Lit Vibes Only

Ep. 66: Lit It or Quit It: Quicksilver

• Lit Vibes Only Podcast

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Join Kelsey and Amanda as they delve into the wildly popular book 'Quicksilver' by Callie Hart. They explore its intricate world-building, epic romance, and unexpected twists, while debating its merits and pitfalls. Get ready for a lively discussion filled with passionate opinions and laughter.


00:00 Introduction and Social Media Plug

01:56 Our Current Reads

10:30 Summary of ‘Quicksilver’

23:34 Book Discussion

46:36 LITerally the Best or LITerally the Worst

01:04:26 Final Thoughts and Recommendations


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See you on Mondays!

Kelsey:

welcome to Lit Vibes Only, where we lit the shit outta books we love and hate. I'm Kelsey, the unhinged, diehard, romantic and fantasy reader.

Amanda:

And I'm Amanda, the insightful, thrill seeker and historical fiction nerd. Welcome, Welcome, welcome once again, do another Litted or Quitted episode, which is sure to get pretty lit

Kelsey:

Because we're gonna, little Amanda's gonna lit the shit outta it,

Amanda:

just a little foreshadowing. But I'm so

Kelsey:

excited about this.

Amanda:

Before we get carried away make sure that you are following us on our socials. If you are not, we are on Instagram at Lit Vibes Only podcast. And we are also on TikTok and YouTube at Lit Vibes Only podcast. So make sure to head over there. Follow, comment, subscribe, and if you are not on socials, but wanna reach out just with questions or book recommendations or just to say, Hey, I love you guys. You can reach us via email at lit vibes only podcast@gmail.com. But most important we do, we love getting emails, we feel so official. But most importantly, if you haven't yet please rate and review our podcast. We would love that so much. It only takes two seconds to hit that five star rating. You can do it right now while you're listening. And then once you're done, if you're feeling extra generous, you can also take a moment and leave us a one or two sentence review on either Apple Podcast or Spotify. On Spotify. It'll just be a comment on this episode and that will just do wonders for us. In this season of giving give us the gift of your ratings and reviews. That's all we want for Christmas. Thank you so much. And yeah, this is gonna be a great episode. I know Kelsey's really excited. Yes. And I am here let's, I studied

Kelsey:

for this episode. I was like, oh yeah.

Amanda:

Oh my gosh. There's so much. There's so much to this book. Good lord. But before that, Kelsey, what are you currently reading? Oh, yeah, just finished reading.

Kelsey:

No, I'm currently reading. Okay. It's something that I've been wanting to read for almost. Oh, almost the whole year. But I had to wait until, not necessarily spooky season, but just fall vibes. Okay. And it's called One Dark Window. Oh. I've

Amanda:

seen

Kelsey:

this by Rachel Gillig. And yeah. I wasn't sure if I was gonna like it because, people are really split on it.

Amanda:

Okay.

Kelsey:

I don't know that you would like it, but is it

Amanda:

romantic?

Kelsey:

Yes. Okay. But it's not heavy on the smut at all. Okay. It's just, there's parts of it that like rhyme and I just don't know.

Amanda:

Oh,

Kelsey:

how you would feel about that?

Amanda:

I like poetry. Like when you say it rhymes what do you like? Are there rhymes in the,

Kelsey:

there's like parts in the very beginning of the chapters where it's like reading from a card and it's like rhyming.

Amanda:

Okay.

Kelsey:

Okay.

Amanda:

Let's see.

Kelsey:

Like this, oh, these, there are these cards. And then it's, that's all like a poem. Okay. But then it's sprinkled into the book as well, and I'm like, why is it rhyming randomly? And so it's just choice.

Amanda:

Okay. So like the prose is randomly rhyming?

Kelsey:

Yes.

Amanda:

I see. Yeah, I think I might find that a little cheesy if it's not done well.

Kelsey:

It is a

Amanda:

little, if it's connected to some, I don't know, like bigger theme or motif and it's done well, I think it'd be fine with it.'cause I love words and literature and poetry. But if it comes across as like cheesy or trite or I don't know, I don't understand the purpose and I think it would take me outta the story.

Kelsey:

Yeah. It takes me outta the story, but overall I really enjoy it and I like the. Yeah, the plot to it.

Amanda:

What is the magic? The magic that cover makes me think it's like dark academia.

Kelsey:

It no, it's not academia. But it, yeah, it, you don't find out what one dark window is until 75% of the way through.

Amanda:

Oh

Kelsey:

God. Okay. And yeah. But it's cool. So it's basically this, the magic system basically, are these cards Okay. That hold magic? And they were, you find out how they were created, like later on in the first book. Okay. And people have like random cards and they came across them by bartering or trading things or items or even people. And they all do like different things. Like one I believe this is the right thing. It's called Chalice. And it makes you tell the truth, makes like you use it. I see. And other people have to tell the truth. I see. Also at the very beginning, you find out that there's this disease called like the fever or something. And if someone has. Had that disease, they end up having magic. And these people are like illegal in this society. And so they end up getting murdered or killed if they are found out. And so the main character has had the fever and no one can that's see her magic. Okay.'cause it's like in her head, and I won't tell you more, but anyway it's interesting. I

Amanda:

do, it reminds me of, what is that book you had me read Reckless, where like some of the people were like, killed by this.

Kelsey:

Oh sure.

Amanda:

These, and there was like.

Kelsey:

Not like reckless though.

Amanda:

No, I know.

Kelsey:

But fearless, that element

Amanda:

Or fearless, whatever the first one was fearless. Powerless is what the first one. Power. What el One of the lessons. Fearless was the last one. Powerless. It reminds me of powerless. Like that aspect of like folks getting, sick and then magic being involved in powers. Okay. I just finished my 100th book, so I have technically met my second book goal for the year. And it was, yeah. Where was that

Kelsey:

first?

Amanda:

So originally I set for 50.

Kelsey:

Okay.

Amanda:

And then I hit that in like June or, yeah. Yeah. And I was like let me just double it. So I did, and I also hit that one, so I think I'm just gonna leave it. I'm not gonna reset it at this point. Yeah. But I'm gonna see, yeah, maybe I can get 10 or 15 more books in for the rest of the year. We're only halfway. We're not even halfway through. It's like November 9th right now.

Kelsey:

Yeah.

Amanda:

So I think I can do a couple more time. I got time. I got time.

Kelsey:

And Thanksgiving is in the middle of that,

Amanda:

so it's

Kelsey:

That's a time for reading.

Amanda:

That's a time for reading. And Christmas break will be, our winter break will be happening. And that's also, in the lead up. So Exactly. I think I'll get, I think I'll get at least 15 more in there, but I hit my 100th book with an audiobook called The River Has Roots by Amal El Moar. And it's. This book was recommended by maybe Buck Huddle again, as a really amazing audio book. And it's a very, it's a fantasy book because there's like magic involved. Oh, the magic in this world is grammar, both in the way that we think about grammar and more than that. And it follows the story of these two sisters. But the thing that makes this audiobook so unique is that there's like sound effects. There's music, there's singing. Oh, so it's like this full audio experience that goes so far beyond what most audio books do. And the narrator, I think is like Scottish or Irish has like this beautiful wilting accent. And even if you don't like the story itself, just like listening to it is so soothing. Especially because the river lists is like a big part of the story. And so you just hear like the water rushing in the background wow, it's just a treat. It's a treat for the ears. I did cry at the end. It's really beautiful movie, but it's fantasy. It's fantasy. Like it's very, it's, there's the Faye realm and the human realm.

Kelsey:

Yeah.

