to write something beautifully meaningful, and it didn’t always land. 🫣

Ultimately, for as many pages as Quicksilver has, the plotting and character/story development could’ve been a lot stronger. I think all of the elements were there, it just wasn’t well structured and so the story felt scattered as we moved from scene to scene, with the world-building and character growth patched in haphazardly. Though I’m bummed this didn’t fully live up to the hype for me, I’m happy that I wound up enjoying it more by the end and I’m excited to see where it goes. Thankfully, we don’t have too long a wait as the sequel comes out later this year!

Have you read Quicksilver or is it on your TBR?

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