Brimstone by Callie Hart drops readers back into a world of magic, alchemy, and rising danger, delivering a sequel that reaches for high stakes even as it struggles to find its footing.
Brimstone by Callie Hart is the second installment of the Fae & Alchemy series following the BookTok sensation Quicksilver. In this book Saeris finds herself as the queen of the vampires even though she is a half fae, half vampire queen. Mated to Kingfisher of the Ajun Gate, Saeris needs to learn how to expand her skills in alchemy, figure out how to rid her realm of the threat of the rot consuming it, and find her way in the world as she follows the gods’ plans for her.
I wasn’t the biggest fan of Quicksilver, finding the plot and the characters a regurgitation of generic fantasy romance tropes. However, I was hooked by the premise of the alchemy, something I hadn’t read before, so I gave Brimstone a shot.
Unfortunately, Brimstone feels unfinished and chaotic. The plot doesn’t move forward, it’s convoluted and confused, and the characters don’t grow at all. It feels like a mish mash of Tiktok tropes and viral bait, with many inconsistencies that leave a plot that has so much promise looking unedited and sloppy.
If you’re searching for insights on Brimstone Fae and Alchemy Book 2, this breakdown will help you decide if the sequel delivers on the magic promised in book one.
Read our full summary, review, explanation of the ending, and a list of spicy chapters of Brimstone, Book 2 of the Fae and Alchemy series, in this post.
This post contains spoilers.
Brimstone
Description
Duty. Blood. Honor. Power.
Saeris Fane doesn’t want power. The very last thing she needs is her name whispered on an entire court’s lips, but now that she’s been crowned queen of the Blood Court, she’s discovering that a queen’s life is not her own. A heavy weight rests upon her shoulders. Her ward—and her brother—need her back in her homeland…but the changes that have strengthened Saeris have also made her weak. Born under blazing suns, Saeris will surely die if she makes her way home through the Quicksilver. Which means that, once again, she must send someone else in her stead…
“Keep your mouth shut. Stick to the shadows. And for the love of all seven Gods, do NOT crack any jokes.”
Kingfisher of the Ajun Gate has defeated armies and survived all manner of horrors, but traveling back to Zilvaren with Carrion Swift might just be the death of him. The male just will not shut up. Hidden dangers await them down the narrow alleyways of the Silver City. Unfolding secrets pose impossible threats. Fisher must wrangle the smuggler and accomplish his goals quickly if he wants to see his mate again.
A darkness falls across Yvelia. The realm and their friends are in danger. Together, Saeris and Fisher will pass through fire and brimstone to save them.
Tropes
- Fae
- Vampires
- Fates Mates
- Found Family
- Mythology inspired
- Strong FMC
- Possessive MMC
Review
Thanks for checking out this post! What brings you here?
Thanks for checking out this post! What brings you here?
Overall Impressions 😊
Brimstone might just be my least favorite fantasy romance book of the year, and I’ve read some mediocre books this year. I was already kind of mid on Quicksilver, but I gave Brimstone a shot because I was compelled by the alchemy magic system and I didn’t want to feel left out.
This book reads like a bad fanfiction to me. Characters don’t progress, and they feel like repurposed fantasy romance tropes. There is no tension, and the stakes aren’t high. The magic system feels like a new concept is introduced as a plot device at every turn. Hundreds of pages pass and nothing really happens. Plot lines are abandoned or solved in absurd ways.
The spice in this book comes out of nowhere. I enjoy intimacy between characters, but I definitely lean more towards yearning and tension. This book feels like the spicy scenes are there just for the sake of having spice in the book and having Anthony Palmini narrate Kingfisher in a great voice, and it feels cheap and like it is attempting to go viral.
I was bored, frustrated, and just overall slogged through this. The thing is, I’m infuriated because there’s so much promise in this book with demon dimension dragons and alchemy. It just needs some really heavy editing and a step away from what sells on social media.
I kind of enjoyed the side characters (or should I say Carrion), and I am still slightly intrigued by how the book has ended, but I’m not sure if I’ll continue reading it.