Amanda:

But it almost reads like a fable. So it's like a simple story. It's not very long. The audio book is like three hours. It's a super short book. But yeah, highly recommend if you want just something slightly different when it comes to audiobook. Okay. I really enjoyed it and zipped right through it. So that is what I just read. And we'll hopefully be starting a new book later today. Haven't decided yet, which, I got a bunch of books. I was telling Kelsey I got a bunch of books in from Libby all at the same time, so I need to figure out which one's gonna be next. But we are here today to talk about another book, Quicksilver by Kelly Hart. Yes. So, Kelsey please tell our dear friends why you had me read this book.

Kelsey:

I read this book earlier this year. It might have been one of my first reads of the year actually. And it was like a big, anticipated read for me. Okay. And it's a thick boy. And I just had so much fun with it. I laughed. I, yeah I laughed. I don't think I cried. I just really enjoyed the characters and also the magic which we'll get into. And so I had no hopes of you enjoying this book because it's very typical brooding like dark MMC and the younger FMC who has powers dah. And so I didn't have high hopes for you enjoying it. But I felt like we had to talk about it because Brimstone, the second book is coming out this month. And so our episode is coming out in December, right after the release actually.

Amanda:

Yeah. Perfect

Kelsey:

timing. Very timely.

Amanda:

Yeah. And I know this is like a huge book talk book. It has a huge follow. It's,

Kelsey:

it is,

Amanda:

people are obsessed.

Kelsey:

And you know what's funny, what's funny? When I was looking at my five star reviews book huddle was actually one of the

Amanda:

Oh yeah.

Kelsey:

Reviewers.

Amanda:

I know. Literally just this morning I was on her account on Instagram and she was talking about the brimstone release and I was like, okay, alright. Okay,

Kelsey:

go.

Amanda:

Thank

Kelsey:

you.

Amanda:

So yeah, thank you Kelsey, for your providing your reasoning. I appreciate that.

Kelsey:

So tell us, Amanda, was this the lid or quit it for you?

Amanda:

I think this actually might surprise you a little bit. I would say that this book was a soft Quit it. Okay. I was fully anticipating like absolutely loathing this book like I did like, you know, bride or divine rivals.

Kelsey:

Okay.

Amanda:

I didn't think you was, but I don't have that level of distaste for this book and I think it is largely, well there's two reasons I won't get into them all here, but I will just say it's largely due to the fact that I skimmed the smut. I was like, I know if I actually read this, I'm gonna hate this book, so I'm just gonna do myself a favor and just skim right over this. And I think that really helped. So yeah. Okay.

Kelsey:

Helped just taking out part of the book.

Amanda:

Yes. There

Kelsey:

wasn't that much. Was there? I don't remember there being that much.

Amanda:

There was enough.

Kelsey:

It was not that much. It was like maybe two, three scenes.

Amanda:

No, I think it was, there was three.

Kelsey:

Okay. See,

Amanda:

yeah, there

Kelsey:

wasn't that much,

Amanda:

But anyhow, we will get to that. So I'm gonna do the summary read this book is, I actually have it here for those folks on, yeah, that's my copy. Yep. It's Kelsey's copy. It is 609 pages. Okay. So let's just. Let that lie for a second. I had to suffer for 600 to nine pages through this book. Yes. So I'm gonna try and summarize it again. It's a long book, so I'm gonna keep it pretty simple and straightforward and then we will dive into all the lovely details in our discussion. So this book starts in this world called verin, specifically in this city called The Silver City, and it starts off with our lovely FMC Cs Fein. And in this world, it's a desert world. So there's two suns in the sky. It's basically blazing hot all the time. The sun's never set.

Kelsey:

Yep.

Amanda:

And because of this water is very much a commodity and this world is broken up into districts essentially. And our FMC lives in the poorest district, the third, and they've essentially been quarantined because people believe that they're diseased. They get very limited water rations. And the ones that they do do are essentially polluted to make people super sick. So it's rough going in the third. This world is ruled over by this immortal queen called Queen Mara or Mara. And she's not a nice lady. So anyhow, Sarah's vain. She is your typical like badass, FMC. She knows how to fight. She's scrappy and tough and essentially the story kicks off with her stealing part of a guard's armor. So part of Madras guards she steals like his gauntlet. And we quickly realized that. Her relationship to metal there's something off about it. Metal reacts weirdly when she's around and she's noted this. She doesn't know why and she doesn't do too much investigating into it, but that's there. A little bit of foreshadowing. Sarah's has a younger brother named Hayden, who is 20, I believe. Sarah says like 24. And he tends to get himself in trouble. He likes to gamble and so she very much takes care of him as both her mother and her father have died. Her mother was killed by Queen Madras Guard. So this stealing of the gauntlet triggers this whole series of events that ultimately ends up with Sarah's getting arrested and being taken to the Queen's palace. And there she's essentially interrogated by the Queen and the Queen's captain of the Guard Heron. And she, the queen, hints that maybe CS is not like fully human. And ultimately the queen decides that Cs needs to die for her transgressions and instructs herron to essentially torture and kill her. In the process of Herron killing Cs, she tries to fight back with her like final dying breath. And in this moment of conflict,, her powers are actualized. She ends up pulling this sword out of this like pool of what turns out to be quicksilver. And in her dying breaths, this figure emerges from the Quicksilver and drags her down. And in her hazy state, she thinks it's death coming to claim her. Next thing we know, Sarahs wakes up and she's in a different realm. She's now entered a Faye realm called Velia, and she tries to get her bearings, takes her while to realize where she's at, and we come to find out that Death, who captured her is actually a dark brooding Fay named King Fisher or Fisher for short. And she quickly becomes acquainted with some other key figures in the story. One of them is Everlane, who goes by Lane. And we find out that King Fisher's half sister, the other is Ren Refis, or Ren, who is a captain in the army and they form like a little trio. So it turns out that Sarah's has been brought to the Winter Palace, which is ruled by this King, and King Bella Con does not like Kingfish. We're not entirely sure why at the beginning, but he does not like him. But before he sends Moi, has him executed, Ren steps in and says, Hey, we have this new individual here at Sarah's who appears to be able to control Quicksilver. Which is this really important element that allows individuals to travel between different realms. Mm-hmm. And Madre has basically blocked all of the realms from being used for literally, I don't know, a thousand years or more.

Kelsey:

Yeah.

Amanda (2):

And so when CS pulled the, this sword called Solace out of the Quicksilver, it opened the realms briefly and that's how King Fisher came and got her. And so they're like, oh my God, we have an alchemist on our hands potentially. And they could really change things for us. So they want to use Cs to basically produce these things called relic. Which will help individuals travel between realms, which they haven't been able to do for a while. Because if you try to travel through a Quicksilver portal without a relic, you run the risk of dying and or losing your mind. And we know this because Kingfisher did travel through a portal without a relic. He ended up getting infected with the Quicksilver almost died. And there's still like a remnant of Quicksilver within him. That unless he's actively controlling it by wearing a relic, it basically is gonna turn him mad, make him go mad. So we have all this context. So basically King Fisher and Sarah's are like forced to work together on this project. CS is only doing this halfheartedly because she wants to go back to her realm. She is worried that. Queen Madre has destroyed the entire third ward because of what Sarah's has done. She fears for her brother's life, so she just wants to go home and so ultimately she decides to betray Kingfisher. She steals what she thinks is a relic off of his finger. His ring, yeah. Sneaks down to the basement of the winter palace and essentially tries to hop into a quick silver portal so she can go home. King Fisher stops her right in the nick of time and is

Amanda:

like,

Amanda (2):

you're crazy. You would've died if you had done that. And now we need to leave the palace because everybody knows what you're up to. You weren't subtle at all. And if people find out that you're still here and we're trying to run off and not help King Behan with your alchemist powers, like we're all in trouble. So she forms an oath with King Fisher where she essentially promises that she will make as many relics for him as he needs for his army, which we'll get to in a second. Yes. As long as he promises to like, let her go back to Verin. And he says yes. What she doesn't realize is that there are literally thousands of relics that need to be made and that it's gonna take a really long time. So he goes back, fisher goes back to her realm to, to grab, oh, I'm sorry. Actually I miss, I misstated that. The oath was that if she made the relics for him, he would go back and bring her brother from RA and to Velia. God, there's so many details. So King Fisher hops into the Quick Silver Portal, comes back. Sarah is super excited. She rushes over to see her brother and realizes that he has actually brought back a man named Kerian Swift, who is like this kind of tricky black market guy from the third who she's slept with once and has a contentious relationship with. And so she's super annoyed. She's

Amanda:

like,

Amanda (2):

you brought back the wrong person. He is

Amanda:

like,

Amanda (2):

sorry, I thought this was your brother. That's what he said. So then the three of them escape into the night and they end up going back to where do they go? They go to Kingfisher's Home, which is currently. And a huge battle with these creatures called feeders, okay? They've been fighting this war for centuries at this point, and neither side is really making any ground. And so Fisher is really excited that he now has an alchemist in his possession who can make relics and help his army travel around more freely and hopefully defeat these feeders. We quickly find out that these feeders are in fact. The vampires.

