Ep. 66: Lit It or Quit It: Quicksilver

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

Send us a text

Follow us on TikTok & Youtube @litvibesonlypodcast and on Instagram @litvibesonly_podcast. You can also email us at [e-mail] We'd love to hear from you!

See you on Mondays!

Episode Transcript

Kelsey (00:04):
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 (00:13):
And I'm Amanda, the insightful, thrill seeker and
historical fiction nerd.
Welcome, Welcome, welcome onceagain, do another Litted or
Quitted episode, which is sureto get pretty lit

Kelsey (00:25):
Because we're gonna, little Amanda's gonna lit the
shit outta it,

Amanda (00:27):
just a little foreshadowing.
But I'm so

Kelsey (00:31):
excited about this.

Amanda (00:33):
Before we get carried away make sure that you are
following us on our socials.
If you are not, we are onInstagram at Lit Vibes Only
podcast.
And we are also on TikTok andYouTube at Lit Vibes Only
podcast.
So make sure to head over there.
Follow, comment, subscribe, andif you are not on socials, but
wanna reach out just withquestions or book

(00:54):
recommendations or just to say,Hey, I love you guys.
You can reach us via email atlit vibes only
[e-mail].
But most important we do, welove getting emails, we feel so
official.
But most importantly, if youhaven't yet please rate and
review our podcast.
We would love that so much.

(01:15):
It only takes two seconds to hitthat five star rating.
You can do it right now whileyou're listening.
And then once you're done, ifyou're feeling extra generous,
you can also take a moment andleave us a one or two sentence
review on either Apple Podcastor Spotify.
On Spotify.
It'll just be a comment on thisepisode and that will just do
wonders for us.
In this season of giving give usthe gift of your ratings and

(01:38):
reviews.
That's all we want forChristmas.
Thank you so much.
And yeah, this is gonna be agreat episode.
I know Kelsey's really excited.
Yes.
And I am here let's, I studied

Kelsey (01:50):
for this episode.
I was like, oh yeah.

Amanda (01:52):
Oh my gosh.
There's so much.
There's so much to this book.
Good lord.
But before that, Kelsey, whatare you currently reading?
Oh, yeah, just finished reading.

Kelsey (02:00):
No, I'm currently reading.
Okay.
It's something that I've beenwanting to read for almost.
Oh, almost the whole year.
But I had to wait until, notnecessarily spooky season, but
just fall vibes.
Okay.
And it's called One Dark Window.
Oh.
I've

Amanda (02:15):
seen

Kelsey (02:16):
this by Rachel Gillig.
And yeah.
I wasn't sure if I was gonnalike it because, people are
really split on it.

Amanda (02:24):
Okay.

Kelsey (02:24):
I don't know that you would like it, but is it

Amanda (02:27):
romantic?

Kelsey (02:28):
Yes.
Okay.
But it's not heavy on the smutat all.
Okay.
It's just, there's parts of itthat like rhyme and I just don't
know.

Amanda (02:39):
Oh,

Kelsey (02:39):
how you would feel about that?

Amanda (02:40):
I like poetry.
Like when you say it rhymes whatdo you like?
Are there rhymes in the,

Kelsey (02:45):
there's like parts in the very beginning of the
chapters where it's like readingfrom a card and it's like
rhyming.

Amanda (02:52):
Okay.

Kelsey (02:53):
Okay.

Amanda (02:54):
Let's see.

Kelsey (02:54):
Like this, oh, these, there are these cards.
And then it's, that's all like apoem.
Okay.
But then it's sprinkled into thebook as well, and I'm like, why
is it rhyming randomly?
And so it's just choice.

Amanda (03:07):
Okay.
So like the prose is randomlyrhyming?

Kelsey (03:11):
Yes.

Amanda (03:11):
I see.
Yeah, I think I might find thata little cheesy if it's not done
well.

Kelsey (03:15):
It is a

Amanda (03:15):
little, if it's connected to some, I don't know,
like bigger theme or motif andit's done well, I think it'd be
fine with it.
'cause I love words andliterature and poetry.
But if it comes across as likecheesy or trite or I don't know,
I don't understand the purposeand I think it would take me
outta the story.

Kelsey (03:29):
Yeah.
It takes me outta the story, butoverall I really enjoy it and I
like the.
Yeah, the plot to it.

Amanda (03:37):
What is the magic?
The magic that cover makes methink it's like dark academia.

Kelsey (03:40):
It no, it's not academia.
But it, yeah, it, you don't findout what one dark window is
until 75% of the way through.

Amanda (03:49):
Oh

Kelsey (03:49):
God.
Okay.
And yeah.
But it's cool.
So it's basically this, themagic system basically, are
these cards Okay.
That hold magic?
And they were, you find out howthey were created, like later on
in the first book.
Okay.
And people have like randomcards and they came across them
by bartering or trading thingsor items or even people.

(04:13):
And they all do like differentthings.
Like one I believe this is theright thing.
It's called Chalice.
And it makes you tell the truth,makes like you use it.
I see.
And other people have to tellthe truth.
I see.
Also at the very beginning, youfind out that there's this
disease called like the fever orsomething.
And if someone has.
Had that disease, they end uphaving magic.

(04:35):
And these people are likeillegal in this society.
And so they end up gettingmurdered or killed if they are
found out.
And so the main character hashad 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 (04:52):
do, it reminds me of, what is that book you had me
read Reckless, where like someof the people were like, killed
by this.

Kelsey (04:57):
Oh sure.

Amanda (04:58):
These, and there was like.

Kelsey (04:59):
Not like reckless though.

Amanda (05:00):
No, I know.

Kelsey (05:01):
But fearless, that element

Amanda (05:02):
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 folksgetting, 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.

(05:24):
And it was, yeah.
Where was that

Kelsey (05:25):
first?

Amanda (05:26):
So originally I set for 50.

Kelsey (05:28):
Okay.

Amanda (05:28):
And then I hit that in like June or, yeah.
Yeah.
And I was like let me justdouble it.
So I did, and I also hit thatone, so I think I'm just gonna
leave it.
I'm not gonna reset it at thispoint.
Yeah.
But I'm gonna see, yeah, maybe Ican 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 rightnow.

Kelsey (05:44):
Yeah.

Amanda (05:44):
So I think I can do a couple more time.
I got time.
I got time.

Kelsey (05:47):
And Thanksgiving is in the middle of that,

Amanda (05:49):
so it's

Kelsey (05:49):
That's a time for reading.

Amanda (05:50):
That's a time for reading.
And Christmas break will be, ourwinter break will be happening.
And that's also, in the lead up.
So Exactly.
I think I'll get, I think I'llget at least 15 more in there,
but I hit my 100th book with anaudiobook called The River Has
Roots by Amal El Moar.
And it's.
This book was recommended bymaybe Buck Huddle again, as a

(06:12):
really amazing audio book.
And it's a very, it's a fantasybook because there's like magic
involved.
Oh, the magic in this world isgrammar, both in the way that we
think about grammar and morethan that.
And it follows the story ofthese two sisters.
But the thing that makes thisaudiobook so unique is that
there's like sound effects.

(06:33):
There's music, there's singing.
Oh, so it's like this full audioexperience that goes so far
beyond what most audio books do.
And the narrator, I think islike Scottish or Irish has like
this beautiful wilting accent.
And even if you don't like thestory itself, just like
listening to it is so soothing.

(06:55):
Especially because the riverlists is like a big part of the
story.
And so you just hear like thewater 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, butit's fantasy.
It's fantasy.
Like it's very, it's, there'sthe Faye realm and the human
realm.

Kelsey (07:13):
Yeah.

Amanda (07:14):
But it almost reads like a fable.
So it's like a simple story.
It's not very long.
The audio book is like threehours.
It's a super short book.
But yeah, highly recommend ifyou want just something slightly
different when it comes toaudiobook.
Okay.
I really enjoyed it and zippedright through it.
So that is what I just read.
And we'll hopefully be startinga new book later today.
Haven't decided yet, which, Igot a bunch of books.

(07:36):
I was telling Kelsey I got abunch of books in from Libby all
at the same time, so I need tofigure out which one's gonna be
next.
But we are here today to talkabout another book, Quicksilver
by Kelly Hart.
Yes.
So, Kelsey please tell our dearfriends why you had me read this
book.

Kelsey (07:55):
I read this book earlier this year.
It might have been one of myfirst 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 withit.
I laughed.
I, yeah I laughed.