Perfect For Fans Of… 🌟
This book still might work for some. If you’re just in it for the vibes, and you can’t get enough of the tried and true fantasy romance elements despite them being presented in a kind of distracted way that delivers instant gratification, you would probably enjoy this. Not to mention the narrators do a phenomenal job in audio format, so it’s still an okay time.
Let’s say that you’ve really enjoyed ACOTAR, Throne of Glass, or The Serpent and the Wings of the Night, then this might still be exciting for you. Not to mention you might be like me and not want to feel left out of the conversation. There’s still plenty of love out there for Saeris, Fane, and Kingfisher, so you might want to read this just to stay in the loop.
Characters 👥
Saeris Fane is not a compelling character for me. I adore strong female characters, but I despise characters who improve out of nowhere and or have no flaws. Saeris somehow goes from being a starving 25 year old to the queen of the blood court who becomes a master duelist and an alchemist with a few training sessions and weird Sailor Moon transformation arcs.
Kingfisher (or should I say Khydan Graystar Finvarra) is the same as before. He is a flat, grumpy fantasy romance shadow daddy who is a complete cinnamon roll when it comes to Saeris. He doesn’t experience any growth either, and his hidden past that comes out of nowhere is just problematic. Sure, he is devoted to Saeris, but both Saeris and Kingfisher feel like new versions of ACOTAR characters, and that’s been there, done that.
There is no yearning between the characters. There is no tension. Saeris and Fisher are now a stable couple and that’s fine, but there are ways to keep the readers interested as seen in Onyx Storm. I liked the dynamic between Fisher and Carrion, and I wish we could see more of the cast interact with one another and develop relationships.
Carrion Swift continues to be the hot, comedic relief guy, but you could exchange him with Ridoc from Fourth Wing and nothing would change. He also had a lot more depth in the first book, but in this book all he does is be hot and aloof.
The rest of the side characters don’t really do anything for me. Onyx feels like a Disney princess companion and I’m really annoyed by what he had to go through, it felt cheap and done just for shock value. I was looking forward to Taladaius’s character development, but honestly there were so many characters on the page that none of them saw any development. I don’t think this author is experienced enough to handle this big of a cast.
Plot 🗺️
I have endless problems with the plot.
First of all, the initial premise has such good bones. A desert thief becomes an alchemist, chosen by the mythical gods of the universe, mated to their champion, and has to defeat a rot that threatens the universe. That’s great. Let’s run with that.
Except there are a million other story lines that go nowhere. The vampires, demon dimension, Belikon, and Zolvaren plot lines never come together. Worse, they get randomly abandoned and explained away.
There are a million continuity errors. Carrion and Fisher are in the wrong locations throughout the book. Saeris has birthdays even though only weeks have passed. Hayden is missing but also has no plot impact. The vampire plot line can be completely taken away. The Hazrax is there for no reason. You can take away all of his parts and nothing would change. What happens with Onyx is not okay, unnecessary, and only there for shock value. What is going on with Carrion’s story line? Where did the Satyr plot line come from?
Bits and pieces of the book feel like they were lifted from other books. I can pinpoint scenes that are the same as ones from other romantasy books. Taking inspiration is fine, but there are too many romantasy books out there for this one to be that popular without doing anything new.
It makes no sense and feels thrown together almost just so Fisher can say sexy things in the audiobook.
And then there’s the Brimstone, you know, the name of the book. Nothing happens with Brimstone. Saeris mysteriously masters certain elements, gains new ones, and then in the last chapter Brimstone is explained away. It’s such a cool concept too, so why not move the last chapter to around chapter ten and explore what happened there?
Such good bones but such a fumble.
My Favorite Quote to Hook You 📣
“I really like your horns.”
Callie Hart, Brimstone
Writing Style and Narration ✍️
The prose is inconsistent. Sometimes they talk like they’re from 2025, and other times they are stuck in medieval times. What is a solar plexus? Well, you’ll know what it is after this book because it’s mentioned over and over again.
The feelings of the characters are enunciated randomly. There are tons of too much, too everything type of italicized emphasizing sentences, which makes them really easy to ignore.
There are some funny bits (almost always Carrion scenes), and he’s clearly there to be the comedic relief. The I like your horns bit made me laugh while I was in the middle of being annoyed, so it has its moments.