Kelsey:

Yeah.

Amanda:

Did not see that coming. And we also find out that many years ago, thousands of years ago, a curse, a blood curse was put on the Faye. And basically they were all vampires. And that's why there are no more humans in this world. They basically killed them all. Ultimately, the blood curse was broken. The majority of Faye were like, yes, wonderful. We don't wanna be vampires anymore. But a small faction of them decided to stay vampires. And the leader of that faction is called Malcolm. And he is the one who is basically waging war on the other Faye in this land. Again, long story short, Sarah's ultimately joins the fight. For freedom with Kingfisher and his pals. And so a good chunk of the book is them at the front lines. And the battleground, there's a river that runs through it that separates the Faye from the feeders. And it's just like this it's, it's a stalemate. Honestly, neither side is making any real progress. Whenever the river freezes, like the vampires will try to cross, so then the Faye will use giant hammers and break up the ice and the vampires fall into the water and get washed away and like they just repeat this cycle like every day. So there's that. I mean there's just a lot of like them being at the front lines. Obviously Kingfisher and Sarah start to develop feelings for each other and get it on. And ultimately we find out that lane. King, Fisher's half sister has been kidnapped by Malcolm and he has basically started to turn her and if they don't get her out of his grasp within I don't know, 48 hours or something, she's gonna be officially turned into a vampire. And that's that. So they launched this attack this mission to save her. King Fisher decides to go it alone. He's don't follow me, I'm gonna go, fight Malcolm and I'll send her back through this portal. That's it. He goes there, he grabs lane, shoots her out of the portal, and then CS and Ren, no Cs, and Lo, who's another friend of king Fisher, and Ian. And Ian. They dive through the portal and go the other way basically. So they can go and Rescue Fisher. Fisher is not happy about this. We find out that Fisher had gone missing for I don't know, 110 years or something. Nobody knew where he was and he wouldn't talk about where he's been. But it turns out he had actually been Malcolm's prisoner for 110 years. And Malcolm kept him in this like maze Wow. Trapped in this maze Labyrinth for like over a hundred years. And the only way he was allowed to get out is if he made it to this center and then also found this coin. And I won't get into all of that because that's a whole nother thing, but long story short, they show up to Safe Kingfisher. They realize that Bella Con, queen Madre and Malcolm are all working together. To basically. Rule their respective kingdoms rule their res, respective cities.

Kelsey:

Yeah.

Amanda:

And they're all horrible shits. And so they put this our lovely group of heroes into the maze. They face some trials and challenges, one of them, which is a giant disgusting spider. And ultimately, God, there's so much in this book, CS uses her magical powers, her Quicksilver powers to kill Malcolm, find this coin that needed to be found, which broke this curse that was basically being held over Kingfisher. And in the process, C is mortally wounded. And so in order to make sure that she doesn't die, she essentially gets turned. And at the end of the book, we realized that she is now like half Fay and half vampire, which is like never been seen before in these lands. So she's like this whole new kind of being. And at the very end we find out that since she killed Malcolm, who is the king of the vampires, and since Malcolm did not have an heir, essentially law dictates that she now is the heir to the throne. So she now has become essentially the queen of the damn, the queen of the vampire. She's the queen of Stanoff. And that is how this book ends. There's a lot more to it. There's so much more. Yes, I skipped a lot, but in a nutshell, that is what happens

Kelsey:

essentially. Yes.

Amanda:

In this

Kelsey:

book. Good job.

Amanda:

Like big picture. Thank you. It again. Definitely one of those books for sure. Read it because there's a lot that happens. Yeah. That happens. So

Kelsey:

you're telling people to read it.

Amanda:

If you're going to listen to this episode, you should probably read it. Otherwise you're gonna be like, what the heck just happened? What was that summary? Okay. Oh, that was exhausting. Okay.

Kelsey:

So Amanda thank you for the summary. Welcome. We always start out with the things that you enjoyed or that we enjoyed about the book that was recommended to us. So what are the things that you did enjoy that made it, that it wasn't a full on quote strong,

Amanda:

a strong quid? It. Yeah. So for one, this is a minor thing, but I actually really appreciated that this book, unlike other fantasy books, had a pronunciation guide at the very beginning because some of these words are pretty wonky, and I, yes. When I can't pronounce something, or dunno how to pronounce, it, throws me and annoys me. So I really appreciated that little addition. I know it's overdone but, I do love a badass FMC who can hold her own, who's a strong fighter, who, like I said earlier, is scrappy and resilient. I don't think that's ever gonna get old for me. So I appreciated that. Sarah's I appreciated that Sarah's, definitely fulfilled that role in the story. I think more generally speaking, I did appreciate the setting and the premise, like as, this world was like being built. I was like, oh, this is cool. I like this concept. I like this idea. I'm intrigued. I wanna know more. Okay. And that persisted for most of the book where I was like, if I just look at this and

Kelsey:

they came the vampires.

Amanda:

So if I just look at this world and kind of the conflict that she's setting up, I'm like, I'm here for that. I am, I'm okay with it. I, yeah. I'm curious. Okay. So I appreciated that aspect. Oh, this is a little thing, but Archer, who is like this little fire Sprite Yes. Who's obsessed with Kingfisher, loves him so much. I just thought he was the cutest. And anytime he showed up on the page, I was like, oh, Archer, you're adorable. I'm looking at my notes too. What else I did? So I, it actually annoys me when. And then CS give F FMCs nicknames because I'm like, this is stupid. But I will say that he appreciated that at the end of the novel. So he calls her like little osha

Kelsey:

Yes.

Amanda:

And tells her that it has something to do with butterflies, but then you find out at the end that OSHA actually means most sacred. And I just thought that was really beautiful and romantic. And like he oh, it tugged at

Kelsey:

your heartstrings.

Amanda:

It did tug at my heartstring. I like put two teary eye emojis after it. And I did maybe tear up a little bit when I read Kingfisher's letter to Sarah's at the end. So they've like just made love and he decides Hey, I actually gonna leave and face Malcolm on my own. You're amazing. Go live your life. And I was like um, so, you know, those were some of the things.

Kelsey:

Okay. Though Karen didn't make that list. Amanda

Amanda:

of the things that I liked. Yes. I mean he was fun. Like he was definitely the comic relief. Yes. And definitely a. Character I enjoyed and I had a sneaking suspicion that when, that he was like, at the beginning when he first shows up, I'm like, oh, you're not going anywhere. Like you are definitely going to be Yeah, A key part of this story. Part of this story. And then as soon as I found out that the di or di, I dunno how to say that. I should look at that. I should look in the glossary. I dunno if it's in there as soon as they say at the beginning. Oh, it's not in the, it's not in the glossary. Oh, it is de anus. As soon as I found out that there's like this missing de anus air who has been lost to the human realm, I instantly was like, oh, it's carrying, like there's no, first of all, there's no other options. So that was not a big reveal at the end when it's like, oh my gosh, like you're actually Fay and not human. You've been living like, I was like, duh, obviously. And I also was like, okay, of course we have to have Curian show up because what would a romantic novel be without fricking love triangle? That was just like, okay. So obvious. But yeah, I guess that was

Kelsey:

barely a love triangle.

