Brimstone

Loveeeee

My only complaint is the use of two words over and over ( you'll see). Otherwise, really good follow up book to quicksilver, some nice spicy scenes, and the way it ended dropped my jaw and made me want to immediately read the next book.

I finally finished Brimstone by Callie Hart, and my final thoughts are a bit of a mixed bag. If I broke the book into Both the narrators/ characters POV I would say I definitely prefer the male narrator Anthony Palmini, but I didn't not like Stella Blooms voice, I think its because I still think Saeris is whiny, which to be honest is annoying... I had hoped she would develop into a stronger character as a half Fae/vampire??? 🫣 Nope.Ok let's try some of the stuff I liked...👉🏼 Fisher and Carrion on the trip back to get Hayden. 👉🏼Or the library scenes. The origami birds, 🐦 although they reminded me of some magical creature from the Harry Potter world. Archer reminds me of Dobby, and he gets injured 🫣... thankfully she doesn't kill him off like Dobby!Okay now to the stuff that lets it down.While the overarching storyline moves better than Quicksilver, (or Anthony just made it easier to listen to 😆) a massive chunk of this book felt like it was just filling time with a bloated cast of additional characters who are introduced only to never be heard from again. Worse yet, there was a frustrating amount of information kept from the reader. Instead of letting us experience the world-building, we are repeatedly told that Saeris is told "xyz," but the author completely hides what "xyz" actually is from the audience. Doing this multiple times felt like cheap plot tension.This lack of transparency extends to Saeris herself, who (I kept hoping would grow) remained incredibly annoying. (I'm repeating myself I know, but she really annoyed me)Biggest peeve:She is literally handed a magical notebook containing predictions of future events, told she has to read it at the right time, and what does she do? She completely forgets to read it! It’s hard to root for the main character when they ignore the literal cheat sheet handed to them.The romance - is it romance 🤔. I guess I should be happy Fisher actually grew as a character and stopped throttling her - I wasn't a fan of the sexual dynamic in book 1), anyway back to book 2, It feels like the only time Kingfisher and Saeris are together is to get their freak on. Because they are physically separated for so much of the book, their only interactions happen through shared dreamscapes. Instead of spending any meaningful time getting to know each other, talking, or growing their bond. Saeris honestly spends way more time developing dynamics with random side characters than her actual mate.The ending was admittedly quite good and gave cool Rings of Power vibes with the Rot, (and I'm sorry but I kept thinking about Thor in chains too when listening to the end chapter) but it leaves us stuck waiting for Book 3. Sadly, thanks to Grand Central Publishing delaying the finale to September 7, 2027, we have a long wait ahead of us.One thing I did note when researching when the next book was coming out... I was Looking at the author's website where Quicksilver was originally listed as a standalone! (Gosh I wish I had been able to read it when it was indie published, but it came out when my husband was really sick) I wonder how that original book ended 🤔.But it really makes you wonder if this would have stayed a single book if traditional publishers hadn't picked it up after it went viral??? So I'm going to give it 3 Stars, As there were no inconsistenies like the Pub/Tavern issues, nor were they eating quiche 🙃. But I definitely feel like it's a heavily padded sequel that prioritizes spice over genuine relationship growth.I am interested in what will happen in book 3, and with it being pushed back, hopefully the plot will be something more than dreamscape sexy time's 😉 (God help us if it's full of Hell/BDSM rooms 😶‍🌫️)Hopefully because we will be finding out about Fisher oops 😬 I mean (Khydan) we'll get more Anthony POV and I hope Saeris utilizes her reading skills in the finale and stops being so whiny 😉.