I listened to this in audiobook format, and Anthony Palmini and Stella Bloom are incredibly talented and do a fantastic job. It really is produced well and a very enjoyable audio experience barring waves hand everything else.
Synopsis
Have you finished reading Brimstone?
Have you finished reading Brimstone?
Saeris’s Coronation
Brimstone starts right after Saeris has woken up. Saeris is adjusting to being half vampire, half Fae. She has just woken up, her magic is confusing her, and she is about to take over the vampire courts.
Kingfisher is trying to understand what’s going on with Saeris and what he should do next.
Then Kon Varson arrives and tells him that his mate needs something important.
It turns out Onyx, the little fox Saeris has adopted, has crossed the entire continent but is being chased by feeders. Kingfisher and Carrion run out and save Onyx, then bring him back to Saeris, who is very happy.
Kingfisher, Carrion, and Taladaius, her maker, bring her a dress. She gets ready to address the vampires.
She stands before the vampire court, which is ruled by five Lords of Midnight, and she must convince them she is their queen because she killed Malcolm.
One of the female lords, Zovena, challenges Saeris, insisting she was just a mortal girl a few days ago and cannot rule them.
Eventually Saeris is forced to feed to prove she is a true vampire. She feeds from Kingfisher, proves her strength, and is crowned the vampire queen.
She declares that no one may harm her or her friends, and that no vampire may attack the Fae. Their laws bind them to her word.
The Rot and Edina’s Words
Kingfisher, Renfis, and the others go hunting and encounter feeders behaving like zombies. Even with their heads removed, they keep moving. It becomes clear Madra has created these creatures.
Later Kingfisher takes Saeris back to Cahlish, his manor. They have dinner and a brief family moment. Afterward Kingfisher and Saeris have sex, reconnecting
The next morning, while looking for breakfast, Kingfisher notices that the severed heads tied to the trees are contaminating the ground with black blood.
Saeris visits Iseabail who is tending to Layne, and the Quicksilver in Layne’s earring speaks to her. Saeris touches it, it turns to liquid, falls onto her, and Layne becomes possessed by Edina, Kingfisher’s mother.
Edina tells her to find a butterfly marked book in the library and warns her not to tell Kingfisher.
She explains the rot and how it will consume the universe. She tells Saeris she needs to seal her runes, her alchemist sigils.
Saeris’s hand begins to burn as her magic flares. Kingfisher comes in and is shaken to see his mother possessing Layne. Before Edina disappears, she insists Kingfisher must not learn what she told Saeris.
They gather their friends and reveal that Saeris and Kingfisher are godbound and tasked with stopping the rot.
They explain how the chaos god of change showed them the fading leaves of the universe, each leaf representing a dying realm.
Everyone is shocked but eventually accepts it.
They also realize Saeris’s orders do not apply to vampires infected by the rot.
The Mission to Zolvaren
Before leaving for Silver City, Kingfisher tells Saeris he cannot marry her because he does not know his real name, and a true Fae marriage requires exchanging real names.
Carrion and Kingfisher travel to Zolvaren, the Silver City, to collect silver for relic making and to search for Hayden, Saeris’s brother.
Saeris remains in the vampire court because the sun harms her and she needs to train and get comfortable with her sword, Solace.
Lorreth trains Saeris, teaching her sword work and telling her the story of Ajun Gate and Ren’s sister, who died and became Kingfisher’s blade.
They end up in a bar fight, after which Taladaius arrives and brings Saeris to his office.
Taladaius tells Saeris he wants to break their bond. He never wanted children and feels it is unfair to know every detail of her life.
Saeris agrees. They decide to remain friends, and she appoints him to oversee the vampire court bar.
She also tells him what Edina revealed. Saeris goes to the library for books.
One of the Ladies of Midnight is there with a feral cat made out of shadows and asks Saeris for a drop of blood to feed it in exchange for a book. Saeris agrees.
Carrion and Kingfisher reach Silver City. Before searching for Hayden, they need silver so Saeris can make relics.
