Review: Quicksilver by Joy Spraycar

Quicksilver by Joy Spraycar

3 out of 5 stars

Published by AuthorHouse
Review copy kindly provided by the author

When I started reading this book, I though "this book is awesome!" and I flew through the pages. I just wish this still was the case half-way through.

Basically, Quicksilver is about the eternal love between Serry and Quinton. They have a little problem with Quinton being a werewolf, and to cure him from that, they'll have to face Quinton's father and kill him.

Even though eternal love and reincarnation of your lovers soul isn't really my thing, I didn't find it annoying in this book. It was very well done and not so in-your-face. We start the book by seeing Quinton as he was as newly turned werewolf in the 19th century. I love historic novels, and it was a great introduction to the story.

The story then unfolds like you would expect it to. I won't spoil anything so there isn't much I can say about it. Then, in the middle of the book, something strange happens. You know, the big conflict every book has? It's solved in the middle of the book. Yeah.

Let me repeat that for you. The big problem the book is about, is solved half-way through the story. Every tension arc meets here. That means after that, normally, a book is finished. You may put a few chapters after it, to tell about what becomes of our heroes now. But not another 150 pages. 'Cause really, there isn't that much to tell any more. It might be too harsh to say the final half of the book was boring. But it definitely wasn't urging me on to read either.

Another issue I had with the solving of the big problem was how it was solved. One second, we're watching good old Quinton being not-so-heroic (wish I could tell more about that, but that would be spoiling) and the second after that, we're deus ex machina-ing all over the place! I can understand help from unexpected places, but this was taking that a little too far. What also struck me was that Quinton suddenly changed as character, without a clear reason for it. He turns from a normal guy into some kind of preacher. Let me quote a little bit of conversation between him and a white witch that helps him on his quest:

"My dear, Safrina, there is no need to fear. We will triumph over my father and his pack. There is nowhere they can go and nothing they can do that will thwart our efforts. We will win this war."

Do you speak to your friends in this way? I'm sure as hell I don't. It almost feels like we have two different books glued together in the middle, with different characters that bear the same name.

What also returns in the book quite often are dreams. Yet at the end of the book I still had no idea where these dreams come from or what they mean. Are they predictions of the future? Fears of our characters? Messages from above? As with other questions in this book, they aren't answered. There were so many unanswered questions that I though this book must be the start of a series, yet I can't seem to find any facts to confirm that.

This book is one of unfulfilled promises. If it would have ended about halfway, I would have given it a higher rating. Still, this is only my opinion. If you're interested, don't hesitate to see for yourself.

Blurb

A recurring nightmare holds Serry Miller in its grip and has for most of her life. In spite of her fear of the man who becomes a monster, she's in love with him. Not only does she have nightmares while she sleeps, she's living in one with an abusive, alcoholic husband. When Serry's drunken husband hit's Quinton Worthington's car, she sees the face of the man from her nightmares on a stretcher entering the hospital. When he looks at her and calls her by her name, she is plummeted into a life that she has only dreamed about. 

Quinton Worthington has suffered for over a hundred years. That's when his evil father ripped Serenity, the love of Quinton's life, from him. At the same time, he changed Quinton into a monster. When Quinton sees Serry's face in the hospital, he believes that Serenity has come back, and he will do anything to be with her. There's only one thing that stands in their way of having the life they want: Quinton's father.