I’ve written about Melissa Caruso’s delightful writing before, both about her Swords & Fire trilogy and The Obsidian Tower, the first book of her Rooks & Ruin series. Last summer, I was fortunate to receive a copy of The Quicksilver Court. Now seems like an opportune time to share it, as the third book, The Ivory Tomb, is due out later this year. (The fact that I went looking for the release date should give you a hint as to how good this series is.) This review was originally published in the October 8, 2021 issue of Booklist Online.
Kicked out of her home by her demon-possessed grandmother, Ryx has teamed up with the Rookery in The Quicksilver Court, the second book of Melissa Caruso’s Rooks and Ruin series. Ryx’s magical ability to destroy everything is contained by a jess, allowing her the freedom to interact with other people for the first time in her life. She and her Rookery allies need to hunt down and contain the demons – other than her grandmother – unleashed in The Obsidian Tower, without knowing their goals or which of the nine demons are loose in the world. They find themselves at the court of Loreice, a place vastly different than Ryx’s Morgrain home, pursuing the Zenith Society and an artifact that could destroy an entire domain by killing every living being in it. Melissa Caruso continues to seamlessly incorporate gender equality, LGBT relationships, and non-binary characters in her unique fantasy setting, exploring familiar coming of age topics as Ryx struggles with human interaction and her personal and literal demons.