Fae & Alchemy #2
I didn’t love this book. I wanted to. I loved the first book, Quicksilver. But this book had some issues for me. Let’s get into it.
Saeris.
I respected her in book one. She keeps trying especially when the people she cares about are on the line. The problem I had with her in this book was that she didn’t show the growth I was hoping for. She still threw herself into things without thinking and her mouth kept getting her in trouble. She took chances with her pet fox that really grated on me. I know there is one more book for her to show that growth but everyone caters to Saeris in this book. She works on her alchemy but she is still impulsive. I would have liked more from her in this book.
Meted couple/ Kingfisher.
I missed some of the spirit of Kingfisher we saw in Quicksilver in Brimstone. He worships Saeris and she gets everything she wants. They aren’t partners so much as he is her knight. I love that he goes back to Zilvaren for her and goes through a whole books worth of trials there. What was concerning to me was the lack of growth in their mating bond. It’s just the same as the end of Quicksilver. I wanted more.
Plot – What was that?
The only way I can describe what’s it’s like to read this book is to compare it to a roller coaster though not your average one. Imagine getting on the ride right at the top of the highest drop and that’s where you start the ride. At the bottom of each fall, you stop and take a break for dinner or conversation where characters communicate. But then you quickly climb to the next hill only it’s on a ride nearby or over in the next amusement park. You continue like this trying to pick up bits of what’s happening only to have the characters unable to deal with anything you may have learned because the next big drop is upon you. And when you come to the end of the ride? One of the main characters reveals part of secret that nobody knows. The end.
I could not deal with the ride. Characters ended up being able to do things in the heat of the fall that they didn’t know they could do but needed in that moment. There wasn’t time to adjust to that change before another emergency was upon them. They went from “we are all going to die” to “cool didn’t know you could do that” in seconds and off we went again. It was jarring. And truthfully, it had me no longer caring about the characters. One event which normally would have caused me to cry just had me thinking “oh well” and reading on to see if they figured it out. At about half way through I considered DNFing it. I set it aside for 3 or 4 days. The only reason I finished it was because I loved Quicksilver so much. I powered through the rest not reacting to the characters just taking in what happened.
Brimstone has more than classic book two issues. There was too much going on and not enough time for even the characters to respond to it. They were thrown in 15 directions and just trying to catch their breath in every single chapter. Location changes that happened so fast that you were trying to keep up with who the side characters where at any given place. It needed a good edit to clear up some of the mess and more than a few errors. I really was hoping for better.
I’m not sure if I will read book three. The cliffhanger ending doesn’t have me chopping at the bit to get it. I have a small curiosity about it. That may be enough to get me to read it but we’ll see.
Let me know what you think? Have you read it? Do you want to read it?
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