Brimstone

Book Review

*There are spoilers in this review. Don’t read further if you haven’t read the book yet.

I would give this book 3 out of 5. While I did enjoy reading it on a surface level, I often found myself struggling to stay engaged. The story felt scattered, almost as if Pandora’s box had been opened and the narrative simply waited to see where all the pieces would land.

The book attempts to expand the world dramatically. We enter the demon realm, learn that Saeris is even more powerful than expected, and even encounter the ghost of Fisher’s mother speaking from the grave. New characters and new beings are introduced in quick succession. In theory, these developments should deepen the story, but instead they create a sense of overwhelm. The pacing feels rushed, as though the publisher insisted on releasing the book before the narrative had been fully refined. This hurried approach leads to continuity issues and storylines that feel unnecessary or poorly integrated. For example, the shift in the Triumvirate’s power dynamics is never meaningfully addressed after Malcolm’s death. If only Madra and Belikon remain, shouldn’t their power be diminished? Yet the book simply moves on without acknowledging this. However, the world building in this series is what saves it.

Characterisation also suffers throughout the book. Kingfisher occasionally speaks in oddly modern, human-like expressions that don’t match his established voice. ‘I think Ren might be in some kind of hot water’ (p452). It just seems a little confusing for him to say this. Not very Fisher of him. Hayden is particularly frustrating—whiny, ungrateful, and ultimately pointless. I often wished he had simply been left in Zilvareen. Carrion, meanwhile, feels like little more than a filler character for most of the book. Though he is meant to be the Winter Court’s king, he spends much of the story secretive or absent. His later character arc, in which others begin to recognise and follow him, finally gives him some development, but it comes too late to make a meaningful impact.

Interestingly, the best parts of the novel are the sex scenes. They are undeniably spicy and well written, but they also feel like they were designed to distract from the book’s broader issues. It almost seems as though more time and care were spent crafting those scenes than on the plot, pacing, or world-building. The love and passion between these two is so obvious and probably gives the book the edge it needs. ‘Fisher’s blood was an eternal song. It cleaved my soul from my body’ (p107). A love through time, a true coming together of two souls. Although they both fought it, they come together to forge a path together.

I really hope the tattoos transferring between each of them is considered in the next book. It happens so often between the two of them. No other fated mates have this. We know they are God mated which makes them different. Is the constant transferring something to do with being God mated or is there something more to it? A new transfer happens when they open more to each other, share a strong moment. Is that all it is? I really hope that this gets addressed.

The book begins at the Blood Court. It is time for Saeris to embrace her new powers. She drinks blood for the first time to then have her power increase and to see with new eyes. Suddenly the hall of tears is beautiful. She can see what lies ahead. I did struggle with when the Blood Court is destroyed, its feels anticlimactic and soon becomes forgotten. It becomes overrun by everything else that is happening in the book. Taladaius is one of my favourite characters. He has lived for millennia. He is tired, he is philosophical. For a vampire he is still friends with the Fae and saves Saeris for Fisher. He is deep, there is so much more to him. The choices he makes, his arc, especially after he helps to kill the Blood Court. ‘Aren’t we just the same? Made from the same material as the sea and the dirt and the sky? Folded from the scraps of the gods and entrusted with a spark of magic that makes us real?’ (p179). He understands the similarities between every creature. He can see the world in such a beautiful way for a vampire. It’s not all about blood, he sees the beauty, he sees the darkness of the vampires and that they need to be ended, even to sacrifice himself for a better world.

We then learn about brimstone. Where it comes from and how it will help. We find that the Ajun gate sends us through to the place of brimstone. We also know that Saeris should be able to manipulate it like she does with the quicksilver. Will it start talking to her as well? How will she seal the brimstone rune? Again, something that we have to wait for the next book to find out. And how is it the gods don’t know how to heal the rot, when it seems that brimstone is the solution. It has been there the whole time, but they ignore that. Where does the rot come from? Is it Madra? I mean at this stage it seems that. But the gods have said that the rot has been destroying for a long time, longer than Madra. But we had the Triumvirate, how long have they been alive, is it that the reason for the rot? Again, so many questions with no clear answers. Is it all as simple as killing Belikon and Madra?

A larger issue also hangs over the entire novel: a sense of familiarity. So many elements echo the Maasverse and other popular romantasy books currently dominating the market. While it may be unfair to call this book a cut-and-paste version of its predecessors, the similarities are difficult to ignore. This is not entirely the author’s fault, as the romantasy genre as a whole is beginning to feel increasingly repetitive, but it does make it hard for this story to stand out.

I will say though the book ends on the best cliffhanger. A total gasp moment. Especially when you go back to read, in Quicksilver, Chapter 7, paragraph 7. It gives a huge holy crap moment that I absolutely loved and made me so glad that I finished the book. Though we are kind of introduced to the possibility earlier in the book with Kingfisher mentioning his father. ‘You should know, Saeris, I am my father’s son. My strength has always been my shadows’ (p439). We know he has shadows throughout and his father has the shadows too. Then the end of the book he asks to see his father. Then we go back to Quicksilver to remember that there is Styx, the god of shadows. So, is that who is Fisher’s father, or did he start Fisher’s line? We also know that Fisher was thrown through the gate at Arjun as a child by Belikon in the hope of him being killed. But he came back stronger. So many more questions just with this revelation. Did Belikon know about the connection to Styx or not?

Ultimately, the book has glimmers of potential—interesting lore, flashes of strong character dynamics, and an expansive supernatural world—but these are overshadowed by structural flaws. The rushed pacing, uneven characterisation, continuity issues, and overwhelming influx of new ideas prevent the story from becoming what it could have been. It’s a book I wanted to love, love, love, but one that ultimately left me a little disappointed. But with so many unanswered questions and a huge cliffhanger, I am looking forward to the next one.