(08:16):
I don't think I cried.
I just really enjoyed thecharacters and also the magic
which we'll get into.
And so I had no hopes of youenjoying this book because it's
very typical brooding like darkMMC and the younger FMC who has

(08:38):
powers dah.
And so I didn't have high hopesfor you enjoying it.
But I felt like we had to talkabout it because Brimstone, the
second book is coming out thismonth.
And so our episode is coming outin December, right after the
release actually.

Amanda (08:55):
Yeah.
Perfect

Kelsey (08:56):
timing.
Very timely.

Amanda (08:57):
Yeah.
And I know this is like a hugebook talk book.
It has a huge follow.
It's,

Kelsey (09:01):
it is,

Amanda (09:02):
people are obsessed.

Kelsey (09:03):
And you know what's funny, what's funny?
When I was looking at my fivestar reviews book huddle was
actually one of the

Amanda (09:11):
Oh yeah.

Kelsey (09:11):
Reviewers.

Amanda (09:12):
I know.
Literally just this morning Iwas on her account on Instagram
and she was talking about thebrimstone release and I was
like, okay, alright.
Okay,

Kelsey (09:23):
go.

Amanda (09:23):
Thank

Kelsey (09:23):
you.

Amanda (09:24):
So yeah, thank you Kelsey, for your providing your
reasoning.
I appreciate that.

Kelsey (09:28):
So tell us, Amanda, was this the lid or quit it for you?

Amanda (09:35):
I think this actually might surprise you a little bit.
I would say that this book was asoft Quit it.
Okay.
I was fully anticipating likeabsolutely loathing this book
like I did like, you know, brideor divine rivals.

Kelsey (09:51):
Okay.

Amanda (09:51):
I didn't think you was, but I don't have that level of
distaste for this book and Ithink it is largely, well
there's two reasons I won't getinto them all here, but I will
just say it's largely due to thefact that I skimmed the smut.
I was like, I know if I actuallyread this, I'm gonna hate this
book, so I'm just gonna domyself a favor and just skim
right over this.
And I think that really helped.

(10:12):
So yeah.
Okay.

Kelsey (10:14):
Helped just taking out part of the book.

Amanda (10:17):
Yes.
There

Kelsey (10:18):
wasn't that much.
Was there?
I don't remember there beingthat much.

Amanda (10:21):
There was enough.

Kelsey (10:22):
It was not that much.
It was like maybe two, threescenes.

Amanda (10:24):
No, I think it was, there was three.

Kelsey (10:25):
Okay.
See,

Amanda (10:26):
yeah, there

Kelsey (10:27):
wasn't that much,

Amanda (10:28):
But anyhow, we will get to that.
So I'm gonna do the summary readthis 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 ninepages through this book.
Yes.
So I'm gonna try and summarizeit again.

(10:48):
It's a long book, so I'm gonnakeep it pretty simple and
straightforward and then we willdive into all the lovely details
in our discussion.
So this book starts in thisworld called verin, specifically
in this city called The SilverCity, and it starts off with our
lovely FMC Cs Fein.

(11:10):
And in this world, it's a desertworld.
So there's two suns in the sky.
It's basically blazing hot allthe time.
The sun's never set.

Kelsey (11:19):
Yep.

Amanda (11:19):
And because of this water is very much a commodity
and this world is broken up intodistricts essentially.
And our FMC lives in the poorestdistrict, the third, and they've
essentially been quarantinedbecause people believe that
they're diseased.
They get very limited waterrations.

(11:42):
And the ones that they do do areessentially polluted to make
people super sick.
So it's rough going in thethird.
This world is ruled over by thisimmortal 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.

(12:02):
She knows how to fight.
She's scrappy and tough andessentially the story kicks off
with her stealing part of aguard's armor.
So part of Madras guards shesteals like his gauntlet.
And we quickly realized that.
Her relationship to metalthere's something off about it.
Metal reacts weirdly when she'saround and she's noted this.

(12:23):
She doesn't know why and shedoesn't do too much
investigating into it, butthat's there.
A little bit of foreshadowing.
Sarah's has a younger brothernamed Hayden, who is 20, I
believe.
Sarah says like 24.
And he tends to get himself introuble.
He likes to gamble and so shevery much takes care of him as
both her mother and her fatherhave died.

(12:44):
Her mother was killed by QueenMadras Guard.
So this stealing of the gauntlettriggers this whole series of
events that ultimately ends upwith Sarah's getting arrested
and being taken to the Queen'spalace.
And there she's essentiallyinterrogated by the Queen and
the Queen's captain of the GuardHeron.

(13:06):
And she, the queen, hints thatmaybe CS is not like fully
human.
And ultimately the queen decidesthat Cs needs to die for her
transgressions and instructsherron to essentially torture
and kill her.
In the process of Herron killingCs, she tries to fight back with

(13:29):
her like final dying breath.
And in this moment of conflict,,her powers are actualized.
She ends up pulling this swordout of this like pool of what
turns out to be quicksilver.
And in her dying breaths, thisfigure emerges from the
Quicksilver and drags her down.
And in her hazy state, shethinks it's death coming to

(13:51):
claim her.
Next thing we know, Sarahs wakesup and she's in a different
realm.
She's now entered a Faye realmcalled Velia, and she tries to
get her bearings, takes herwhile to realize where she's at,
and we come to find out thatDeath, who captured her is
actually a dark brooding Faynamed King Fisher or Fisher for

(14:12):
short.
And she quickly becomesacquainted with some other key
figures in the story.
One of them is Everlane, whogoes by Lane.
And we find out that KingFisher's half sister, the other
is Ren Refis, or Ren, who is acaptain in the army and they
form like a little trio.
So it turns out that Sarah's hasbeen brought to the Winter

(14:36):
Palace, which is ruled by thisKing, and King Bella Con does
not like Kingfish.
We're not entirely sure why atthe beginning, but he does not
like him.
But before he sends Moi, has himexecuted, Ren steps in and says,
Hey, we have this new individualhere at Sarah's who appears to
be able to control Quicksilver.
Which is this really importantelement that allows individuals

(14:59):
to travel between differentrealms.
Mm-hmm.
And Madre has basically blockedall of the realms from being
used for literally, I don'tknow, a thousand years or more.

Kelsey (15:09):
Yeah.

Amanda (2) (15:10):
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 andgot her.
And so they're like, oh my God,we have an alchemist on our
hands potentially.
And they could really changethings for us.
So they want to use Cs tobasically produce these things

(15:30):
called relic.
Which will help individualstravel between realms, which
they haven't been able to do fora while.
Because if you try to travelthrough a Quicksilver portal
without a relic, you run therisk of dying and or losing your
mind.
And we know this becauseKingfisher did travel through a
portal without a relic.
He ended up getting infectedwith the Quicksilver almost

(15:52):
died.
And there's still like a remnantof Quicksilver within him.
That unless he's activelycontrolling it by wearing a
relic, it basically is gonnaturn him mad, make him go mad.
So we have all this context.
So basically King Fisher andSarah's are like forced to work
together on this project.
CS is only doing thishalfheartedly because she wants
to go back to her realm.
She is worried that.

(16:13):
Queen Madre has destroyed theentire third ward because of
what Sarah's has done.
She fears for her brother'slife, so she just wants to go
home and so ultimately shedecides to betray Kingfisher.
She steals what she thinks is arelic off of his finger.
His ring, yeah.
Sneaks down to the basement ofthe winter palace and
essentially tries to hop into aquick silver portal so she can

(16:36):
go home.
King Fisher stops her right inthe nick of time and is

Amanda (16:40):
like,

Amanda (2) (16:40):
you're crazy.
You would've died if you haddone that.
And now we need to leave thepalace because everybody knows
what you're up to.
You weren't subtle at all.
And if people find out thatyou're still here and we're
trying to run off and not helpKing Behan with your alchemist
powers, like we're all introuble.
So she forms an oath with KingFisher where she essentially

(17:02):
promises that she will make asmany relics for him as he needs
for his army, which we'll get toin 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 thatthere are literally thousands of
relics that need to be made andthat it's gonna take a really

(17:23):
long time.
So he goes back, fisher goesback to her realm to, to grab,
oh, I'm sorry.
Actually I miss, I misstatedthat.
The oath was that if she madethe relics for him, he would go
back and bring her brother fromRA and to Velia.
God, there's so many details.
So King Fisher hops into theQuick Silver Portal, comes back.

