I Can’t Wait For…By a Silver Thread by Rachel Aaron

Posted 15th March 2023 by Sia in Can't-Wait Wednesday / 4 Comments

Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted over at Wishful Endings to spotlight and discuss the books we’re excited about but haven’t yet read. Most of the time they’re books that have yet to be released, but not always. It’s based on the Waiting on Wednesday meme, which was originally hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine

This week my Can’t-Wait-For Book is By a Silver Thread by Rachel Aaron!

By a Silver Thread (DFZ Changeling #1) by Rachel Aaron
Genres: Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy
Published on: 2nd May 2023
Goodreads

A new DFZ series from the author of NICE DRAGONS FINISH LAST and MINIMUM WAGE MAGIC!

In the world’s most magical metropolis where spirits run noodle shops and cash-strapped dragons stage photo-ops for tourists, people still think fairies are nothing but stories, and that’s exactly how the fairies like it. It’s a lot easier to feast on humanity’s dreams when no one believes you exist. But while this arrangement works splendidly for most fair folk, Lola isn’t one of the lucky ones.

She’s a changeling, a fairy monster made just human enough to dupe unsuspecting parents while fairies steal their real child. The magic that sustains her was never meant to last past the initial theft, leaving Lola without a future. But thanks to Victor Conrath, a very powerful--and very illegal--blood mage, she was given the means to cheat death.

For a price.

Now the only changeling ever to make it to adulthood, Lola has served the blood mage faithfully, if reluctantly, for twenty years. Her unique ability to slip through wards and change her shape to look like anyone has helped make Victor a legend in the DFZ’s illegal-magic underground. It’s not a great life, but at least the work is stable… until her master vanishes without a trace.

With only a handful left of the pills that keep her human, Lola must find Victor before she turns back into the fairy monster she was always meant to be. But with a whole SWAT team of federal paladins hunting her as a blood-mage accomplice, an Urban Legend on a silent black motorcycle who won’t leave her alone, and a mysterious fairy king with the power to make the entire city dream, Lola’s chances of getting out of this alive are as slender as a silver thread.

BY A SILVER THREAD is a fast-paced Urban Fantasy featuring cunning fae, a kind heroine, and a magic so destructive that using it even once will stain your soul forever. Buckle up for a wild ride through a near-future, magical Detroit where urban legends ride the streets, fairy queens have mansions uptown, and the City is an actual deity you don't want to cross. Welcome to the DFZ!

By a Silver Thread is set in the same world (and city!) as Aaron’s Heartstriker and DFZ series – both of which I really loved! – and I’m not sure if I missed a mention somewhere or if Aaron was keeping it quiet, but I had no idea she was planning another series in this setting!

I AM DELIGHTED BY THIS SURPRISE!

(Although for anyone who hasn’t read the earlier series, Aaron made it clear in her newsletter that this, like the others, is a standalone. You don’t need to have read the Heartstriker or DFZ books to read this one!)

What’s especially cool is that until now, there has been no mention of the Fae in this setting – I had not even the SMALLEST SUSPICION that they might exist in this world! And given the very fun things Aaron’s already done with dragons – and the galaxy-brain stuff with spirits! – in this setting, I’m extremely excited to see her take on the Fae!

Just the lore we get in the blurb is already unique – changelings turning into monsters and dying??? meep! – but what else are we going to see? There’s a mention of a fairy king – does that mean the Fae here are divided into courts, like Seelie and Unseelie? Or maybe a-lot-more-than-two-courts? And what exactly does ‘feasting on humanity’s dreams’ entail, or look like?

I guess we’ll find out in May!

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4 responses to “I Can’t Wait For…By a Silver Thread by Rachel Aaron

  1. Meowth

    Always good to see more entries in the DFZ series. Also the first book to have any/significant queer allegory, so that’s nice.

    • Sia

      I haven’t gotten through this one yet – what do you mean by queer allegory? Is there actual rep? 😀

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