Carrion owns the bank, but his partner seems to have hired a wall breaker who destroyed the vault while Carrion was gone. Inside they discover the wall breaker is actually a demon worshipper, a massive scorpion demon.
They fight it. Kingfisher wins. The demon begs for its life and Kingfisher trades a few drops of blood in exchange for mercy, then tricks it by taking one small spider form while burning the rest.
The demon reveals that to kill darkness they must go to the darkest place and strike a new bargain with another demon, one that cannot be tricked.
Kingfisher begins to suspect Carrion’s magic might be fire.
Saeris and Kingfisher, Separated
Saeris is attacked in the library by a vampire with golden capped canines. She stabs the vampire with a silver knife, and he is revealed to be Foley, Fisher and the others’ lost brother.
Kingfisher and Carrion talk about whether Carrion is in love with Saeris. Carrion says no. He admits he once loved a mortal woman who died, and he has been broken ever since.
Saeris and Kingfisher fall asleep and find themselves in a dreamscape, in a hunting cabin Kingfisher’s father used to take him to. They have dream sex. Kingfisher wakes up with his injuries healed because Saeris healed him in the dream.
Saeris trains with Lorreth. She practices with a staff and wants to learn to shift it into different forms.
Foley joins them. He understands alchemy and shows her books, explaining she will need to seal the runes after learning how to manipulate each element. Saeris plans to go to the forge to practice with the Quicksilver.
A Stargazer, a magical bird made out of paper keeps trying to get her attention but loses its magic when it leaves the library.
Carrion and Kingfisher find Hayden. Kingfisher notes Hayden does not look like Saeris, but he smells like her bloodline.
When they corner him in an alley, Hayden pulls a knife because Madra has posted wanted signs saying Kingfisher is the Butcher of Zolvaren.
Kingfisher convinces Hayden to come, but Hayden insists they must visit Gracie, Carrion’s grandmother figure.
They attend a funeral, then stumble into guards who are preparing to sterilize girls, which triggers Kingfisher because this happened to Saeris.
He kills all the guards, around fifty of them. Quicksilver urges him to push further, and despite expending magic, Kingfisher still feels a deep reservoir inside himself.
Saeris begins making relics at the forge. She forces the Quicksilver into a puddle without negotiating, which feels wrong.
Quicksilver demands a memory. She almost gives the memory of her mother’s death but instead offers one she cannot fully remember.
The Hazrax appears, warning her that blood magic and sacrificing herself piece by piece is not the right method. He hints at another path.
Saeris realizes she must seal the runes on her hands to access Quicksilver correctly.
She learns that each alchemist has an elemental affinity and that the runes become their shield.
The Hazrax explains he had a deal with Malcolm that allowed him to stay in the court in exchange for one favor a year.
Saeris reluctantly agrees to honor the deal, though there is no blood exchange.
Her runes begin to burn, her magic explodes, the mental gates she built collapse, and she runs.
Carrion takes Kingfisher and Hayden to a hidden location: Elroy’s forge.
Elroy recognizes both men as Fae. He reveals his lineage has been guarding something important beneath the forge.
He leads them to an underground armory containing a massive Quicksilver pool collected by his ancestors.
Saeris runs through the castle and reaches the Quicksilver pool in the basement.
Her magic is consuming her from the inside, so she does the only thing that makes sense to her and jumps in.
The pool tests her. She tells it she will not use Quicksilver as a weapon. She wants peace and wants to save those she loves.
She passes its tests. When Quicksilver asks if she will sacrifice the person she loves most, Saeris says no. Quicksilver accepts her. It seems she bonds with it.
Back at the forge, Kingfisher, Carrion, and Elroy watch over the pool. They discuss ancient documentation about Solace and how the pools reacted when Saeris was taken.
The pool suddenly explodes. Kingfisher realizes Saeris must be in danger.
He jumps in, telling Carrion and Hayden to stay put.
Saeris emerges from the Quicksilver and sees portals opening.
A figure steps through, the Seneschal, Belikon’s second in command.
He offers Saeris a deal: return as Belikon’s alchemist, turn in Kingfisher and the oathbound, and in exchange Belikon will feed the starving vampires whose lands are rotting.
Saeris refuses.