(17:44):
Sarah is super excited.
She rushes over to see herbrother and realizes that he has
actually brought back a mannamed Kerian Swift, who is like
this kind of tricky black marketguy from the third who she's
slept with once and has acontentious relationship with.
And so she's super annoyed.
She's

Amanda (18:03):
like,

Amanda (2) (18:03):
you brought back the wrong person.
He is

Amanda (18:05):
like,

Amanda (2) (18:05):
sorry, I thought this was your brother.
That's what he said.
So then the three of them escapeinto 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 thesecreatures called feeders, okay?
They've been fighting this warfor centuries at this point, and

(18:27):
neither side is really makingany ground.
And so Fisher is really excitedthat he now has an alchemist in
his possession who can makerelics and help his army travel
around more freely and hopefullydefeat these feeders.
We quickly find out that thesefeeders are in fact.
The vampires.

Kelsey (18:48):
Yeah.

Amanda (18:49):
Did not see that coming.
And we also find out that manyyears ago, thousands of years
ago, a curse, a blood curse wasput on the Faye.
And basically they were allvampires.
And that's why there are no morehumans in this world.
They basically killed them all.
Ultimately, the blood curse wasbroken.
The majority of Faye were like,yes, wonderful.
We don't wanna be vampiresanymore.

(19:09):
But a small faction of themdecided to stay vampires.
And the leader of that factionis called Malcolm.
And he is the one who isbasically waging war on the
other Faye in this land.
Again, long story short, Sarah'sultimately joins the fight.
For freedom with Kingfisher andhis pals.

(19:30):
And so a good chunk of the bookis them at the front lines.
And the battleground, there's ariver that runs through it that
separates the Faye from thefeeders.
And it's just like this it's,it's a stalemate.
Honestly, neither side is makingany real progress.
Whenever the river freezes, likethe vampires will try to cross,
so then the Faye will use gianthammers and break up the ice and
the vampires fall into the waterand get washed away and like

(19:52):
they just repeat this cycle likeevery day.
So there's that.
I mean there's just a lot oflike them being at the front
lines.
Obviously Kingfisher and Sarahstart to develop feelings for
each other and get it on.
And ultimately we find out thatlane.
King, Fisher's half sister hasbeen kidnapped by Malcolm and he

(20:16):
has basically started to turnher and if they don't get her
out of his grasp within I don'tknow, 48 hours or something,
she's gonna be officially turnedinto a vampire.
And that's that.
So they launched this attackthis mission to save her.
King Fisher decides to go italone.
He's don't follow me, I'm gonnago, fight Malcolm and I'll send

(20:38):
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, andLo, who's another friend of king
Fisher, and Ian.
And Ian.
They dive through the portal andgo the other way basically.
So they can go and RescueFisher.

(20:58):
Fisher is not happy about this.
We find out that Fisher had gonemissing for I don't know, 110
years or something.
Nobody knew where he was and hewouldn't talk about where he's
been.
But it turns out he had actuallybeen Malcolm's prisoner for 110
years.
And Malcolm kept him in thislike maze Wow.

(21:20):
Trapped in this maze Labyrinthfor like over a hundred years.
And the only way he was allowedto get out is if he made it to
this center and then also foundthis coin.
And I won't get into all of thatbecause 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

(21:41):
working together.
To basically.
Rule their respective kingdomsrule their res, respective
cities.

Kelsey (21:48):
Yeah.

Amanda (21:49):
And they're all horrible shits.
And so they put this our lovelygroup of heroes into the maze.
They face some trials andchallenges, one of them, which
is a giant disgusting spider.
And ultimately, God, there's somuch in this book, CS uses her
magical powers, her Quicksilverpowers to kill Malcolm, find

(22:13):
this coin that needed to befound, which broke this curse
that was basically being heldover Kingfisher.
And in the process, C ismortally wounded.
And so in order to make surethat she doesn't die, she
essentially gets turned.
And at the end of the book, werealized that she is now like
half Fay and half vampire, whichis like never been seen before

(22:36):
in these lands.
So she's like this whole newkind of being.
And at the very end we find outthat since she killed Malcolm,
who is the king of the vampires,and since Malcolm did not have
an heir, essentially lawdictates that she now is the
heir to the throne.
So she now has becomeessentially the queen of the
damn, the queen of the vampire.

(22:57):
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 anutshell, that is what happens

Kelsey (23:10):
essentially.
Yes.

Amanda (23:11):
In this

Kelsey (23:12):
book.
Good job.

Amanda (23:12):
Like big picture.
Thank you.
It again.
Definitely one of those booksfor sure.
Read it because there's a lotthat happens.
Yeah.
That happens.
So

Kelsey (23:22):
you're telling people to read it.

Amanda (23:24):
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 (23:34):
So Amanda thank you for the summary.
Welcome.
We always start out with thethings that you enjoyed or that
we enjoyed about the book thatwas recommended to us.
So what are the things that youdid enjoy that made it, that it
wasn't a full on quote strong,

Amanda (23:50):
a strong quid?
It.
Yeah.
So for one, this is a minorthing, but I actually really
appreciated that this book,unlike other fantasy books, had
a pronunciation guide at thevery beginning because some of
these words are pretty wonky,and I, yes.
When I can't pronouncesomething, or dunno how to
pronounce, it, throws me andannoys me.
So I really appreciated thatlittle addition.

(24:13):
I know it's overdone but, I dolove 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 gonnaget old for me.
So I appreciated that.
Sarah's I appreciated thatSarah's, definitely fulfilled
that role in the story.
I think more generally speaking,I did appreciate the setting and

(24:38):
the premise, like as, this worldwas 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 ofthe book where I was like, if I
just look at this and

Kelsey (24:55):
they came the vampires.

Amanda (24:59):
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, butArcher, who is like this little
fire Sprite Yes.
Who's obsessed with Kingfisher,loves him so much.
I just thought he was thecutest.
And anytime he showed up on thepage, I was like, oh, Archer,

(25:22):
you're adorable.
I'm looking at my notes too.
What else I did?
So I, it actually annoys mewhen.
And then CS give F FMCsnicknames because I'm like, this
is stupid.
But I will say that heappreciated that at the end of
the novel.
So he calls her like little osha

Kelsey (25:42):
Yes.

Amanda (25:42):
And tells her that it has something to do with
butterflies, but then you findout at the end that OSHA
actually means most sacred.
And I just thought that wasreally beautiful and romantic.
And like he oh, it tugged at

Kelsey (25:53):
your heartstrings.

Amanda (25:54):
It did tug at my heartstring.
I like put two teary eye emojisafter it.
And I did maybe tear up a littlebit when I read Kingfisher's
letter to Sarah's at the end.
So they've like just made loveand he decides Hey, I actually
gonna leave and face Malcolm onmy own.

(26:15):
You're amazing.
Go live your life.
And I was like um, so, you know,those were some of the things.

Kelsey (26:22):
Okay.
Though Karen didn't make thatlist.
Amanda

Amanda (26:26):
of the things that I liked.
Yes.
I mean he was fun.
Like he was definitely the comicrelief.
Yes.
And definitely a.
Character I enjoyed and I had asneaking suspicion that when,
that he was like, at thebeginning when he first shows
up, I'm like, oh, you're notgoing anywhere.
Like you are definitely going tobe Yeah, A key part of this

(26:47):
story.
Part of this story.
And then as soon as I found outthat 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 soonas they say at the beginning.
Oh, it's not in the, it's not inthe glossary.
Oh, it is de anus.
As soon as I found out thatthere's like this missing de
anus air who has been lost tothe human realm, I instantly was

(27:09):
like, oh, it's carrying, likethere's no, first of all,
there's no other options.
So that was not a big reveal atthe end when it's like, oh my
gosh, like you're actually Fayand not human.
You've been living like, I waslike, duh, obviously.
And I also was like, okay, ofcourse we have to have Curian
show up because what would aromantic novel be without
fricking love triangle?

(27:29):
That was just like, okay.
So obvious.
But yeah, I guess that was

Kelsey (27:32):
barely a love triangle.

Amanda (27:34):
I mean it, but there was like, at least a little bit of
additional sexual tension.
Enough to make Kingfisherjealous, right?
Sure, yeah.
That was why he was there.
The other thing too, I will sayis and I always say this for
fantasy books, because I'malways looking for it.
There were like two charactersof color.
They weren't huge characters,but they were there, we had the
librarian and uh, ENA.

(27:55):
So I was like, okay, we've gottwo something, so it's better
than nothing.
But yeah, it was pretty much it.

Kelsey (28:00):
I also was curious I really enjoyed the parts where
CS is figuring out her alchemypowers and talking to the
Quicksilver, and when shefigures that out, oh, same.
Yeah.
What were your thoughts on her?