Amanda:

I mean it, but there was like, at least a little bit of additional sexual tension. Enough to make Kingfisher jealous, right? Sure, yeah. That was why he was there. The other thing too, I will say is and I always say this for fantasy books, because I'm always looking for it. There were like two characters of color. They weren't huge characters, but they were there, we had the librarian and uh, ENA. So I was like, okay, we've got two something, so it's better than nothing. But yeah, it was pretty much it.

Kelsey:

I also was curious I really enjoyed the parts where CS is figuring out her alchemy powers and talking to the Quicksilver, and when she figures that out, oh, same. Yeah. What were your thoughts on her?

Amanda:

I, it was funny. So in one of my notes. So essentially for the listeners, she is basically put in a forge, which she loves working. She loves metal working. It's what she did when she was living in until there and she's put in a forge and they're basically like, figure out how to turn these thousands of rings right into relics that these Faye warriors can wear to hop between portals and is basically left to figure it out. She has to go through these series of experiments. Yeah. She's learning how to listen to and talk to the Quicksilver. And I was like, this reminds me, and I'm sure you've heard of this story and probably read it when you were a child, it reminded me so much of Rumpelstiltskin, right? Where like she's basically locked in a room full of hay or straw or whatever and they're like, you can't leave this room until you spend all of this straw into gold. And I was like, this is Rumpelstiltskin. Like you basically can't leave this realm or this forage until you figure it out. Use your powers and turn all of, these rings into relics. I. It was a way to show her like growth and development as a character. But I don't, I can't say that those scenes were of particular interest to me compared to other parts of the book.

Kelsey:

Okay.

Amanda:

I wasn't like, oh, yay, she's back in the forge talking to the Quicksilver again and mixing up random combinations. Like

Kelsey:

I

Amanda:

didn't do a whole lot for me,

Kelsey:

hearing from the Quicksilver, that was fun to me.

Amanda:

Oh yeah. And then you find out, which I didn't say in the summary, the voices that she's hearing are like the gods. So this world is ruled over by a bunch of different gods. And the main one is Zarif, which was like, okay, Zeus. And he has two daughters, I think B and men who are like the two sons that shine in the human realm anyhow. And it turns out Seth is the god of chaos. And he has been trying to keep Kingfisher and Sarah's apart because any time. At least in his like, foretelling of the future that they come together. Basically the world ends. The world's end. And so he's actively trying to keep them apart, which is why Sarah's was technically supposed to be born. A Fay was not supposed to be born in the human world. And that was his interference in trying to keep them from finding each other and falling in love. But he is like, no matter what he did, you guys always found each other like in every possible permutation every possible timeline. And yeah, it turns out she's actually, speaking to the gods through the Quicksilver.

Kelsey:

Yes. Which,

Amanda:

yeah.

Kelsey:

And In the scene at the end where she's in the dream state. Mm-hmm. But she ended up talking to the gods themselves. Or is it just Zel? What's, what is his

Amanda:

name?

Kelsey:

Eth. She,

Amanda:

yeah. She talks to them and his two daughter. Daughters.

Kelsey:

Yeah. They're all there.

Amanda:

Yeah.

Kelsey:

She decides that she wants to live. And so that means she can no longer be human. Yeah. And so that's why she ends up being half, half vampire.

Amanda:

Yes.

Kelsey:

So

Amanda:

that's the deal she makes.'cause he is like you, if you choose to exist, you have to exist outside of what is otherwise like I can interfere, other gods can interfere. And so she has to be made into something new, never before seen, so that she's basically shielded from the God's interference. They can no longer see her anymore and interfere in her life. But I think that was the thing with this book, right? Is that. Callie Hart is just trying to do too much, right? Like I think she's trying to cram too many tropes and like too many fantasy ideas and themes into one book, and it just got a little bit overwhelming and a little convoluted. And so by the end of the book, I felt like I was working pretty hard to keep everything straight because one, you have the vampires, okay? Yes. But it's not just oh, there are vampires. There's this whole convoluted history, which is not well explained about how the blood curse got started, like yeah. Why it exists in the first place. How they broke the blood curse to begin with. You know and there's all of these like that could have been the story itself. Like you could have created like this insane kind of Faye vampire story that just focused on that lore and that would've been more than enough. Yeah. But then she also adds all of these Gods and deities and their involvement in the story, which was like, okay, wait. But when that scene happened at the end where she's like off in the realm, I was like, oh my god, oh my God. Like this is too much. How am I supposed to keep track of all of the various realms that exist? Also this crazy thing happening with the vampires who are also fa, but also not vampires. And then they also have to keep track of all of these different gods and the ways that they've interacted with each other. And it was just too much. It was too much. And it's

Kelsey:

setting up the series, Amanda. This is what series are

Amanda:

all about. I know. But it was just like so much exposition and so much like information overload. It was so much frontloading and I think anyone of those things by themselves. Would've been enough. Especially if it was like, really well done. I've been like that. I am satisfied. This is a really fun read. I'm so engaged. But it almost felt like being inside of like my a DH ADHD brain where it's like, Ooh, that would be a good, Ooh, let's do this. Ooh, what if we did this too? And it's like, no, no, no, calm down. Your readers need to be able to like firmly situate themselves within this story. And that was hard to do at times. And then also keeping track of just like all of the magic and how it worked. And you have these Swords that are like imbued with God power and also quicksilver, but how does that work and how like it was just,

Kelsey:

yeah,

Amanda:

there was a lot. It was, there was a lot. And not a lot of

Kelsey:

answers yet.

Amanda:

And not a lot of, and you could tell, even though I don't read a lot of series, you could tell oh, this is something that is going to be revisited. Yep. In the next book. Like even the blood curse, I'm like, okay, this is clearly something they're gonna dive more into. Like how did it come to be? How did they end it? All of that. But. For me, who's a one and done book girl. I'm just like, I don't, I just want the answers now. And, this is like a fire hose to the face of information and I don't appreciate it.

Kelsey:

I really think that the, that brimstone is gonna be more about the vampire politics and lore, like what you're talking about, like this blue, whatever. It's

Amanda:

interesting though because I looked at the description, the book description on Good reads,

Kelsey:

ah,

Amanda:

for brain, so Yeah. And it looks like the majority of the story is taking place in Verin.

Kelsey:

Okay.

Amanda:

So it sounds like it's actually not gonna be largely focused on the vampires. It's gonna be focused on Fisher and Kerian, Uhhuh going back to the Silver City. So I'm just like,

Kelsey:

I

Amanda:

Love

Kelsey:

that

Amanda:

so much. I don't know. Yeah. I dunno how much it actually is gonna be diving into the vampire lore. It's obviously gonna be a part of it because she's now the queen of the vampires.

Kelsey:

Yes.

Amanda:

And living in Alman Traeth, which is like the stronghold of Malcolm or Malcolm's stronghold. But yeah, I So do you think

Kelsey:

it's like a different POV then? Is it gonna be from Kingfisher?

Amanda:

It sounds like, yeah. I don't know. It could be because

Kelsey:

I don't think I think that CS is gonna stay behind.

Amanda:

She has to,'cause she can't be underneath the Burning Suns anymore.

Kelsey:

Yeah. That's, they don't really know yet. Because

That's

Amanda:

what it says in the book description.

Kelsey:

What it Oh, in the brimstone.

