Welcome to the Final stage of SPFBO 10! As you know, the 10 blogs all picked their champion who advanced into the finals, including ourselves. Check out our SPFBO 10 page for more info! SPFBO 10 ends on April 30th, and so we’ll post our finalist reviews every two weeks or so until then.
Our 4th SPFBO 10 finalist review is for By a Silver Thread by Rachel Aaron. The order of the reviews within a post will be in alphabetical order.
A quick reminder about how we are proceeding in the Finals: our judges had the freedom to opt out of reading any of the books due to personal interest, time restrictions, unforeseen life events, etc. Our aim is to have at least 4 reviews/scores for each finalist.
Both in the Semi-Final and Final stages we have a DNF rule in place: if a judge reads a book (either semi-finalist or finalist if they didn’t opt out beforehand), they have to read at least 25% of it. If they decide to DNF between 25%-50% they’ll have to give a score but can opt out of writing a review, and if they DNF after 50% (or not) then also have to score AND write a review.
For By a Silver Thread we have 5 reviews and 5 scores for your reading pleasures.
So, without further ado, let’s take a closer look at our first finalist!
Table of Contents
| Series: | DFZ Changeling #1 |
| Genre: | Fantasy |
| Publisher: | self-published |
| Date of Publishing: | May 2, 2023 |
| Pages: | 392 |
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!
Drew
Read: 100%
Set in a world that is equal parts familiar and magical, By A Silver Thread has a primary premise that has now been presented in several other forms, that of the return of magic & magical creatures to the modern world. Seen almost exclusively through the eyes of the primary character, Lola, it veers between things as mundane navigating through traffic to using fae magic to create the car she drives.
For most of the novel, Lola is more reactive than proactive and not quite the feisty and/or hardened character common to many similar works that also use the above premise. Part of that is due to her long-standing subordination to her employer, Victor. Recruited by him as a child, she has had years of relying on his blood magic to stave off reverting to the seeming monster she was when he first found her. The shadow of that inner monster continues to throw her into a panic, resulting in a deeply rooted belief that is all she can ever be.
It is Victor’s sudden disappearance that sets the plot in motion and also creates a ticking clock for Lola, who only has a limited amount of the pills he makes to keep her under his control. While she does everything she can to ration those, her efforts to investigate naturally cause a constant drain on her supply. One nice related touch is that the majority of the chapters start with a reminder of how many pills she has remaining.
One of the most interesting aspects of the novel is Lola’s abilities. As a changeling, she is capable of manipulating her appearance and shape, although it has to be done from memory and can slip when she loses focus or if she starts to draw unwanted attention. She can also extend her ‘gossamer’, the term used for fae magic, outside of herself, into vehicles, replicas etc; something that comes in useful several times but at the cost of her needing one of her precious pills to maintain herself.
Since this is the first book I’ve read by this author, I don’t know how much of an overlap there is between the three series that share the setting of the Detroit Free Zone or DFZ. By A Silver Thread is the first in the third of these series and while it mostly stands alone, it did feel like some of the background to the city, particularly its self-awareness, was brushed over and knowledge of the previous books would fill in those gaps. Having said that, none of that impacted my enjoyment of the book.
Jen
Read: 100%
Last year, I read Rachel Aaron’s Hell for Hire and loved it, so I had expectationswith a capital “E” for By a Silver Thread. That said, it’s weird reading an author’s current work and then going back and reading an earlier book because while By a Silver Thread is enjoyable, it doesn’t have the polish that Hell for Hire had. There’s repetition, a lot of unneeded description, and a little bit of clunkiness here and there, but even so, you can see this is an author who has some chops, and by the time she got to Hell for Hire, she has those writing chops honed down to a fine point.
*
By a Silver Thread gives you the feeling that you know this story. It’s an UF that takes place in a magical “our-world’ making it weirdly comfortable in the daily life stuff – like dealing with traffic or line-ups for the best noodles in town, but also familiar since the story revolves around the ever popular Fae lore and it’s MC Lola, who is a Changeling.
Some of you all are probably thinking… ugh, more Fae stories, and may even feel that you’ve read variations of them hundreds of times by now, and depending on how new you are to the Fantasy or Romance and its sub-genres, you probably have. And btw. if you’ve ever wondered why there are so many books especially in the UF/RF genre based around Fae lore… well, they’re for people like me, who never, ever get tired of them. Especially when they’re creative and the author takes all those cliches and twists them up and runs with them – like Rachel Aaron does here.
*
What made this a fun take on the usual Fae story for me, was seeing the story from Lola’s side. Lola is a changeling – a shapeshifter created by her boss Victor, with blood magic. Lola is still tethered to her human, who is now grown and should have long ago been switched out. Lola sees her as a sister – one that she dearly wants to protect.