Amanda (28:14):
I, it was funny.
So in one of my notes.
So essentially for thelisteners, she is basically put
in a forge, which she lovesworking.
She loves metal working.
It's what she did when she wasliving in until there and she's
put in a forge and they'rebasically like, figure out how
to turn these thousands of ringsright into relics that these
Faye warriors can wear to hopbetween portals and is basically

(28:35):
left to figure it out.
She has to go through theseseries of experiments.
Yeah.
She's learning how to listen toand talk to the Quicksilver.
And I was like, this reminds me,and I'm sure you've heard of
this story and probably read itwhen you were a child, it
reminded me so much ofRumpelstiltskin, right?
Where like she's basicallylocked in a room full of hay or
straw or whatever and they'relike, you can't leave this room

(28:59):
until you spend all of thisstraw into gold.
And I was like, this isRumpelstiltskin.
Like you basically can't leavethis 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 likegrowth and development as a
character.
But I don't, I can't say thatthose scenes were of particular

(29:21):
interest to me compared to otherparts of the book.

Kelsey (29:24):
Okay.

Amanda (29:25):
I wasn't like, oh, yay, she's back in the forge talking
to the Quicksilver again andmixing up random combinations.
Like

Kelsey (29:31):
I

Amanda (29:32):
didn't do a whole lot for me,

Kelsey (29:33):
hearing from the Quicksilver, that was fun to me.

Amanda (29:36):
Oh yeah.
And then you find out, which Ididn't say in the summary, the
voices that she's hearing arelike the gods.
So this world is ruled over by abunch of different gods.
And the main one is Zarif, whichwas like, okay, Zeus.
And he has two daughters, Ithink B and men who are like the
two sons that shine in the humanrealm anyhow.

(29:59):
And it turns out Seth is the godof chaos.
And he has been trying to keepKingfisher 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 tokeep them apart, which is why

(30:20):
Sarah's was technically supposedto be born.
A Fay was not supposed to beborn in the human world.
And that was his interference intrying to keep them from finding
each other and falling in love.
But he is like, no matter whathe did, you guys always found
each other like in everypossible permutation every
possible timeline.
And yeah, it turns out she'sactually, speaking to the gods

(30:41):
through the Quicksilver.

Kelsey (30:43):
Yes.
Which,

Amanda (30:44):
yeah.

Kelsey (30:45):
And In the scene at the end where she's in the dream
state.
Mm-hmm.
But she ended up talking to thegods themselves.
Or is it just Zel?
What's, what is his

Amanda (30:55):
name?

Kelsey (30:55):
Eth.
She,

Amanda (30:56):
yeah.
She talks to them and his twodaughter.
Daughters.

Kelsey (30:58):
Yeah.
They're all there.

Amanda (30:59):
Yeah.

Kelsey (31:00):
She decides that she wants to live.
And so that means she can nolonger be human.
Yeah.
And so that's why she ends upbeing half, half vampire.

Amanda (31:08):
Yes.

Kelsey (31:09):
So

Amanda (31:09):
that's the deal she makes.
'cause he is like you, if youchoose to exist, you have to
exist outside of what isotherwise like I can interfere,
other gods can interfere.
And so she has to be made intosomething new, never before
seen, so that she's basicallyshielded from the God's
interference.
They can no longer see heranymore and interfere in her
life.
But I think that was the thingwith this book, right?

(31:33):
Is that.
Callie Hart is just trying to dotoo much, right?
Like I think she's trying tocram too many tropes and like
too many fantasy ideas andthemes into one book, and it
just got a little bitoverwhelming and a little
convoluted.
And so by the end of the book, Ifelt like I was working pretty
hard to keep everything straightbecause one, you have the

(31:57):
vampires, okay?
Yes.
But it's not just oh, there arevampires.
There's this whole convolutedhistory, which is not well
explained about how the bloodcurse got started, like yeah.
Why it exists in the firstplace.
How they broke the blood curseto begin with.
You know and there's all ofthese like that could have been
the story itself.
Like you could have created likethis insane kind of Faye vampire

(32:20):
story that just focused on thatlore and that would've been more
than enough.
Yeah.
But then she also adds all ofthese Gods and deities and their
involvement in the story, whichwas like, okay, wait.
But when that scene happened atthe end where she's like off in
the realm, I was like, oh mygod, oh my God.
Like this is too much.
How am I supposed to keep trackof all of the various realms
that exist?

(32:41):
Also this crazy thing happeningwith the vampires who are also
fa, but also not vampires.
And then they also have to keeptrack of all of these different
gods and the ways that they'veinteracted with each other.
And it was just too much.
It was too much.
And it's

Kelsey (32:53):
setting up the series, Amanda.
This is what series are

Amanda (32:56):
all about.
I know.
But it was just like so muchexposition and so much like
information overload.
It was so much frontloading andI 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 beinginside of like my a DH ADHD

(33:17):
brain where it's like, Ooh, thatwould be a good, Ooh, let's do
this.
Ooh, what if we did this too?
And it's like, no, no, no, calmdown.
Your readers need to be able tolike firmly situate themselves
within this story.
And that was hard to do attimes.
And then also keeping track ofjust like all of the magic and
how it worked.
And you have these Swords thatare like imbued with God power
and also quicksilver, but howdoes that work and how like it
was just,

Kelsey (33:38):
yeah,

Amanda (33:38):
there was a lot.
It was, there was a lot.
And not a lot of

Kelsey (33:42):
answers yet.

Amanda (33:43):
And not a lot of, and you could tell, even though I
don't read a lot of series, youcould tell oh, this is something
that is going to be revisited.
Yep.
In the next book.
Like even the blood curse, I'mlike, okay, this is clearly
something they're gonna divemore into.
Like how did it come to be?
How did they end it?
All of that.
But.
For me, who's a one and donebook girl.
I'm just like, I don't, I justwant the answers now.

(34:04):
And, this is like a fire hose tothe face of information and I
don't appreciate it.

Kelsey (34:10):
I really think that the, that brimstone is gonna be more
about the vampire politics andlore, like what you're talking
about, like this blue, whatever.
It's

Amanda (34:19):
interesting though because I looked at the
description, the bookdescription on Good reads,

Kelsey (34:24):
ah,

Amanda (34:24):
for brain, so Yeah.
And it looks like the majorityof the story is taking place in
Verin.

Kelsey (34:30):
Okay.

Amanda (34:31):
So it sounds like it's actually not gonna be largely
focused on the vampires.
It's gonna be focused on Fisherand Kerian, Uhhuh going back to
the Silver City.
So I'm just like,

Kelsey (34:40):
I

Amanda (34:40):
Love

Kelsey (34:41):
that

Amanda (34:41):
so much.
I don't know.
Yeah.
I dunno how much it actually isgonna be diving into the vampire
lore.
It's obviously gonna be a partof it because she's now the
queen of the vampires.

Kelsey (34:48):
Yes.

Amanda (34:49):
And living in Alman Traeth, which is like the
stronghold of Malcolm orMalcolm's stronghold.
But yeah, I So do you think

Kelsey (34:56):
it's like a different POV then?
Is it gonna be from Kingfisher?

Amanda (35:00):
It sounds like, yeah.
I don't know.
It could be because

Kelsey (35:03):
I don't think I think that CS is gonna stay behind.

Amanda (35:07):
She has to,'cause she can't be underneath the Burning
Suns anymore.

Kelsey (35:10):
Yeah.
That's, they don't really knowyet.
Because
That's

Amanda (35:12):
what it says in the book description.

Kelsey (35:14):
What it Oh, in the brimstone.

Amanda (35:16):
For brimstone.

Kelsey (35:17):
They're like, she can't go

Amanda (35:18):
back to her.

Kelsey (35:19):
I haven't even read the book.
See,

Amanda (35:21):
okay.
I've done by, do you see thelevel of dedication and research
here?

Kelsey (35:27):
I'm so curious.

Amanda (35:28):
I was curious.
So I went and looked.
I was like, what is this gonnabe about?
Because honestly, like I said,I, without the smut and the
stupid fucking sexual banterthat was just dumb and awkward
and cringe, loved it.
I actually didn't mind this bookthat much.
I was curious.
There were like these randomtwists where I was like, wait,
okay, there's vampires now.
And even when they were in themaze, I love kind of trials and

(35:52):
they had to encounter thisdisgusting spiders, like

Kelsey (35:54):
Labyrinth was

Amanda (35:54):
really cool.
It's definitely a fairly fastpaced book, especially given its
length.
I wasn't, I wouldn't say I wasbored at any point in this book.

Kelsey (36:03):
Okay.

