I received a review copy of the book from the publishers in exchange for an honest review. It has not affected my opinions.
Genre: Fantasy Age Range: Adult Star Rating: 5 stars Series: yes - second book in trilogy
*SPOILER ALERT: contains SPOILERS for THE OBSIDIAN TOWER*
Synopsis:
Ryxander, Warden of Gloamingard, has failed. Unsealed by her blood, the Door hidden within the black tower has opened. Now, for the first time since the age of the Graces, demons walk the world.
As tensions grow between nations, all eyes-and daggers are set on Morgrain, fallen under the Demon of Discord’s control. In an attempt to save her home from destruction, Ryx and the Rookery set out to find a powerful artifact. But powerful enemies are on the hunt and they’re closing in fast.
Synopsis taken from Goodreads. Add to your shelves here.
Review:
THE OBSIDIAN TOWER introduced us to a Vaskandran aetheling (powerful mage from ruling line) in a Vaskandran setting – the complete opposite to the original trilogy, where a Raverran was the heroine and Vaskandra was the unknown enemy. In THE QUICKSILVER COURT, Ryx heads into the empire, and it’s completely alien to her. The customs, the way of life, the power structures.
Having loved the “original trilogy” and then re-reading the previous book just before diving into this one, I loved the contrast in Ryx’s outlook. It made the stepping around politics very different – particularly given who the opponents are. It lets everything be far more direct – and there’s less politics than in the other books (to the point that I’m not sure if I’d call it political fantasy.)
Instead, it’s more of an adventure – except the adventure is more like “how do we stop everything getting worse because everything’s going wrong? Oh no, it got worse.” It has a really different vibe, chaos and disaster and horribly overpowered enemies that Ryx has to stand up to. I really liked this, because these are not human threats you could talk your way around. They’re demons who have a very different concept of what is proper. If they were handled like human politics, it would have felt so wrong.
To add to that difficulty, Ryx and the Rookery also find their pasts coming back. The group is straining, but they have to work together to win. I really loved the dynamics and heartbreak as secrets came to light or old foes returned to haunt characters.
The book has a brilliant mid-point reveal and reversal. They’re so hard to do in books, build up expectations and then flip it all, without feeling contrived or undeserved. But THE QUICKSILVER COURT manages it brilliantly. And, as with any good midpoint reversal, it raises the stakes and complicates the goal manyfold.
One book to go, THE BONE CHAMBER, which is not a very promising title for things going the heroes way!
Read my reviews of other books by Melissa Caruso:
Rooks and Ruin (this series):
- THE OBSIDIAN TOWER (#1)
- THE IVORY TOMB (#3)
Swords and Fire (series set 150 years before this):
- THE TETHERED MAGE (#1)
- THE DEFIANT HEIR (#2)
- THE UNBOUND EMPIRE (#3)
Sifa Elizabeth Reads 