She demonstrates her sealed runes and splits Solace with her mind. She fights the attackers. Their blades can cut alchemists, but Saeris fights five to one with Lorrath’s voice guiding her.
Kingfisher and Carrion arrive through the portal. Together they overwhelm the attackers.
They also return an unconscious body to her, likely Hayden.
They send the Seneschal back to Belikon as a warning. Saeris can now project a Quicksilver shield with far more control.
Archer and Brimstone
Saeris returns to her room. Archer and the fire sprites are there. She tries to stop Archer from following strict decorum, but he is horrified at the idea.
She bathes and reads alchemy notes. Kingfisher comes, they confess their love, sleep together, and give each other new tattoos.
They are woken by a commotion. Layne is possessed by a dark force. They cannot tell what it is. They rush back to the vampire castle for the books.
Fisher sends Danya to pull back the border to Cahlish.
Inside the castle, Saeris confronts Zovena, who admits she never delivered letters to Foley because he was shunned.
They find Taladaius emerging from his rooms, naked, bloody, and disoriented. Kingfisher gets him cleaned up. Onyx reacts strongly to Kingfisher, as if understanding him.
Kingfisher goes to the library and meets Guru, the shadow cat. Guru merges with him because he is made of shadows.
On the roof, Kingfisher finds Foley, whose father served the previous true king until Belikon killed him. Foley is full of self hatred.
Kingfisher brings him back to Cahlish and convinces him to watch over, the demon scorpion. Foley slowly begins to accept himself again.
Saeris realizes that the Stargazers are pages from the alchemy book and after they cut her and test her blood, they form a book with a butterfly cover Edina has mentioned.
Saeris hands the book to Fisher, which has a note from Edina saying that their bond will become stronger if Saeris chooses to show the book to Fisher despite her warnings. It was a test and Saeris has passed. The book contains messages from Edina, who was an oracle.
Saeris is talking to Carrion and Archer. Archer tells her of Edina and how graceful she was.
He goes and picks up flowers for Saeris. He goes and picks up laurel petals, but he gets attacked by an infected feeder.
Saeris throws the null blade at him. They fight him off, but the infected feeder eventually bites Archer.
The fire sprite housekeeper helps. They take Archer back into the forge and try to find a way to heal him because he doesn’t have blood, he has Brimstone.
Hayden is awake. He tells Saeris Madra is telling everyone she’s working for her and that she fought against Ros Harris. Hayden says that her people think she betrayed them, but Hayden convinces her not to go back there. He also believes that Saeris worked with Madra.
Saeris has spent her whole life making Hayden’s existence easier by stealing for him, but it made Hayden confused about Saeris’s allegiance.
They have a huge fight but are interrupted by The her runes catching on fire.
The Evenlight Ball and End of Vampires
Taladaius speaks on Saeris, breaking their bond. Kingfisher is annoyed that it shames Saeris and is wondering what Taladaius’s ulterior motive is. His speech is also questionable and puts things in a strange way, but eventually, Kingfisher thinks about it and lets it go.
Saeris hears petitions for the next Lord of Midnight. The first petitioner is one of the fighters who wants to be a Keeper of War, and a high blood woman who has been there since the beginning of time and who built the castle and she wants to make iron violins against the Fae.
She wants to be the Keeper of Pain. She used to be an alchemist. She suggests a cruel future for the blood court, and Saeris challenges that thought.
Zovena interrupts and says she’s wondering about how Saeris is planning on feeding the court throughout the time she’s going to rule.
Saeris pins Zovena to the ground for questioning her and breaks her jaw.
She receives three more petitions. Taladaius is about to wrap the ceremony up, but she hears a sixth petition and Foley steps up as an expeditionary.
He doesn’t know what to do and the crowd yells at him as he was shunned, but Saeris declares him as a friend, protecting him with her edict.
Algath, the witch Lord of the Midnight and the librarian, arrives and she tries to interfere and she also tries to enter Saeris’s mind.
Saeris uses her alchemy skills and stabs her. Foley swears loyalty to Saeris and she names him the Lord of Midnight.
The festival begins and Kingfisher and Saeris stand together.