Amanda (36:04):
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 inthis book.

Kelsey (36:13):
That's great.

Amanda (36:14):
But it was like one of those things where I like, I
understand.
I understand listeners like, Iget it.
I know so many of you and enjoysmut and hey I would never yuck
anyone's yum But when I wasreading this book, I was like,
okay.
I'm like, caught up in like thisworld and the magic and like the
action and all of this stuff.

(36:34):
And then out of nowhere I justget slapped upside the head with
some random comment about howbig 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 plotalong in any sort of meaningful
way.
What, like it just felt sojarring.
I was like, oh yeah, there'sthis, there's that.
They're figuring this out and isshe part fait?
What's happening?

(36:54):
And then yeah, one or the otherof them will like make some
stupid sexual innuendo and itwas like, this feels so
contrived and so forced and Idon't care.
You're ruining a really goodstory by randomly interjecting
either a smut scene or justYeah, stupid sexual banter and

Kelsey (37:11):
I really wanna read this again.

Amanda (37:13):
Oh, it just drove me crazy.
I was just like, I don't, thisdoesn't do anything for me and
you're actually ruining whatcould be a really good story,

Kelsey (37:22):
you know, It would be so interesting is if a version of
these books did exist in thatway and so for readers that like
you,

Amanda (37:32):
yes.
I actually was thinking thatwhen I was reading this, can we
have like a smut free versionand then like an uncensored
version for those of you whoreally enjoy it because the only
thing that you get.
Out of those SMUD scenes that doadvance, the plot is one, you
find out that they are in factmates, which is crazy'cause true
mates have not been a thing inthis world for a very long time.

(37:52):
And you find out that because ofthat, they also are able to
communicate telepathically.
That is it, that is the onlymeaningful information you get
out of those scenes and youcould totally get that
information without them.
And from what I did, skim of theSMUD scenes, like they did seem
to be a bit more dark and a bitmore rough in nature, which I

(38:16):
know some folks honestly don'tremember, 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 thedoor.
And I don't.
Or your

Kelsey (38:27):
eyes interesting.

Amanda (38:29):
So

Kelsey (38:29):
funny.

Amanda (38:30):
Yeah.
I don't know, but as soon as Ifound out there were faded maid,
I was like, oh God, this is whyKelsey 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 (38:41):
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 rightnow, mate.
It's just clicks.
They're just mates.
Oh, okay.

Amanda (38:55):
I don't know.
I don't get it.

Kelsey (38:57):
They have to acknowledge their love for one another.

Amanda (39:00):
Yeah.
But the other thing that made itso much more cringe though, in
this book was because.
Because the Faye, even though, alot of them no longer are
vampires, or at least they don'tact on their instinct.
So Uhhuh, they can still bitepeople.
They can still act on thoseinstincts and drain a human of
their blood.
They also can bite someone'sneck when they're having sex to
increase like the pleasure thatboth people are experiencing,

(39:21):
which does happen.
But I think like the thing thatmade this faded made this thing
so much more cringe was like thefricking PTSD from Twilight,
where he's like, oh, you'rescent, like just the way that
you smell.
And I'm just like, oh my God,not again.
I don't know.

Kelsey (39:37):
That is so true with so many mate.

Amanda (39:39):
I know.
But for me, I just instantlythink of Edward and Bella and
I'm just like, oh God.
The

Kelsey (39:43):
vampires didn't make you think of that?

Amanda (39:46):
No, I did, but as soon.
But he also was just like,'causethere's the whole scene, in
Twila, especially like in thefirst book where you just like,
he can't her, she can't be

Kelsey (39:53):
around her

Amanda (39:53):
because she's, yeah.
And it's like this whole thingand I'm just like, okay.
I don't know.
Yeah, I don't know.
I think the other thing thatbothered me too, which I've
mentioned before with thesebooks is

Kelsey (40:05):
Uhhuh.

Amanda (40:06):
I personally don't like it when fantasy characters run
around talking like snarkymillennials.
It just doesn't do anything forme.

Kelsey (40:14):
Like

Amanda (2) (40:14):
Carrion especially

Amanda (40:15):
like

Amanda (2) (40:15):
when half of their little quips and jokes were just
like not funny and were just sopainfully cringe.
I'm like just have them talk.
high Fae, I'm totally here forit.
This is doing nothing for me.
And honestly just takes me outof this world, this separate
world that you're trying tobuild.
That mashup of like, yeah, let'swrite these kind of high fantasy

(40:36):
novels, but also have them talklike either millennials or 18
year olds.
It just that mashup does notwork for me.
I know for a lot of people itdoes.
Oh yes.
But I just find it reallyjarring.

Kelsey (40:50):
I

Amanda (40:50):
dunno.

Kelsey (40:50):
I love it.
I love it.
And Carrie, oh my God, I, hemade this book for me.
I would not have loved this bookas much as I did without him.

Amanda (41:00):
Yeah, he was fun.
I don't have a whole lot to sayabout him.
Like he's definitely just acomic relief side character, and
he has a good heart, but I don'tknow.
I don't,

Kelsey (41:12):
I'm so excited to see him in the next book.
It sounds like he's definitelygonna have a much larger role.

Amanda (41:17):
Yeah.
Which should be better.

Kelsey (41:19):
But if him and King Fisher are the ones going
together, that's gonna behilarious.
I can't wait.
That's

Amanda (41:23):
gonna be really funny.
Especially because they're verydifferent.
Um, King Fisher's

Kelsey (41:26):
just like this.

Amanda (41:27):
Yeah.
It's like this the normaldichotomy.
It's like the dark brooding,moody dude.
Moody, and then the funnylighthearted, it's like grumpy
sunshine.
It's grumpy sunshine.
Yes.
Between two dude.
Do you know?
Yes.

Kelsey (41:40):
It's gonna be great.

Amanda (41:42):
Yeah.

Kelsey (41:42):
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 beable 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 (41:56):
Yeah.
In winter break.
Yeah.

Kelsey (41:57):
Yeah.

Amanda (41:58):
That would make sense.

Kelsey (41:59):
But

Amanda (42:00):
other than

Kelsey (42:00):
that, yeah,

Amanda (42:01):
I don't have much else to say.
The, there is a, there's adragon speaking of just chucking
everything in this book.
I actually

Kelsey (42:08):
don't remember the dragon.

Amanda (42:10):
The dragon isn't like in the story in terms of the
present, not in the present, buta dragon w slain in the lore of
this story in the past Uhhuh,and there's like a giant dragon
skull above king pelican'sthrone.
And I think that's gonna comeback in the second book, or at
least at some point in the.
Serious, because there's a lotof foreshadowing there.

(42:31):
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 reallyexcited and wanna do all the
things, but also you don't needto do all the things.
And I'll say the one final thingI will say about smut in this
book,

Kelsey (42:50):
oh my goodness.

Amanda (42:51):
What is, there's a scene where Saeris She's been working
really hard in the forge all dayto make this amazing new sword
for Lorreth who's yes, one ofthe 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, blahblah.
Kingfisher takes her back to histent in the war camp and puts

(43:14):
her in the bathtub and shebasically passes out'cause she's
so tired and he like washes herhair at one point.
And then also she like puts herhand on the side of the tub and
he just like gently strokes herfingers.
I'm like, that to me is so muchmore like toe curling and
romantic and sensual versus themjust roughly f*cking each other
in a bedroom.
You know what I mean?
Like for me, yeah.

(43:34):
Like I think there's somethingso much more titillating about
that, which is like unspoken andhinted at versus just like
laying it all out for me.
And that gets me going and I'mlike, let's, that's all I need.
I just need that little tease.
And then they can do what theywanna do.
I don't need every single detaillike, that's between you and Boo
and I don't need to know.

(43:54):
And I think that's where mydisconnect is, like that comes.
'cause even in heartless Hunter,I think I remember talking about
this, like Uhhuh, the thing thatI really loved was him making
her these beautiful dresses,right?
Taking the time to craftsomething that was so like
delicate and also doingsomething that we normally.
Attribute to women, like being aseamstress and making dresses or

(44:14):
Sure.
In fearless when he braids herhair.
Like those things to me, I'mlike yes, please.
But I I just, I don't needthose, there's

Kelsey (44:22):
those small moments

Amanda (44:23):
for Amanda.

Kelsey (44:23):
Yeah.

Amanda (44:24):
Yeah.
The actual act in detail.
I don't need that.
Yeah.

