DNF Review – By a Silver Thread (DFZ Changeling, Book 1) by Rachel Aaron (3/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Length: 393 pages
Publisher:‎ Aaron/Bach
Release Date: May 2, 2023
ASIN: B0BYB6MX9F
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the DFZ Changeling series
Source: Borrowed ebook from Kindle Unlimited
Rating: 3/5 stars

“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.”

Series Info/Source: This is 1st book in the DZ Changeling series. I borrowed this on ebook through Kindle Unlimited.

Thoughts: DNF, got to about 50% of the way through and stopped reading this. This was an okay but I just never really got in to the story. I just never connected with the characters or the main plot elements. The DFZ really isn’t in here much and I didn’t like the main character, Lola. The whole motivation is for her to get the drugs she needs to stay stable, and I didn’t really like that either.

Lola is a changeling and needs the drugs a blood mage provides to keep her “human” form stable. When the blood mage goes missing, she ends up working with an urban legend and the blood mage’s apprentice to try and track the blood mage down.

I realized about halfway through that I just didn’t care…and that I kept finding other things to do rather than sit down and read this book. So, I decided to set it aside. Lola didn’t have much personality and I struggled with the whole plot line of her just trying to track down drugs to keep her form. You would think in the last 20 years she would have tried something else. The urban legend motorcycle guy seemed more interesting, but then he never spoke, and that got old quick. This just didn’t have any of the fun and wit of previous DFZ books.

It would be great to see Aaron finish her Crystal Calamity series at some point. I am getting tired of these mediocre Heartstriker off-shoot series.

My Summary (3/5): Overall I found this disappointing and stopped reading it about halfway through. I just didn’t engage with the few characters that are in here or understand their motivations. The plot was uninteresting to me and I missed the DFZ and her personality. If you are a die-hard DFZ fan maybe you will like this? I think I am done with these Heartstriker off-shoot series. If Aaron ever finishes the Crystal Calamity series, I will definitely pick up the final book there.