Gry ☾'s Reviews > Quicksilver

2.5 ★'s
This was a little bit of a mess. It wasn't all bad but it definitely could've been better.
Quicksilver technically has the puzzle pieces for a fantasy romance but they feel randomly thrown together. Some things work, other things doesn’t. As a whole it was just jumbled, confusing and spectacularly ordinary.

Whilst I see the potential for this book, I feel incredibly frustrated at how it was executed.
It's like someone tried to analyse what made other romantasies a success but have no idea on how to actually accomplish that.

For example, I recognise that they tried hard to create that badass, sassy, strong fmc in Saeris - which normally is my favourite type of fmc. The end result ended up simply being just that; try-hard. Her comebacks constantly felt weak, forced and ultimately became quite cringe. I don't think I've ever been more unintrigued by a fmc in a long time. The love interest, Kingfisher(I know, the name is absolutely atrocious) was at least a tiny bit more interesting. It's unfortunate the only perspective we got in the book was by the least fascinating character. 🥲

Over to the romance. This author has not heard of slow burn or building tension.
They never had enough chemistry for their heated moments, it was always so sudden without any sort of build up. Their "banter" was him smelling how aroused she was around him and him being overly cocky about that.
I prefer my fictional men well and truly obsessed, please and thank you - but as we never got his perspective we didn't really get to see that, now did we.👎 I did enjoy some scenes between them, especially in the second half. However, exactly everything felt too rushed when it came to their romance and I think you just have to accept that if you want to enjoy this.

Over to the writing. It consisted of run-on sentences, an overuse of the word 'fuck'*, long-ass chapters and plot holes on top of plot holes. One of my favourite thing about reading a fantasy romance is the world building and the magic systems.
For me that is where the story truly comes alive.
In this book that was an afterthought and doesn't seem particularly thought through. We get no explanation on how their magic works or what powers they have. Based on reading this, it seems as if there are absolutely no limitations to it, which is such a lazy move on the author's part.
The writer constantly chose convenience over clarity or logic, and it angered me every time.

Trying to end this on a somewhat positive note, this definitely gave me those fae fantasy vibes I've been longing for.🧚 I do think the overall story is interesting enough, even if it's incredibly overhyped in my opinion. For me this book was carried by the side characters; Onyx, Wendy, Carrion, Lorreth & Ren. All my love goes to them. I'd be fine if they kill off Saeris in the next one tbh.

*The word fuck(or versions, e.g. fucking) was used 387 times according to my kindle.
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⌞pre-read:⌝
I am in desperate need of a real good fantasy rn. I've seen this absolutely everywhere lately, so praying to all the bookgods out there that this lives up to the hype 😩