Kelsey (44:28):
That's been a common theme for you.
Just these the small kind actsof the ity

Amanda (44:32):
Yeah.
That you really enjoy.
Or like the small, like sexyacts where it's just oh, like
you, kissed their neck or justgently stroked the underside of
their wrist, like whatever itmight be.
Like that to me, yeah.
Just carries so much more weightto it and then you can do
whatever you want with yourlovely imagination.
But yeah.
How did you feel, I know for youit doesn't bother you, but how

(44:52):
did you feel about the age gap?
Because he's 1700 years old.
Oh yeah, she's

Kelsey (44:56):
24.
I didn't even.
Does it exist?
Why?
I don't know.

Amanda (45:01):
It's so bizarre of,

Kelsey (45:04):
it just doesn't, like when you're,

Amanda (45:06):
God,

Kelsey (45:07):
it's disgust.
It doesn't it doesn't, likedisgusting, doesn't like in my
brain, doesn't register as thislike actual H gap.
I don't know what it is.

Amanda (45:16):
It's massive.
And he still acts like ajuvenile 21 emotional child.
Yeah.
And that's

Kelsey (45:23):
probably why it doesn't register, because they always
make him act like fairly, likearound the same age.

Amanda (45:30):
Men do take forever to mature.
So I guess that tracks,

Kelsey (45:32):
it's taken him a thousand years to get to where
he is.

Amanda (45:36):
Oh my gosh.

Kelsey (45:38):
Yeah.

Amanda (45:39):
So that's pretty much all you have to say about this
book.

Kelsey (45:43):
It was a lot.
It was a lot, Amanda.

Amanda (45:45):
It was a lot.
And yeah, I didn't, yeah, like Isaid, I didn't despise it.
At the level that I thought Iwas going to, which was nice.
Which

Kelsey (45:54):
surprises me

Amanda (45:54):
considering I had to read so much of it.
And yeah, there was some twistsI didn't see coming.
Yeah, the vampire twist, herbecoming the queen of the
vampires at the end.
I did not see that coming.

Kelsey (46:05):
Yeah, there did.

Amanda (46:05):
You

Kelsey (46:05):
saw the commun thing coming though.

Amanda (46:07):
Yeah, I saw that.
Oh my god.
From a mile away.
Especially because

Kelsey (46:10):
Did you, why don't you just suck my blood?

Amanda (46:12):
Especially because there was literally no one else it
could have been because if itwas some random character that
she hadn't already introduced,it wouldn't have made sense.
And he's the only person, theonly male from the human world
that is currently in this storythat it could be.
Yeah.
So it was pretty obvious.
But.
Yeah that's it.
That's it.

Kelsey (46:32):
Okay.
Thank you, Amanda.
Shall We're so welcome.
Shall we get into our one starand five star reviews?

Amanda (46:40):
Yes.
It's time for a little bit ofliterally the best or literally
the worst.
I, of course have one starreviews

Kelsey (46:46):
and

Amanda (46:47):
I have five.
I have one really long one, butthen I balance it out with a
bunch of really short ones,

Kelsey (46:53):
Okay.
Mine are kinda longer.

Amanda (46:55):
Okay.
So we'll see.
We see, we'll see how this, Iactually, the first one I'm
gonna read, I like, I did take alittle bit out of it, but I
liked everything in it.
Okay.
Although this person did notread the full book, and I know
how we feel about people whowrite reviews that haven't
finished.
And this person.
DNF at 30%.
So there's that.
All right, so our first one starreview.
This is from Shelby, anotherviral book, talk book that

(47:18):
doesn't live up to the hype forme.
Shock.
If you're happy with fantasy onOzempic, not getting the full
picture with detail, but heavyon romance.
You might like this, providingyou can get past the clunky
writing and cringey dialogue.
Oh, and the MMC being calledKingfisher, who is not a Pokemon
with that name.
Politics form such a huge partof a fantasy plot, and if I

(47:39):
don't understand the world andwhy it's the way it is, I'm out.
I actually prefer romance as asubplot.
I'm realizing it should elevatea fantasy.
But in these popular romanticbooks, the fantasy is sacrificed
to give way for the romance.
By which point, I don't give afuck about the world.
Why does the queen oppresscivilians from the third rather

(48:00):
than ration their water andfood?
If she's afraid rebels from thethird are working with the Faye,
why doesn't she just wipe themout?
Already.
How did she even become queen?
She rations water but notalcohol.
Why would the queen do that?
How is it tavern packed?
If there's a water ration, howare they making the alcohol?
Why would the queen allow it nosense was made.
The passage between the hub,which is like the main part of

(48:22):
silver, the silver city, and thethird is forbidden due to the
third being infected with aplague.
Yet our FMC is easily scaling awall to cross the two.
She also kept saying at thestart, before she stole the
gauntlet, that she had a plan.
What was, it was never answered.
How is the FMC murdering twotrained queens guards and
throwing down three of them whenshe's dehydrated, doesn't eat

(48:45):
properly, and was kicked in theribs in the previous chapter.
I am expected to accept this andthen it will make sense when I
find out she's got powers orshe's half whatever magical
creature at 80%.
I could almost guarantee it.
King Fisher didn't talk like aFaye, who was thousands of years
old.
The banter he had with the FMCwas immature and became sexual
so quickly saying he was knockedfor six, a cricket reference

(49:08):
Super, and Cliff Notes took meright out of the story.
It wasn't appropriate given thesetting of the book.
There was so much telling overshowing I couldn't get on with
it.
Not a vibe.
Yeah.
She brings up a lot of reallylogical points.
The one, there's a couplethings.
Yeah.
The one I really, what thatreally resonated with me when I
read it was like, yeah, I feellike, which is what I said, is

(49:30):
that in these books, theseromantic books, it feels like
the fantasy is very muchsacrifice sometimes to make way
for the romance and to make itwork and to squeeze in these SMU
scenes where I'm like, Eitherjust write a fantasy and do it
really well, or write a romance.
I don't know, like there, thereare some romantic books that
blended I think a lot better.

(49:51):
But sometimes it does feel like,oh.
You're looking for a place tosqueeze in this sex scene, or
you're looking for a place toinsert some sexual banter and it
feels so contrived and it drivesme crazy.

Kelsey (50:02):
I heard that Callie in an interview somewhere Was
saying like, this first book wasobvi, obviously the setup to the
world, but was there romancestory?
And then beyond that, that'swhen we'll get like all of our
answers to the rest of theworld.
I see.
And not as focused on theromance, so we'll see.
I don't know.
I see.

(50:22):
I'm curious.

Amanda (50:23):
It's so interesting though,'cause in my head too,
like I, yes, of course there'soverlap between romance and the
act of sex.
But I feel like sometimesromantic authors, it's not for
all of them, but for some ofthem.
The sex is the romance, if thatmakes sense.
And I'm like, that's Uhhuh sucha shallow definition of like
romance or romanticrelationship.

(50:43):
And I'm not saying she's doingthat here per se.
But it does drive me a bit crazy'cause it's, yeah.
Such a narrow definition.

Kelsey (50:50):
One other thing that I wanted to say Amanda, you put up
the book cover.

Amanda (50:54):
Yes.

Kelsey (50:55):
When I saw this book cover, I was like, what the fuck
is that?

Amanda (51:00):
What the fuck is that?
Same, Same.

Kelsey (51:02):
And apparently Callie Hart got bullied so badly for
the cover that she designed, bythe way.
That's why she ended up changingthe cover.
Which to this no.
Oh, the field cover.

Amanda (51:15):
Okay.

Kelsey (51:16):
Yeah.
That's the old cover to a newcover.
That's just the words,Quicksilver and brimstone.
I see.
'cause brim stone's cover isjust like orange lettering.
Yeah.
And then Quicksilver also hasone that's a newer one that's
just Quicksilver.

Amanda (51:30):
I see

Kelsey (51:30):
it.
Which I think is wild.
But after reading the story, thecover grew on me.
I was like,

Amanda (2) (51:37):
okay.
It makes sense.
Yeah.
Like it has the butterflies forlittle osha, which is like the
nickname you see his tattoos.
Yeah.
There's this Quicksilver tear.
Yeah.
Because one of his eyes hasquicksilver in it.
He's got his whatever, what'sthat called?
His gorget or whatever that goesaround his throat.
It makes sense, but it is a bitoverly dramatic.

Kelsey (51:57):
But yeah, I just think that's so wild that can happen.

Amanda (52:00):
We've, we very much judge books by their covers and
people have very strong opinionsabout covers, myself included.

Kelsey (52:07):
I do too.
But it's not,

Amanda (52:08):
I wouldn't bully someone though.
I feel like it's

Kelsey (52:09):
not that bad.