Amanda:

For brimstone.

Kelsey:

They're like, she can't go

Amanda:

back to her.

Kelsey:

I haven't even read the book. See,

Amanda:

okay. I've done by, do you see the level of dedication and research here?

Kelsey:

I'm so curious.

Amanda:

I was curious. So I went and looked. I was like, what is this gonna be about? Because honestly, like I said, I, without the smut and the stupid fucking sexual banter that was just dumb and awkward and cringe, loved it. I actually didn't mind this book that much. I was curious. There were like these random twists where I was like, wait, okay, there's vampires now. And even when they were in the maze, I love kind of trials and they had to encounter this disgusting spiders, like

Kelsey:

Labyrinth was

Amanda:

really cool. It's definitely a fairly fast paced book, especially given its length. I wasn't, I wouldn't say I was bored at any point in this book.

Kelsey:

Okay.

Amanda:

Annoyed, yes. Cringe. Yes. But I wasn't like, oh I just, this is nothing's happening right there. That didn't happen for me in this book.

Kelsey:

That's great.

Amanda:

But it was like one of those things where I like, I understand. I understand listeners like, I get it. I know so many of you and enjoy smut and hey I would never yuck anyone's yum But when I was reading this book, I was like, okay. I'm like, caught up in like this world and the magic and like the action and all of this stuff. And then out of nowhere I just get slapped upside the head with some random comment about how big his c*ck is. I'm like, I don't need this. This is not helpful. I do not care. This is not pushing the plot along in any sort of meaningful way. What, like it just felt so jarring. I was like, oh yeah, there's this, there's that. They're figuring this out and is she part fait? What's happening? And then yeah, one or the other of them will like make some stupid sexual innuendo and it was like, this feels so contrived and so forced and I don't care. You're ruining a really good story by randomly interjecting either a smut scene or just Yeah, stupid sexual banter and

Kelsey:

I really wanna read this again.

Amanda:

Oh, it just drove me crazy. I was just like, I don't, this doesn't do anything for me and you're actually ruining what could be a really good story,

Kelsey:

you know, It would be so interesting is if a version of these books did exist in that way and so for readers that like you,

Amanda:

yes. I actually was thinking that when I was reading this, can we have like a smut free version and then like an uncensored version for those of you who really enjoy it because the only thing that you get. Out of those SMUD scenes that do advance, the plot is one, you find out that they are in fact mates, which is crazy'cause true mates have not been a thing in this world for a very long time. And you find out that because of that, they also are able to communicate telepathically. That is it, that is the only meaningful information you get out of those scenes and you could totally get that information without them. And from what I did, skim of the SMUD scenes, like they did seem to be a bit more dark and a bit more rough in nature, which I know some folks honestly don't remember, really enjoy. And I'm just like, Hey, do you, but I don't care. I just don't care. Go get a room and then close the door. And I don't. Or your

Kelsey:

eyes interesting.

Amanda:

So

Kelsey:

funny.

Amanda:

Yeah. I don't know, but as soon as I found out there were faded maid, I was like, oh God, this is why Kelsey loves this book. One of the many reasons. I know you love faded mates. I'm like, here we go again. So funny. This like trope has been like, and they

Kelsey:

both have to accept the mating bonds, like yes. I love it when that happens. Or has to happen. Yeah. I'm the one I'm reading right now, mate. It's just clicks. They're just mates. Oh, okay.

Amanda:

I don't know. I don't get it.

Kelsey:

They have to acknowledge their love for one another.

Amanda:

Yeah. But the other thing that made it so much more cringe though, in this book was because. Because the Faye, even though, a lot of them no longer are vampires, or at least they don't act on their instinct. So Uhhuh, they can still bite people. They can still act on those instincts and drain a human of their blood. They also can bite someone's neck when they're having sex to increase like the pleasure that both people are experiencing, which does happen. But I think like the thing that made this faded made this thing so much more cringe was like the fricking PTSD from Twilight, where he's like, oh, you're scent, like just the way that you smell. And I'm just like, oh my God, not again. I don't know.

Kelsey:

That is so true with so many mate.

Amanda:

I know. But for me, I just instantly think of Edward and Bella and I'm just like, oh God. The

Kelsey:

vampires didn't make you think of that?

Amanda:

No, I did, but as soon. But he also was just like,'cause there's the whole scene, in Twila, especially like in the first book where you just like, he can't her, she can't be

Kelsey:

around her

Amanda:

because she's, yeah. And it's like this whole thing and I'm just like, okay. I don't know. Yeah, I don't know. I think the other thing that bothered me too, which I've mentioned before with these books is

Kelsey:

Uhhuh.

Amanda:

I personally don't like it when fantasy characters run around talking like snarky millennials. It just doesn't do anything for me.

Kelsey:

Like

Amanda (2):

Carrion especially

Amanda:

like

Amanda (2):

when half of their little quips and jokes were just like not funny and were just so painfully cringe. I'm like just have them talk. high Fae, I'm totally here for it. This is doing nothing for me. And honestly just takes me out of this world, this separate world that you're trying to build. That mashup of like, yeah, let's write these kind of high fantasy novels, but also have them talk like either millennials or 18 year olds. It just that mashup does not work for me. I know for a lot of people it does. Oh yes. But I just find it really jarring.

Kelsey:

I

Amanda:

dunno.

Kelsey:

I love it. I love it. And Carrie, oh my God, I, he made this book for me. I would not have loved this book as much as I did without him.

Amanda:

Yeah, he was fun. I don't have a whole lot to say about him. Like he's definitely just a comic relief side character, and he has a good heart, but I don't know. I don't,

Kelsey:

I'm so excited to see him in the next book. It sounds like he's definitely gonna have a much larger role.

Amanda:

Yeah. Which should be better.

Kelsey:

But if him and King Fisher are the ones going together, that's gonna be hilarious. I can't wait. That's

Amanda:

gonna be really funny. Especially because they're very different. Um, King Fisher's

Kelsey:

just like this.

Amanda:

Yeah. It's like this the normal dichotomy. It's like the dark brooding, moody dude. Moody, and then the funny lighthearted, it's like grumpy sunshine. It's grumpy sunshine. Yes. Between two dude. Do you know? Yes.

Kelsey:

It's gonna be great.

Amanda:

Yeah.

Kelsey:

This book comes out before this ep, or, yeah right, this episode before episode, episode comes out. Yeah. And I don't know if I'm gonna be able to read it right away though. It's gonna be super long. Maybe try at the end, maybe in, at the end of the year in December.

Amanda:

Yeah. In winter break. Yeah.

Kelsey:

Yeah.

Amanda:

That would make sense.

Kelsey:

But

Amanda:

other than

Kelsey:

that, yeah,

Amanda:

I don't have much else to say. The, there is a, there's a dragon speaking of just chucking everything in this book. I actually

Kelsey:

don't remember the dragon.

Amanda:

The dragon isn't like in the story in terms of the present, not in the present, but a dragon w slain in the lore of this story in the past Uhhuh, and there's like a giant dragon skull above king pelican's throne. And I think that's gonna come back in the second book, or at least at some point in the. Serious, because there's a lot of foreshadowing there. And I was like, oh my gosh. Dragons and vampires and gods. It was just, that's what I mean. I was just like, yeah. Dragons and vampires and gods. Oh my. I was like, oh, Cali. Just, I know you're really excited and wanna do all the things, but also you don't need to do all the things. And I'll say the one final thing I will say about smut in this book,

Kelsey:

oh my goodness.