Victor is basically a head honcho crime boss in the city. He’s a nasty piece of work and uses Lola’s love of her sister to keep her around working for him. Not only does he have his hooks in her through her sister but he also keeps her in line with his specially formulated pills that keep Lola from shifting into monster form. She needs to take these pills regularly to keep the monster at bay and of course she can only get them through him. Like I said nasty piece of work …everything goes to hell in a handbasket when Victor up and disappears throwing his whole organisation into chaos and leaving Lola to deal with the mess, on a limited number of pills.
I enjoyed Lola’s POV, though she’s a little naïve at times, despite the tasks that Victor sets before her. Mostly I think it’s her desire for normal and to be loved, that keeps her willfully blind and Victor plays into that blind-spot as much as he can.
The rest of the cast were great too. I especially liked the bond between Simon and Lola – who are kind of like siblings, since they grew up together and both are essentially owned by Victor. And Tristan was another favourite, though I kept having to remind myself, that he is a fae too, and who knows what his true motives are?
Since By a Silver Thread takes place in the same universe as Hell for Hire, I found it pretty easy to fall into the world and understand the way it worked. Occasionally a lot of information gets thrown at you in that let’s-get-this-out-of-the-way kind of feeling but even so, the weirdness and workings of the world and city, come across quite clearly. I’m sure the fact that Fae books are a favourite also helped, as I didn’t have to think too hard on that side of the world building.
The magic was also easy for me to grasp because that explain-it-away-so-it-makes-sense by the general population, is a similar version of HfH’s being ‘kicked’ which is how Aaron tackles the biggest hurdle I have when reading UF – and that is, how is the general public not noticing all the crazy sh*t going down? This solution works well for me, and I really loved how it all came together into the main plotline of the story too. (hope that’s vague enough)
All in all, By a Silver Thread is a fun, fast-paced story, that starts off feeling rather tame, but once it finds it’s feet it shifts off into high gear and you just want to binge the rest of the book in one go to see how it all plays out. I think a lot of people will enjoy this for its creativeness, while staying true to what you’d expect from an Urban Fantasy.
Liis
Read: 100%
Look… Urban Fantasy is not something my hand necessarily reaches for, nor are stories that have fae in them, but luckily I am the type of reader that will give a go at anything for a chance that it all works out in my, the reader’s, best interests (meaning a good hell of a time had).
For me, By a Silver Thread had a difficult start. I just felt there was too much info-dumping happening and I wanted the story to reveal itself to me as opposed to reading more background info, or description, or read about the MCs love of noodles… I didn’t want any of that until I had at least an inkling of momentum. Luckily, once I hit around-about 30% mark, I was pretty much glued to the book. In fact, I recall being a bit pissed off for having to stop reading to go to work. Every reader knows that this is one of the best compliments a book can have.
Aaron has cleverly created this central issue for our main character where she has a sort of race against time on her hands. Such a simple concept but it immediately adds a level of urgency to the story. But Aaron doesn’t rest on laurels after adding this urgency-element, she actually adds a nice twisting path during the countdown that balances out waiting for the unsurprising culmination point. That is all to say that Aaron knows how to keep the reader entertained and the story rolling on nicely!
By a Silver Thread had some interesting concepts. For one, our main character is not human, but a changeling named Lola who is being controlled by a human “blood mage” named Victor Conrath. Victor is like a human version of the pact making devil. I liked how much the beliefs and the magic and magical beings were made to rely on human’s belief. Particularly, upon turning the concept on the head – you believe it, it exists. I liked all of the characters introduced in this story, good and not so good, because they were each, even if on page for a brief time, somehow larger than life. Also, the action scenes? Hello, action scenes… very creative and fun to follow!
I had a really good time with this book. The story is wholesome, the central concepts give space for reader to understand the importance of close, caring relationships and also the importance of small yet enjoyable moments, like eating your favorite food or the importance of breakfast, or a hug and a kind word. I absolutely plan to continue reading Lola’s story in the sequel and explore Aaron‘s other works.
Huh… and just like that, I am no longer quite so opposed to Urban Fantasy and faes. Thank you, Rachel Aaron!
PS! Whilst I was at first a bit surprised at the intimate scene that appeared as I had sort of hoped it wasn’t going to go down the usual route, I have to admit that after some consideration… I get it, Lola, I’d totally tap that, too!
Timy
Read: 100%
By a Silver Thread was one of the finalists I looked forward to reading because 1) UF has a special place in my heart and 2) SOME people have been trying to make me read Aaron’s Heartstrikers series pretty much since I stepped into the community 7 years ago. And I still failed to do so, but we are not discussing my own failings here, thank you very much.