Amanda (52:11):
As far as like romantic see, book covers go, no, it's
not.

Kelsey (52:14):
Yeah.
I don't know.
Anyway.

Amanda (52:16):
Yeah.

Kelsey (52:16):
Okay.
My first five star review isfrom Emily Rose at the Rose
House.
We follow our A FMC Siriusthrough a Magic Portal.
Portal.
Oh my God, that transports herinto a fa kingdom that is at
war.
She needs to figure out how toembrace her new alchemy magic in
order to stop the war and findher way home.

(52:38):
Hello?
Found family unique magic systemplot twist and our shadow daddy
king fisher.
The slow burn enemies to loversromance will have you kicking
your feet.
You can feel the tensionradiating off the pages, and
when it heats up, it gets hot.
She goes on saying, this manruined me.

(53:01):
Special mention to the sidecharacter carrying his cocky,
and witty banter.
It was everything.
I am going to be unwell untilbook two comes out.
And she says, edit.
Congratulations, Callie, onpick, getting picked up on a
publisher.
And second edit.
We are getting a movie.

(53:21):
Oh my God.

Amanda (53:23):
Wait, is there gonna be a movie?
Yes, there is.
Wait, what?
What?

Kelsey (53:27):
Two, she was an indie author when she first published
Quicksilver.
Okay.
And two, yes.
There's a movie in production.

Amanda (53:35):
Oh, it's already in production.

Kelsey (53:36):
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 (53:39):
works.

Kelsey (53:39):
Yeah, it's in the works.
Okay.
Oh.
But it's also so difficult tolike.
Know which ones are gonna cometo fruition because yeah, they
can get log jammed in so manydifferent parts of the way stage
jam.
So I jam

Amanda (53:51):
different

Kelsey (53:51):
stages.

Amanda (53:52):
Yeah.

Kelsey (53:52):
Yeah.

Amanda (53:53):
Now that I've read the book, I'm for sure gonna watch
the movie if it comes outbecause

Kelsey (53:57):
Oh my gosh.
We'll do it together.

Amanda (53:59):
I'm curious.
Yes.
We'll have a little movie night.
Okay.
My next one is literally justone sentence.
This is from Anna.

Kelsey (54:07):
Okay.

Amanda (54:08):
I'm convinced everyone is being held at gunpoint rating
this five stars.
It's crazy though, because Ithink there's only 6,000.

Kelsey (54:19):
Yeah.

Amanda (54:20):
One star reviews.
Like one star reviews.
I saw that.
And there that there's 350,005stars.
Yes.
So it's a very small, less than1%.
Yes.
Of the ratings are, people lovethis book.
It has like a 4.3 rating on goodreads.
Yeah.
It's obsessed.
It's, yeah.

Kelsey (54:32):
Real high.
Okay.
Okay.
This one actually is shorter.
Bookish by Tammy.
This is exactly what I want fromfantasy romance.
The fantasy elements wereintriguing and ever-growing.
A combination of Faye andVampires, a combo I didn't know
I needed in my life.
The audio book was sensational.
I am definitely invested.

(54:52):
And not once was I bored.
So excited for book two.
That's the other thing is Ilistened to the audio as well.
Oh, like I read along.
And it was, it initially Ididn't like it because king
Fisher's voice is like reallydark and it's like really deep.
It's funny.
And yeah, there's TikTok videosounds though that you can

(55:15):
listen to, to hear like theaudiobook voice.
I am curious what you think of
it.

Amanda (55:19):
I'm sure it's like way too much, but is it.
Is it just the male narrator forthe whole bookers or a female
narrator as well?

Kelsey (55:25):
There's both, yeah.

Amanda (55:26):
Oh, okay.
That's better.
Okay.

Kelsey (55:28):
Yeah, no, it's not just that.

Amanda (55:29):
Okay.

Kelsey (55:30):
Because it's her POV and I think it's just his lines that
like he's saying.

Amanda (55:33):
I see.
Okay.
I

Kelsey (55:35):
remember, but

Amanda (55:35):
yeah, I will say I'm not huge into vampires but this is
the first book I read that didthe Faye Vampire Convo, which I
did think was intriguing, right?
I hadn't encountered thatbefore.

Kelsey (55:44):
Yeah.

Amanda (55:45):
I, it did make me even think the vampire lore more
interesting and I, the thing isI 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 toCallie for that.
Okay.
Ooh third one Star review fromSue, Ms.
This is the age of romanceauthors dabbling in fantasy and

(56:05):
romance readers, four to fivestarring them.
What is wrong with that?
Because it gives a shit likethis book.
I am judging everyone who likedthis book.
Please unfriend me immediately.
Stop making mediocre authorsfamous romance authors.
Either leave the fantasy genreto its people, or for God's
sake, work on your books.
God, just another fourth wingand reckless wannabe.

(56:28):
Not that either of those wasgood.
Next thing you'll tell me,Colleen Hoover is writing a
fantasy.

Kelsey (56:35):
Ready.
See,

Amanda (56:38):
anyhow, they clearly have strong feelings.

Kelsey (56:41):
Clearly.

Amanda (56:42):
Yeah, I think if you're gonna write a romantic, you
should be able, like I said, youshould be able to do them both
well and make it a seamlessconnection between the two.
And some authors are moreskilled at doing that than
others.
That is all I will say.

Kelsey (57:00):
I felt like it was well done in this book, so I don't
care.
Okay.
This is from Lauren Moore, whois book huddles creator.

Amanda (57:11):
Oh, okay.
Cool.

Kelsey (57:12):
Yeah.
She's Lauren Moore on book.
Oh my God.
Good.
Reads on.

Amanda (57:15):
Good reads.
Okay.

Kelsey (57:16):
Yeah, so she says.
I might as well stop reading nowbecause I found my favorite
fantasy book of the year.
After seeing book Talk Gush overQuicksilver, I decided to give
this book a whirl.
I went in completely blind andso glad I did.
This book has everything youever want in a romantic book and

(57:37):
then some a catis ever did.
Like protagonist check.
A messy haired, chiseled John,morally gray Fay love interest,
absolutely vampires, witches, anintricate world building, ya
bet.
But Quicksilver goes even deeperthan those service level
elements.
Its magic system is complex andfascinating with attributes I

(58:00):
haven't encountered before.
The side characters areinteresting and
multidimensional.
The dialogue feels authentic,and even though the stakes are
incredibly high, I found myselflaughing out loud at times,
thanks to Jokes Made by Carryonmy favorite character.
Do I recommend this bookwholeheartedly?
It's long and I never wanted itto end, which.

(58:23):
To me is the ultimate sign of agreat book.
I can't wait for the sequel.
Thank you, Lauren.

Amanda (58:29):
Yeah, to, to her point, it does have everything, for
better or for worse.
I forgot about Yeah, there'switches in here too.
People, which we forgot.
I totally forgot.
Even that there are alsowitches.
They really only come in at thevery end.
But yeah.
Which again, I guess if you'reliving in a world that has
multiple realms It makes sensethat you would have all of these

(58:49):
different magical beings.
But it is a lot to keep trackof.
But yeah, its, if you're big ina fantasy and romantic, this
book has everything, so yeah.
It has all the tropes, all themagical creatures.
Like it's all, it's like a onestop shop for romantic lover.
So its,

Kelsey (59:06):
what was that fire?
Sprite as well.

Amanda (59:07):
Yeah.
There's sprites, there's alldifferent types of Fay fairies,
like it literally.
Has all of the things.

Kelsey (59:14):
Yep.

Amanda (59:14):
Okay.
My last one story of you is fromMegan Singleton.
This is Trash.
She took every popular book,talk book and smashed it
together.
There's no chemistry between themain 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, butI, it did feel, like I said, it

(59:36):
felt like mashup is a good word.
Like I felt like a mashup of allthe things.
And I don't know that I'm alwaysa fan of a mashup.

Kelsey (59:46):
I was.

Amanda (59:47):
I know.
I so was.
I know.

Kelsey 2.0 (59:49):
Okay.
Okay.
My final review from Emma Res, Iconfess I hate getting
overwhelmed by the first book inthe series, but this book has a
right balance in terms ofpacing, plot, complexity, and
characters.
Cali Hart wasn't overlyambitious by attempting to write
a complex plot or introducingtoo many characters.