Amanda:

What is, there's a scene where Saeris She's been working really hard in the forge all day to make this amazing new sword for Lorreth who's yes, one of the soldiers working for Ren and for Kingfisher. And so at at the end of the day, she's exhausted, she's been on her feet for 24 hours, blah blah. Kingfisher takes her back to his tent in the war camp and puts her in the bathtub and she basically passes out'cause she's so tired and he like washes her hair at one point. And then also she like puts her hand on the side of the tub and he just like gently strokes her fingers. I'm like, that to me is so much more like toe curling and romantic and sensual versus them just roughly f*cking each other in a bedroom. You know what I mean? Like for me, yeah. Like I think there's something so much more titillating about that, which is like unspoken and hinted at versus just like laying it all out for me. And that gets me going and I'm like, let's, that's all I need. I just need that little tease. And then they can do what they wanna do. I don't need every single detail like, that's between you and Boo and I don't need to know. And I think that's where my disconnect is, like that comes.'cause even in heartless Hunter, I think I remember talking about this, like Uhhuh, the thing that I really loved was him making her these beautiful dresses, right? Taking the time to craft something that was so like delicate and also doing something that we normally. Attribute to women, like being a seamstress and making dresses or Sure. In fearless when he braids her hair. Like those things to me, I'm like yes, please. But I I just, I don't need those, there's

Kelsey:

those small moments

Amanda:

for Amanda.

Kelsey:

Yeah.

Amanda:

Yeah. The actual act in detail. I don't need that. Yeah.

Kelsey:

That's been a common theme for you. Just these the small kind acts of the ity

Amanda:

Yeah. That you really enjoy. Or like the small, like sexy acts where it's just oh, like you, kissed their neck or just gently stroked the underside of their wrist, like whatever it might be. Like that to me, yeah. Just carries so much more weight to it and then you can do whatever you want with your lovely imagination. But yeah. How did you feel, I know for you it doesn't bother you, but how did you feel about the age gap? Because he's 1700 years old. Oh yeah, she's

Kelsey:

24. I didn't even. Does it exist? Why? I don't know.

Amanda:

It's so bizarre of,

Kelsey:

it just doesn't, like when you're,

Amanda:

God,

Kelsey:

it's disgust. It doesn't it doesn't, like disgusting, doesn't like in my brain, doesn't register as this like actual H gap. I don't know what it is.

Amanda:

It's massive. And he still acts like a juvenile 21 emotional child. Yeah. And that's

Kelsey:

probably why it doesn't register, because they always make him act like fairly, like around the same age.

Amanda:

Men do take forever to mature. So I guess that tracks,

Kelsey:

it's taken him a thousand years to get to where he is.

Amanda:

Oh my gosh.

Kelsey:

Yeah.

Amanda:

So that's pretty much all you have to say about this book.

Kelsey:

It was a lot. It was a lot, Amanda.

Amanda:

It was a lot. And yeah, I didn't, yeah, like I said, I didn't despise it. At the level that I thought I was going to, which was nice. Which

Kelsey:

surprises me

Amanda:

considering I had to read so much of it. And yeah, there was some twists I didn't see coming. Yeah, the vampire twist, her becoming the queen of the vampires at the end. I did not see that coming.

Kelsey:

Yeah, there did.

Amanda:

You

Kelsey:

saw the commun thing coming though.

Amanda:

Yeah, I saw that. Oh my god. From a mile away. Especially because

Kelsey:

Did you, why don't you just suck my blood?

Amanda:

Especially because there was literally no one else it could have been because if it was some random character that she hadn't already introduced, it wouldn't have made sense. And he's the only person, the only male from the human world that is currently in this story that it could be. Yeah. So it was pretty obvious. But. Yeah that's it. That's it.

Kelsey:

Okay. Thank you, Amanda. Shall We're so welcome. Shall we get into our one star and five star reviews?

Amanda:

Yes. It's time for a little bit of literally the best or literally the worst. I, of course have one star reviews

Kelsey:

and

Amanda:

I have five. I have one really long one, but then I balance it out with a bunch of really short ones,

Kelsey:

Okay. Mine are kinda longer.

Amanda:

Okay. So we'll see. We see, we'll see how this, I actually, the first one I'm gonna read, I like, I did take a little bit out of it, but I liked everything in it. Okay. Although this person did not read the full book, and I know how we feel about people who write reviews that haven't finished. And this person. DNF at 30%. So there's that. All right, so our first one star review. This is from Shelby, another viral book, talk book that doesn't live up to the hype for me. Shock. If you're happy with fantasy on Ozempic, not getting the full picture with detail, but heavy on romance. You might like this, providing you can get past the clunky writing and cringey dialogue. Oh, and the MMC being called Kingfisher, who is not a Pokemon with that name. Politics form such a huge part of a fantasy plot, and if I don't understand the world and why it's the way it is, I'm out. I actually prefer romance as a subplot. I'm realizing it should elevate a fantasy. But in these popular romantic books, the fantasy is sacrificed to give way for the romance. By which point, I don't give a fuck about the world. Why does the queen oppress civilians from the third rather than ration their water and food? If she's afraid rebels from the third are working with the Faye, why doesn't she just wipe them out? Already. How did she even become queen? She rations water but not alcohol. Why would the queen do that? How is it tavern packed? If there's a water ration, how are they making the alcohol? Why would the queen allow it no sense was made. The passage between the hub, which is like the main part of silver, the silver city, and the third is forbidden due to the third being infected with a plague. Yet our FMC is easily scaling a wall to cross the two. She also kept saying at the start, before she stole the gauntlet, that she had a plan. What was, it was never answered. How is the FMC murdering two trained queens guards and throwing down three of them when she's dehydrated, doesn't eat properly, and was kicked in the ribs in the previous chapter. I am expected to accept this and then it will make sense when I find out she's got powers or she's half whatever magical creature at 80%. I could almost guarantee it. King Fisher didn't talk like a Faye, who was thousands of years old. The banter he had with the FMC was immature and became sexual so quickly saying he was knocked for six, a cricket reference Super, and Cliff Notes took me right out of the story. It wasn't appropriate given the setting of the book. There was so much telling over showing I couldn't get on with it. Not a vibe. Yeah. She brings up a lot of really logical points. The one, there's a couple things. Yeah. The one I really, what that really resonated with me when I read it was like, yeah, I feel like, which is what I said, is that in these books, these romantic books, it feels like the fantasy is very much sacrifice sometimes to make way for the romance and to make it work and to squeeze in these SMU scenes where I'm like, Either just write a fantasy and do it really well, or write a romance. I don't know, like there, there are some romantic books that blended I think a lot better. But sometimes it does feel like, oh. You're looking for a place to squeeze in this sex scene, or you're looking for a place to insert some sexual banter and it feels so contrived and it drives me crazy.

Kelsey:

I heard that Callie in an interview somewhere Was saying like, this first book was obvi, obviously the setup to the world, but was there romance story? And then beyond that, that's when we'll get like all of our answers to the rest of the world. I see. And not as focused on the romance, so we'll see. I don't know. I see. I'm curious.

Amanda:

It's so interesting though,'cause in my head too, like I, yes, of course there's overlap between romance and the act of sex. But I feel like sometimes romantic authors, it's not for all of them, but for some of them. The sex is the romance, if that makes sense. And I'm like, that's Uhhuh such a shallow definition of like romance or romantic relationship. And I'm not saying she's doing that here per se. But it does drive me a bit crazy'cause it's, yeah. Such a narrow definition.

Kelsey:

One other thing that I wanted to say Amanda, you put up the book cover.

Amanda:

Yes.

Kelsey:

When I saw this book cover, I was like, what the fuck is that?

Amanda:

What the fuck is that? Same, Same.

Kelsey:

And apparently Callie Hart got bullied so badly for the cover that she designed, by the way. That's why she ended up changing the cover. Which to this no. Oh, the field cover.

Amanda:

Okay.

Kelsey:

Yeah. That's the old cover to a new cover. That's just the words, Quicksilver and brimstone. I see.'cause brim stone's cover is just like orange lettering. Yeah. And then Quicksilver also has one that's a newer one that's just Quicksilver.