As they’re having a romantic moment, a commotion breaks out and high bloods all begin vomiting. Taladaius, apparently, has poisoned everybody.
He offers them all an option, either drink vials and return back to Fae or die.
They force the cure down Taladaius’s throat and go back to Cahlish.
There, they realize that Iseabail has cast a spell and that she tied Taladaius to the spell.
If Iseabail doesn’t stop the spell from completing soon, Taladaius will destroy everything.
Saeris can feel a portal opening and Iseabail says the door on her arm will open, which Saeris can feel.
Saeris and Kingfisher talk. They talk about what they’re going to do now that there’s a cure for vampire venom.
Saeris doesn’t want to be a human again, but Kingfisher says if she wants, when it’s time for her to die, he’ll go with her.
Archer brings Saeris to her room to reveal his researching history to Lorreth about how to reclaim his throne, and every time he speaks, plants grow.
They are interrupted when they realize Lorreth and another warrior arrive.
Saeris reads Edina’s book a little bit more, which advises her not to take the cure and not to take Foley either.
They begin evacuation.
The Hazrax’s Rune
Saeris goes and speaks with Hayden, who apologizes for everything he’s done. Saeris splits from him because The Hazrax is there.
The Hazrax has given Saeris a rune and given her the ability to break and undo. Saeris tries to give it back, but he says she’ll need it soon enough.
They end the conversation with Saeris realizing The Hazrax is not his full name and he’ll never tell her what he truly is. They arrive at the gate and evacuate. On the other side of the gate, they find a bunch of feeders.
Saeris begins fighting. Foley and Saeris fight together and he saves her.
Kingfisher steps on the other side of the gate with Belikon’s men. Saeris and the others fight the feeders off and Saeris reads the book and tries to see where Kingfisher is, but she can’t find him.
They realize that Madra is using the city of Zolvaren like a rune itself. They decide to ward their realm to keep Madra’s magic out. They get her hair from one of the feeder’s bodies.
Saeris finds Taladaius with Zovena’s body. Zovena is dead. Taladaius is considering life and Saeris sits with him.
Eventually, she makes a god sword. The sword also chooses Taladaius. He names his sword Redemption.
Lorreth tells Saeris about an impossible blood conscription, but before they can discuss it further, they’re ambushed by satyrs asking for the forgotten king, which is Carrion. The satyrs bow to Carrion welcoming him home.
Saeris figures out how to find Kingfisher. She has Danya punch her in the face and passes out.
Brimstone Ending Explained
She’s back at Cahlish. It’s eaten by the rot and she finds a door she can’t open. None of her magic works. She uses the rune from The Hazrax that can break, and she finds Kingfisher sitting at the other side of the door. He’s not there mentally, even if his body’s there.
She also looks for the paper of Stargazer that cut her first initially, that crumbled before, and asks The Hazrax to take her to the Wicker Wood as her favor.
In the Wicker Wood, Saeris sees some trees and finds Belikon and Orion, his second in command, and she fights eight men at once. Eventually Belikon puts a stop to it.
Turns out the trees are actually dryads who have been cursed and they imprison people for life in Kingfisher’s body and mind. Belikon says that unless Saeris swears full fealty to him, he’s not going to release Kingfisher.
Saeris refuses.
He wants Nimirelle, but Saeris reveals that Nimirelle is made out of iron, because Kingfisher is chosen by the gods and Belikon can never wield it. In a moment, after Belikon is distracted, Saeris calls for Nimirelle and Solace, and Nimirelle doesn’t kill her because the sword trusts her.
She stabs Belikon with the swords. Belikon grabs her heart and then he says that Kingfisher will always be his because he’s sworn an oath.
But Saeris reveals that Edina has told her, his true name, and she breaks all of Kingfisher’s oaths by using his true name, Khydan. The curse on Kingfisher breaks and Saeris and Kingfisher get reunited and they find Belikon, but Belikon is full of dark magic so they can’t kill him.
Belikon taunts them because Saeris used his real name against Kingfisher, but reveals that not only did she use his real name, but she also used The Hazrax’s rune to break his the power his name on Khydan. He can never be controlled again.