(01:00:09):
The gods and the elements wereintroduced at the end, setting
up the premise for the nextinstallment.
The dialogue and banter wererefreshing and enjoyable to
read.
Personally, I am guilty offocusing entirely on Kingfisher
who has inevitably, and.
Consciously stolen all thelimelight in this book, but I'm

(01:00:31):
hoping to read more about RefisEverlane Lo Carion, and dear
little Osha in the next one, andperhaps a budding romance
between Ren and Lane.
I was especially touched by Lathstory and his bravery too.
I'm so curious about KingFisher's real name and that Ka
swift cliffhanger.

(01:00:52):
I didn't see that coming.
Hopefully it leads to an evenmore intriguing plot
development.
I foresee myself liking him morein the next installment.
I can't wait for the fall.

Amanda (01:01:02):
How did they not see the Carrie Swift thing coming?
I didn't.

Kelsey (01:01:06):
I actually didn't.

Amanda (01:01:07):
No, wait.
Really?

Kelsey (01:01:08):
Yeah,

Amanda (01:01:09):
as soon as that, like they drop that little.
Line about there being a missingDan this.
Yeah.
I was like, oh, done.

Kelsey (01:01:17):
If it's one line, I'm not picking up on it.
I'm like,

Amanda (01:01:20):
whatever.
Oh, okay.
I feel like with Fantasy seriesUhhuh, they're always dropping
Easter eggs.
That's what they do.
So anytime they hint at anythinglike, oh, this is gonna be
something.

Kelsey (01:01:30):
Yeah.

Amanda (01:01:30):
Whether it's like with the dragon or with the Dianthus
air, like whatever it is, I'mlike, oh, okay.
Like you're laying thegroundwork

Kelsey (01:01:36):
that's coming

Amanda (01:01:37):
from somewhere.
But yeah I do think there'sprobably gonna be a relationship
between Lane and Ren.
There's obviously some

Kelsey (01:01:43):
Yeah.

Amanda (01:01:43):
Romantic connection, some sexual tension there.
It'll be curious too, to see ifKerian ends up settling down
with somebody because he's a

Kelsey (01:01:52):
Playboy.

Amanda (01:01:53):
A playboy, and it's any.
They at least hint at the factthat he's bi.
'cause he very much expressesinterest in Yeah.
Male characters in the bookstoo.
Yeah.
We'll see.
We'll see.

Kelsey (01:02:03):
I'm so curious because there was a lot of debate around
Kingfisher's name, not like hisreal name, but like Kingfish in
general.
It's like, what kind of name isthat?

Amanda (01:02:13):
That Yeah.

Kelsey (01:02:13):
Yeah.
And initially I was too, I waslike, what Kingfisher?
But it definitely grew on methroughout the book.
I was like, oh, okay.
That's his name.

Amanda (01:02:21):
A lot of folks in the One star reviews did not like
the name.

Kelsey (01:02:24):
Yeah.

Amanda (01:02:24):
Like they Yeah.
Fully were blasting like C forthat.
I, for me, I think, becauseagain, I'm relatively new to
this genre, I just roll with somany things.
I'm like, okay, this is what youname people in these books.
Okay.
This

Kelsey (01:02:34):
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 haveMalcolm.
And I was like, that doesn'tfeel like it fits.

Amanda (01:02:50):
It doesn't.
But it's also funny because forwhatever reason, like I,
Malcolm's are villains in myhead.
I don't know where that camefrom.
But like in my mind, Malcolm'sare just like, yeah.
Like they're really bratty kidand a ya novel or Yeah.
The villain in this fantasystory.
But yeah, I did feel very,that's

Kelsey (01:03:08):
so funny.

Amanda (01:03:09):
Like it felt like a name from the human realm.
But Yeah, because they remarkwhen Sarah's first shows up in
Eve.
And lane is talking with her andshe introduces herself.
She's like, yeah, my name isSarah Fain.
Like Lane's first response like,oh that's a Fay name.
And yeah, when Malcolm showed upI was like, oh, that doesn't
sound like a fa name.

Kelsey (01:03:29):
Yeah.
Not at all.
The other thing I was curious Idon't remember be con where does
he end up at the end?
Know

Amanda (01:03:37):
he escapes.
So both Bella k and Madre bothescape at the end.
So the only one of the threethat actually is murdered or
dies is Malcolm.

Kelsey (01:03:45):
Yeah.

Amanda (01:03:45):
So they're like, they've gone, they've escaped.
Escaped, I should say.
Do you

Kelsey (01:03:49):
think they go to z What's it called?

Amanda (01:03:52):
Sylver?
I would assume Madre goes backto Ver right to her.

Kelsey (01:03:55):
Yeah.
But maybe Betty Silicon goeswith her and that's why Ion and
Kingfish go.

Amanda (01:04:01):
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 goback to the Winter Palace.
At least not at the beginning.

Kelsey (01:04:12):
People now know he's like a bad villain.

Amanda (01:04:15):
When you say people, it's only like that very small
cohort of people, like hispeople that he's ruling over
don't know that.

Kelsey (01:04:21):
But is that gonna be well known throughout society?

Amanda (01:04:24):
We'll find out.
We'll find out.

Kelsey (01:04:26):
Yeah, I was like, are you gonna read the second bug,
Amanda?

Amanda (01:04:29):
No.
I'll probably just read asummary because I'm curious, but
I don't know that I can,although if there's honestly, if
there's like less smut or nosmut in it, like I am curious,
right?
Like I, I did feel invested inthe plot obviously, as I was
reading it.
Okay.
And I was like, I do wanna knowlike more about these things
that she's hinting at but isn'tfully telling us.

(01:04:51):
Again, which is why I gave it aoff lit it and not,

Kelsey (01:04:53):
Wait.

Amanda (01:04:54):
Soft quid it.
I'm sorry, I keep on a soft quidit, I was actually thinking
about it prior to this episodeand 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 newthing where it's like, it's
aquit, it's just like smack inthe middle.
It's not a soft

Kelsey (01:05:11):
line, it's

Amanda (01:05:12):
not a soft quid it's just really fully smack in the
middle.

Kelsey (01:05:16):
Because you're, the way you're talking about it, you
enjoyed it more than I did asoft quit it.
I feel like it just doesn't makesense.

Amanda (01:05:25):
Yeah.
But I, but I also don't feelcomfortable giving it a soft
little, like that's expressingtoo much,

Kelsey (01:05:31):
qui it.

Amanda (01:05:31):
And so it's aquit for me.
I'm coining that term officiallyfor future use.
Oh, that's hilarious.
But yeah, like I think I can seewhy people like it.
I can, see why it has theirrating.
It does.
Especially, if you're somebodywho enjoys romantic, I think in
terms of like finalrecommendations.
If you don't like smu you're notgonna, like chunks of this book,
like that are s muddy.

(01:05:52):
And you're probably gonna getannoyed with these random
conversations about sex thatkeep popping up when you're
like, let's just actually talkabout what matters here.
But this story itself and theworld itself is intriguing.
And like I said, even just thefantasy or the Faye Vampire
combo is something I haven'tencountered before.
And

Kelsey (01:06:10):
yeah.

Amanda (01:06:10):
I'm like, yeah, okay, let's like, let's see how this
plays out.
So that's where I fall on thisbook.

Kelsey (01:06:15):
Yay.
So in the end, I would recommendthis to people

Amanda (01:06:19):
Especially

Kelsey (01:06:20):
people who like romantic.
Absolutely.

Amanda (01:06:23):
Yeah.
Folks, you can chime in and letus know either on our socials or
our email, or on this episode onSpotify.
Mm-hmm.
You can comment, so please besure to do that.
Kelsey, do you wanna give'emlike the specific.
What is even the name it notYeah.
What do you our handles?
Yes.
I was like, what do we callthat?

Kelsey (01:06:42):
So we are on Instagram at Live Vibes only podcast and
on TikTok and YouTube at LiveVibes only podcasts where you
can find us Yeah.
And engage in our content andhang out.

Amanda (01:06:54):
Yeah.

Kelsey (01:06:55):
And of course always rate and review on mostly Apple
and Spotify.
But wherever you get yourpodcasts.
So yeah,

Amanda (01:07:02):
we're on multiple platforms.

Kelsey (01:07:03):
Thank you.

Amanda (01:07:04):
Yeah.
Thanks so much for hanging outwith us guys.
Definitely let us know yourthoughts and then be sure to
check out our socials onThursday so you can vote and let
us know where you fall.
On this book, whether it's a litit or quit it otherwise, oh,

Kelsey (01:07:16):
this other quill that Amanda has created.

Amanda (01:07:18):
No, that's just for me.
Nobody else gets to use that.
Alright folks, thanks so muchfor hanging out with us and
we'll see you next Monday.

Kelsey (01:07:26):
Bye
bye.