Amanda:

I see

Kelsey:

it. Which I think is wild. But after reading the story, the cover grew on me. I was like,

Amanda (2):

okay. It makes sense. Yeah. Like it has the butterflies for little osha, which is like the nickname you see his tattoos. Yeah. There's this Quicksilver tear. Yeah. Because one of his eyes has quicksilver in it. He's got his whatever, what's that called? His gorget or whatever that goes around his throat. It makes sense, but it is a bit overly dramatic.

Kelsey:

But yeah, I just think that's so wild that can happen.

Amanda:

We've, we very much judge books by their covers and people have very strong opinions about covers, myself included.

Kelsey:

I do too. But it's not,

Amanda:

I wouldn't bully someone though. I feel like it's

Kelsey:

not that bad.

Amanda:

As far as like romantic see, book covers go, no, it's not.

Kelsey:

Yeah. I don't know. Anyway.

Amanda:

Yeah.

Kelsey:

Okay. My first five star review is from Emily Rose at the Rose House. We follow our A FMC Sirius through a Magic Portal. Portal. Oh my God, that transports her into a fa kingdom that is at war. She needs to figure out how to embrace her new alchemy magic in order to stop the war and find her way home. Hello? Found family unique magic system plot twist and our shadow daddy king fisher. The slow burn enemies to lovers romance will have you kicking your feet. You can feel the tension radiating off the pages, and when it heats up, it gets hot. She goes on saying, this man ruined me. Special mention to the side character carrying his cocky, and witty banter. It was everything. I am going to be unwell until book two comes out. And she says, edit. Congratulations, Callie, on pick, getting picked up on a publisher. And second edit. We are getting a movie. Oh my God.

Amanda:

Wait, is there gonna be a movie? Yes, there is. Wait, what? What?

Kelsey:

Two, she was an indie author when she first published Quicksilver. Okay. And two, yes. There's a movie in production.

Amanda:

Oh, it's already in production.

Kelsey:

I don't know if it's I don't know. Okay. I don't know where it's at. But it's in the

Amanda:

works.

Kelsey:

Yeah, it's in the works. Okay. Oh. But it's also so difficult to like. Know which ones are gonna come to fruition because yeah, they can get log jammed in so many different parts of the way stage jam. So I jam

Amanda:

different

Kelsey:

stages.

Amanda:

Yeah.

Kelsey:

Yeah.

Amanda:

Now that I've read the book, I'm for sure gonna watch the movie if it comes out because

Kelsey:

Oh my gosh. We'll do it together.

Amanda:

I'm curious. Yes. We'll have a little movie night. Okay. My next one is literally just one sentence. This is from Anna.

Kelsey:

Okay.

Amanda:

I'm convinced everyone is being held at gunpoint rating this five stars. It's crazy though, because I think there's only 6,000.

Kelsey:

Yeah.

Amanda:

One star reviews. Like one star reviews. I saw that. And there that there's 350,005 stars. Yes. So it's a very small, less than 1%. Yes. Of the ratings are, people love this book. It has like a 4.3 rating on good reads. Yeah. It's obsessed. It's, yeah.

Kelsey:

Real high. Okay. Okay. This one actually is shorter. Bookish by Tammy. This is exactly what I want from fantasy romance. The fantasy elements were intriguing and ever-growing. A combination of Faye and Vampires, a combo I didn't know I needed in my life. The audio book was sensational. I am definitely invested. And not once was I bored. So excited for book two. That's the other thing is I listened to the audio as well. Oh, like I read along. And it was, it initially I didn't like it because king Fisher's voice is like really dark and it's like really deep. It's funny. And yeah, there's TikTok video sounds though that you can listen to, to hear like the audiobook voice. I am curious what you think of

it.

Amanda:

I'm sure it's like way too much, but is it. Is it just the male narrator for the whole bookers or a female narrator as well?

Kelsey:

There's both, yeah.

Amanda:

Oh, okay. That's better. Okay.

Kelsey:

Yeah, no, it's not just that.

Amanda:

Okay.

Kelsey:

Because it's her POV and I think it's just his lines that like he's saying.

Amanda:

I see. Okay. I

Kelsey:

remember, but

Amanda:

yeah, I will say I'm not huge into vampires but this is the first book I read that did the Faye Vampire Convo, which I did think was intriguing, right? I hadn't encountered that before.

Kelsey:

Yeah.

Amanda:

I, it did make me even think the vampire lore more interesting and I, the thing is I have nothing against vampires. I find it really fascinating. I just feel it's been overdone, but I did I like that she tried something different, so props to Callie for that. Okay. Ooh third one Star review from Sue, Ms. This is the age of romance authors dabbling in fantasy and romance readers, four to five starring them. What is wrong with that? Because it gives a shit like this book. I am judging everyone who liked this book. Please unfriend me immediately. Stop making mediocre authors famous romance authors. Either leave the fantasy genre to its people, or for God's sake, work on your books. God, just another fourth wing and reckless wannabe. Not that either of those was good. Next thing you'll tell me, Colleen Hoover is writing a fantasy.

Kelsey:

Ready. See,

Amanda:

anyhow, they clearly have strong feelings.

Kelsey:

Clearly.

Amanda:

Yeah, I think if you're gonna write a romantic, you should be able, like I said, you should be able to do them both well and make it a seamless connection between the two. And some authors are more skilled at doing that than others. That is all I will say.

Kelsey:

I felt like it was well done in this book, so I don't care. Okay. This is from Lauren Moore, who is book huddles creator.

Amanda:

Oh, okay. Cool.

Kelsey:

Yeah. She's Lauren Moore on book. Oh my God. Good. Reads on.

Amanda:

Good reads. Okay.

Kelsey:

Yeah, so she says. I might as well stop reading now because I found my favorite fantasy book of the year. After seeing book Talk Gush over Quicksilver, I decided to give this book a whirl. I went in completely blind and so glad I did. This book has everything you ever want in a romantic book and then some a catis ever did. Like protagonist check. A messy haired, chiseled John, morally gray Fay love interest, absolutely vampires, witches, an intricate world building, ya bet. But Quicksilver goes even deeper than those service level elements. Its magic system is complex and fascinating with attributes I haven't encountered before. The side characters are interesting and multidimensional. The dialogue feels authentic, and even though the stakes are incredibly high, I found myself laughing out loud at times, thanks to Jokes Made by Carryon my favorite character. Do I recommend this book wholeheartedly? It's long and I never wanted it to end, which. To me is the ultimate sign of a great book. I can't wait for the sequel. Thank you, Lauren.

Amanda:

Yeah, to, to her point, it does have everything, for better or for worse. I forgot about Yeah, there's witches in here too. People, which we forgot. I totally forgot. Even that there are also witches. They really only come in at the very end. But yeah. Which again, I guess if you're living in a world that has multiple realms It makes sense that you would have all of these different magical beings. But it is a lot to keep track of. But yeah, its, if you're big in a fantasy and romantic, this book has everything, so yeah. It has all the tropes, all the magical creatures. Like it's all, it's like a one stop shop for romantic lover. So its,

Kelsey:

what was that fire? Sprite as well.

Amanda:

Yeah. There's sprites, there's all different types of Fay fairies, like it literally. Has all of the things.

Kelsey:

Yep.

Amanda:

Okay. My last one story of you is from Megan Singleton. This is Trash. She took every popular book, talk book and smashed it together. There's no chemistry between the main characters and the story is so horribly thought out. Don't let book talk. Fool you with this one, folks. Yeah. I think there was chemistry, but I, it did feel, like I said, it felt like mashup is a good word. Like I felt like a mashup of all the things. And I don't know that I'm always a fan of a mashup.

Kelsey:

I was.

Amanda:

I know. I so was. I know.

