Quicksilver

The review

Saeris Fane has spent years secretly stealing from the Undying Queen's water reservoirs to survive in a desert city. When she comes face to face with something that should not exist, a gateway tears open between realms and she is dragged into a frozen land ruled by the fae, and into the orbit of the dangerous, infuriating Kingfisher. Quicksilver is the romantasy that ate 2024's BookTok, and the enemies-to-lovers banter is why.

Kingfisher is the selling point, and Hart knows it. He is rude, mysterious, terrifyingly powerful and clearly carrying a secret, and because the book stays entirely in Saeris's head, you learn about him only as fast as she does. That single point of view is unusual for Hart and it keeps the tension high: you never quite know what he wants.

Saeris is sharp and reckless and has a gift for metal that makes her valuable to people who should not know about it. The worldbuilding is big, with alchemy, fae politics, ancient wars and a cast of side characters who steal scenes and set up the rest of the trilogy.

The heat: four peppers. It takes its time, but once the door opens, the scenes are explicit and the antagonism carries straight into them. Readers come for the bickering and stay for the payoff.

Know before you start: it is long, and book one ends on a cliffhanger that runs straight into Brimstone. The listing flags graphic violence and adult situations. We could not find an author-published content-warning list, so check the front matter. If you loved Fourth Wing's slow tension and ACOMAF's banter, this is the closest thing to both in one book.

Read it if you want the current reigning enemies-to-lovers fae romance. Skip it if you hate cliffhangers or very long books; this is both. The banter alone is worth the time if you are on the fence, and the slow reveal of Kingfisher's secrets keeps the pages turning through the longest stretches.