While they are talking, Orion manages to come from the side and he throws a null blade at Saeris, but Onyx jumps in between them and Onyx dies. Saeris is devastated, and then Kingfisher decapitates Belikon. Eventually, they leave before the rest of Belikon’s men come and Saeris begin carrying Onyx back to Cahlish through shadow gates.
They stop at a mountain side and Saeris realizes that alchemists can do anything. She calls upon The Hazrax and he comes and asks if he can still see Onyx’s spirit. Saeris reaches inside of her and reaches for a rune that she doesn’t even have yet. She burns through The Hazrax’s rune and it disappears from her hand, but Onyx does come back to life.
They hear from the city in front of them, which is Ajun, she finds out, that no visitors are allowed on the hill. They run in and the gate opens and they find Renfis.
Renfis tells Kingfisher that the old marks are asking him to serve and that’s why he hasn’t been able to come back. Turns out Renfis has buried his sister in Ajun, which made him part of the Ajun Fae, and therefore he is oathbound to the city.
There is a pool of Quicksilver in Ajun, where the rot initiates from.
When Kingfisher was a small child, his father made him go through the pool without a relic, and Belikon hoped Kingfisher would never come back. This was a week after his mom died. But Kingfisher was chosen by the gods and blessed, and he returned and he’s been crazy ever since, obviously, not anymore.
This was the plan Lorreth has told Saeris about, that Brimstone comes from the other side of this pool and the only place they can take Saeris so she can work with Brimstone so that she can seal the rune and stop the rot from coming.
This was also the hallucination Layne has had when she was sleeping at the beginning of the book because she kept saying the gate is open, because this pool has been opening every chance it got three hours a day.
Rot creatures have been coming out of it and Renfis and the demons that are coming out of it, Renfis has been fighting it in through the gate.
Saeris and Kingfisher walk through the gate because that’s the only place they can go and get Brimstone.
Saeris and Khydan (Kingfisher) wake up on the other side of the portal and are greeted by a dragon.
The dragon is the gatekeeper. She can read their minds. She can read the thoughts of each other and she sees that Kingfisher, Khydan, has killed a dragon in Ajunate, and that they’re going to be brought to trial in front of Styx, the god who rules the hell dimension they are in.
Saeris and Kingfisher pass out.
Saeris and Kingfisher wake up upside down, hung, and they get brought down to two men who are tormenting them verbally, and then the crowds are on them.
They have two swords on their waists, kind of looking like Nimirelle, but worse. Kingfisher kind of taunts them.
They look at Kingfisher’s sword and say that Nimirelle is an ancient sword of their family and that Kingfisher should not have it.
They threaten Saeris and then they say that Kingfisher is also not only guilty of killing the dragon at Ajun Gate, he’s also guilty of killing one of their believers, the Lord of Midnight that Kingfisher killed at the beginning of the book who worships the god below.
They threaten Saeris. Only then Kingfisher shrugs off their binds with the shadows, like they didn’t have any power over him in the first place.
Turns out only gods can wield shadow magic.
Kingfisher gets up and tells Saeris, he’s so sorry to do this. He didn’t want to lie to her, but he didn’t have time to prepare her mind.
He reveals himself as the son of Styx, the god of hell, and he says that he’s come for the dragon he was entitled to.
Spicy Chapters
How Spicy is Brimstone (Fae and Alchemy #2): 🌶️🌶️🌶️
Whether you want to get to the heat or want closed-door modifications here’s the list of spicy chapters below.
- Chapter 7
- Chapter 20
- Chapter 29
- Chapter 37
Grab Brimstone and see if the chaos alchemizes into magic for you 🔥📚
Brimstone left me feeling frustrated, exhausted, and honestly a little sad because it has such amazing potential.
I love the concept of alchemy, demon dimensions, and cosmic gods guiding a desert thief to save the universe, but the execution just doesn’t work for me. I am still curious about the direction of the story after that ending, yet I have no idea if I will continue reading the series.
If you loved this book, again, just because it’s not for me, it wasn’t for you so I’m glad you enjoyed it!
Let me know your thoughts in the comments. Did Brimstone work for you more than it worked for me?
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