Kelsey 2.0:

Okay. Okay. My final review from Emma Res, I confess I hate getting overwhelmed by the first book in the series, but this book has a right balance in terms of pacing, plot, complexity, and characters. Cali Hart wasn't overly ambitious by attempting to write a complex plot or introducing too many characters. The gods and the elements were introduced at the end, setting up the premise for the next installment. The dialogue and banter were refreshing and enjoyable to read. Personally, I am guilty of focusing entirely on Kingfisher who has inevitably, and. Consciously stolen all the limelight in this book, but I'm hoping to read more about Refis Everlane Lo Carion, and dear little Osha in the next one, and perhaps a budding romance between Ren and Lane. I was especially touched by Lath story and his bravery too. I'm so curious about King Fisher's real name and that Ka swift cliffhanger. I didn't see that coming. Hopefully it leads to an even more intriguing plot development. I foresee myself liking him more in the next installment. I can't wait for the fall.

Amanda:

How did they not see the Carrie Swift thing coming? I didn't.

Kelsey:

I actually didn't.

Amanda:

No, wait. Really?

Kelsey:

Yeah,

Amanda:

as soon as that, like they drop that little. Line about there being a missing Dan this. Yeah. I was like, oh, done.

Kelsey:

If it's one line, I'm not picking up on it. I'm like,

Amanda:

whatever. Oh, okay. I feel like with Fantasy series Uhhuh, they're always dropping Easter eggs. That's what they do. So anytime they hint at anything like, oh, this is gonna be something.

Kelsey:

Yeah.

Amanda:

Whether it's like with the dragon or with the Dianthus air, like whatever it is, I'm like, oh, okay. Like you're laying the groundwork

Kelsey:

that's coming

Amanda:

from somewhere. But yeah I do think there's probably gonna be a relationship between Lane and Ren. There's obviously some

Kelsey:

Yeah.

Amanda:

Romantic connection, some sexual tension there. It'll be curious too, to see if Kerian ends up settling down with somebody because he's a

Kelsey:

Playboy.

Amanda:

A playboy, and it's any. They at least hint at the fact that he's bi.'cause he very much expresses interest in Yeah. Male characters in the books too. Yeah. We'll see. We'll see.

Kelsey:

I'm so curious because there was a lot of debate around Kingfisher's name, not like his real name, but like Kingfish in general. It's like, what kind of name is that?

Amanda:

That Yeah.

Kelsey:

Yeah. And initially I was too, I was like, what Kingfisher? But it definitely grew on me throughout the book. I was like, oh, okay. That's his name.

Amanda:

A lot of folks in the One star reviews did not like the name.

Kelsey:

Yeah.

Amanda:

Like they Yeah. Fully were blasting like C for that. I, for me, I think, because again, I'm relatively new to this genre, I just roll with so many things. I'm like, okay, this is what you name people in these books. Okay. This

Kelsey:

is what's happening. Yeah. The other thing too, I was like, everybody else had these like other worldly names. Sarah Loker. Yeah. Everlane, and then we have Malcolm. And I was like, that doesn't feel like it fits.

Amanda:

It doesn't. But it's also funny because for whatever reason, like I, Malcolm's are villains in my head. I don't know where that came from. But like in my mind, Malcolm's are just like, yeah. Like they're really bratty kid and a ya novel or Yeah. The villain in this fantasy story. But yeah, I did feel very, that's

Kelsey:

so funny.

Amanda:

Like it felt like a name from the human realm. But Yeah, because they remark when Sarah's first shows up in Eve. And lane is talking with her and she introduces herself. She's like, yeah, my name is Sarah Fain. Like Lane's first response like, oh that's a Fay name. And yeah, when Malcolm showed up I was like, oh, that doesn't sound like a fa name.

Kelsey:

Yeah. Not at all. The other thing I was curious I don't remember be con where does he end up at the end? Know

Amanda:

he escapes. So both Bella k and Madre both escape at the end. So the only one of the three that actually is murdered or dies is Malcolm.

Kelsey:

Yeah.

Amanda:

So they're like, they've gone, they've escaped. Escaped, I should say. Do you

Kelsey:

think they go to z What's it called?

Amanda:

Sylver? I would assume Madre goes back to Ver right to her.

Kelsey:

Yeah. But maybe Betty Silicon goes with her and that's why Ion and Kingfish go.

Amanda:

I feel like he would wanna keep track of his own like palace, like the Winter Palace. I don't know why he wouldn't go back to the Winter Palace. At least not at the beginning.

Kelsey:

People now know he's like a bad villain.

Amanda:

When you say people, it's only like that very small cohort of people, like his people that he's ruling over don't know that.

Kelsey:

But is that gonna be well known throughout society?

Amanda:

We'll find out. We'll find out.

Kelsey:

Yeah, I was like, are you gonna read the second bug, Amanda?

Amanda:

No. I'll probably just read a summary because I'm curious, but I don't know that I can, although if there's honestly, if there's like less smut or no smut in it, like I am curious, right? Like I, I did feel invested in the plot obviously, as I was reading it. Okay. And I was like, I do wanna know like more about these things that she's hinting at but isn't fully telling us. Again, which is why I gave it a off lit it and not,

Kelsey:

Wait.

Amanda:

Soft quid it. I'm sorry, I keep on a soft quid it, I was actually thinking about it prior to this episode and I was like, I did feel relatively torn down the middle, and I was like, maybe this is just, I'm going to start a new thing where it's like, it's aquit, it's just like smack in the middle. It's not a soft

Kelsey:

line, it's

Amanda:

not a soft quid it's just really fully smack in the middle.

Kelsey:

Because you're, the way you're talking about it, you enjoyed it more than I did a soft quit it. I feel like it just doesn't make sense.

Amanda:

Yeah. But I, but I also don't feel comfortable giving it a soft little, like that's expressing too much,

Kelsey:

qui it.

Amanda:

And so it's aquit for me. I'm coining that term officially for future use. Oh, that's hilarious. But yeah, like I think I can see why people like it. I can, see why it has their rating. It does. Especially, if you're somebody who enjoys romantic, I think in terms of like final recommendations. If you don't like smu you're not gonna, like chunks of this book, like that are s muddy. And you're probably gonna get annoyed with these random conversations about sex that keep popping up when you're like, let's just actually talk about what matters here. But this story itself and the world itself is intriguing. And like I said, even just the fantasy or the Faye Vampire combo is something I haven't encountered before. And

Kelsey:

yeah.

Amanda:

I'm like, yeah, okay, let's like, let's see how this plays out. So that's where I fall on this book.

Kelsey:

Yay. So in the end, I would recommend this to people

Amanda:

Especially

Kelsey:

people who like romantic. Absolutely.

Amanda:

Yeah. Folks, you can chime in and let us know either on our socials or our email, or on this episode on Spotify. Mm-hmm. You can comment, so please be sure to do that. Kelsey, do you wanna give'em like the specific. What is even the name it not Yeah. What do you our handles? Yes. I was like, what do we call that?

Kelsey:

So we are on Instagram at Live Vibes only podcast and on TikTok and YouTube at Live Vibes only podcasts where you can find us Yeah. And engage in our content and hang out.

Amanda:

Yeah.

Kelsey:

And of course always rate and review on mostly Apple and Spotify. But wherever you get your podcasts. So yeah,

Amanda:

we're on multiple platforms.

Kelsey:

Thank you.

Amanda:

Yeah. Thanks so much for hanging out with us guys. Definitely let us know your thoughts and then be sure to check out our socials on Thursday so you can vote and let us know where you fall. On this book, whether it's a lit it or quit it otherwise, oh,

Kelsey:

this other quill that Amanda has created.

Amanda:

No, that's just for me. Nobody else gets to use that. Alright folks, thanks so much for hanging out with us and we'll see you next Monday.

Kelsey:

Bye

bye.