So this was my very first Rachel Aaron novel, and as such I went in with an open mind, as I had no preconceptions. Which is not to say I didn’t have expectations, because as I said, I know she has avid fans among the people in my circles. That said, I’m not sure By a Silver Thread is the book that will make me run to pick up more of her books.
It’s a fast-paced, entertaining popcorn book that I’m not going to remember in a couple of weeks. Or rather days. I feel like By a Silver Thread would appeal more to people who are new to the subgenre. Personally, I need a bit more than a bunch of tropes and clichés thrown together, along with bits and pieces picked up from all over the place. Then again, I liked the idea of the DFZ (Detroit Free Zone), a city inhabited by humans, spirits, and all kinds of supernatural creatures, including the fairies. Now, I’m not generally into fairy stories, and I honestly would have liked something a bit more original than that. But this comes down to personal preferences rather than anything else. But I have to give Aaron that I found the Sea of Magic and that whole section pretty cool.
To be honest, I’m having a hard time writing this review, because I didn’t hate By a Silver Thread (even if my review seems a bit harsh so far). I could read it within a weekend (more or less), so it was engaging up to a point – I sometimes felt myself slipping away, wanting to do something else, while also being on a deadline. But I didn’t love it either, and I’m not 100% sure why is that.
Part of it comes down to the MC, Lola, I guess, because I found it hard to cheer for her. I mean, sure, she has her problems, struggling with her – literal – inner monster while also being a slave to the big bad blood mage, but that was basically all her character. Oh and her “sister” to whom she is bound by a silver thread (title pun absolutely intended, but also this is literally what’s going on). She feels a bit one dimensional, and becomes a bit tiring before the plot kicks up by a notch toward the end. And even the romantic subplot feels very forced. Don’t get me wrong, I like romances, but we don’t need a romance plot in every goddamn UF book. Geez.
By a Silver Thread has a classic villain, people love to hate, Victor Conrath, who teams up with a psycho fae so you can imagine all the chaos that brings forth. But honestly, I was more intrigued by a side character, Jamie, Victor’s assistant. We don’t get to know her much, but she seems to be a basket case herself. Would have been interested to see where her connection with Victor comes from and what holds her there. Victor kind of lacked personality for me, but then again, 90% of the time characters mostly talk about him and that’s how we learn anything about him in the first place.
To close off my review, I’m just going to say that while By a Silver Thread won’t be my favorite book, I appreciate what Aaron was going for: it has a unique POV in Lola who is a changeling, it has an already established city (DFZ), it has themes of found family, of standing up to our tormentors, winks at popular culture – elements that readers might find endearing.
Tru
Read: 100%
By a Silver Thread is an urban fantasy series set within the authors shared universe known as the DFZ. This is the story of Lola, a changeling with the ability to manipulate fairy magic known as gossamer to take on various appearances and disguises, which comes in handy when serving her boss and master, Victor Conrath, a powerful and dangerous blood mage. She’s bound to him, depending on his magical medication to keep her inner monster locked away. So when Victor vanishes in mysterious circumstances, she needs to find him before her meds run out and unleashes her inner monster… but who or what could be powerful enough to kidnap her boss?
Thus begins a fast-paced mystery with a race against the clock. Lola isn’t your typical urban fantasy protagonist, with a kind heart and soft nature rather than the action-packed sass the genre can be typically known for. She’s driven by her desire to be human and do human things, and her fear of unleashing the monster is what drives her to find her boss, despite his cruel nature. Her ability to shapeshift isn’t just limited to her own body, but allows her to effectively cast illusions, including creating cars out of her gossamer magic. It’s an interesting magic system focussed on the belief of humans around her. If her illusions trigger disbelief for whatever reason, they fall apart.
It’s all very Fae, and they too feature within this world. There’s a lot of fun magic and magical characters within this story. The city itself, the DFZ, is a magical modern city with a life of its own based on a future Detroit. By a Silver Thread is my first entry into this world, and I was a little lost at first. There wasn’t much of a description of what the DFZ was, or even what DFZ even means. It gave me the impression that I was meant to understand and know the city, perhaps from reading previous series in this world, so I don’t think I had the most welcoming of introductions. From reading impressions of the other books, it seems like the city itself plays a much larger role, whereas it felt a little shallow here.
I also felt some of this shallowness with the main story and characters. While it was a fun and fast-paced adventure, I would have liked more depth from Lola. It felt as though she wasn’t really in control of her own story, or had no desire to be in control and take over her own fate, though I suspect this character development will happen over the course of the series. On the opposite side, the romance happens rather too quickly for my liking, and would have benefitted from more of a slow burn. That said, Victor made for a genuinely horrible villain, and the climax ended with a satisfying punch.
Our score for By a Silver Thread by Rachel Aaron:
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