Glass Sword

I don't even know where to start with this review. I really enjoyed the action and pace of Red Queen and I was really eager to see where Aveyard would take this series moving forward. That being said I honestly am beyond disappointed. This book had none of the excitement or intrigue of Red Queen. More than half of the book was all this information and planning. And yes it was important information but there had to be a better way to present it to us.

As I got closer to the end, I figured there had to be something exciting coming and we would get this explosive conclusion making us impatient to get our hands on the next book. But that did not even happen. This book probably had one of the most anticlimatic important deaths I have ever read. Two fairly major characters died and it just happened. Plus that explosive exciting cliffhanger ending I was expecting, I predicted that at the beginning of the book when this whole thing started.

Obviously I'm very frustrated with this book especially when the first book was so enjoyable. I'm really nervous about what is going to come next and after finishing Glass Sword I'm not even sure where I stand with the series as a whole. I'm tempted to reread Red Queen to see if my enjoyment of the initial read would remain after a reread. I have preordered book three and right now that is mostly because I'm a completist and want the whole set rather than my need to see what happens next.

Oh this book. I feel like that about sums up my feelings, but I guess I'll explain a little more for those who haven't read it yet.

Glass Sword picks up right where Red Queen left off. And I mean right where it left off. This immediately got me back into the headspace I needed in order to remember what happened in the first book. Plus, it really helped that there was a ton of action right off the bat. Gotta love me some superpowered people doing superpowered-people things.

The plot of this book was just as compelling as the first book except for a few small areas that I found to either drag on or just simply not go the way I wanted them to. I won't explain further because I don't want to spoil anyone, but there was some slow parts towards the middle-endish of the book. It was nothing that would ever make me want to put the book down, it was just a little whiny and repetitive. I understand Mare has a lot on her plate, but I think her inner monologue got in the way a bit in a few scenes.

Despite this small complaint, Mare's character did grow a lot throughout this book. She went from a scared girl running for her life to someone who is the complete opposite of that. However, I wasn't sure I liked her character development towards the very end of the book. I guess I'll know for sure by the time the sequel comes out, but for right now, I'm on the fence. As for my main squeeze Cal, he actually became a very fleshed out character and not simply “the love interest” within these pages. Yes, some of his character's motivations remain a mystery, but for the most part, readers get to see an in-depth side to someone who was just an attractive enigma before. I love him! Err... it. I love it. Even though sometimes I disagreed with his decisions and favored Mare's, or vice versa, I loved witnessing their arguments because each had good points. No one in this series has all of the correct answers and I think that's what makes the story so compelling. I think some of the side characters like Shade, Farley, and Mare's family, really helped bring this idea home.

Find this review and others on my blog here: Victorian Sensibilities

Summary

After the showdown between Maven, Cal and Mare, the latter two are on the run from the new Silver King and on a mission to find other Newbloods to help overthrow the government. Without knowing who she can truly trust, Mare finds herself shifting allegiances and allies to ensure her win against Maven, once her friend but now a crazed king.

Review



I tried. I tried really hard, but I just couldn't keep going with this book. I made it to the half-way mark before it slowly drifted out of my mind and got replaced with way more interesting books from other authors. As much as I loved the first book, I absolutely hated the second one.

Mare is the most obnoxious, self-righteous, self-obsessed, self-absorbed little twat I have EVER encountered. She was already pretty obnoxious in the first book, but she really let herself go and showed her true colours in the second one. She suddenly became this selfish monster who doesn't think twice about killing and using innocents as collateral. Her ongoing martyring attitude was so off-putting, I could only roll my eyes at every other sentence. On top of her horrible attitude, she continuously pines after Cal yet blames him for everything (which in his defense, he hasn't done anything to deserve her constant moody backlash). She has such beautiful empty and weightless declarations like this:

“No matter how much I might want to feel him, I cannot. I must keep my eyes ahead, and away from the fire of a fallen prince. I must freeze my heart to the one person who insists on setting it ablaze.”
Get. The. Violins. Out.

What a bleeding heart she is. I'm touched (NOT). Then she says things that prove how much of a tortured character she is:

“But I can't shake the feeling that, while they stand with me, there's no one beside me. Even with an army at my back, I am still alone.”
Poor sweetie, I wish I could do something to help -wait- no I don't.

I could keep going and keep complaining about Mare and her stupidity (and my deep hatred of her), but I've got better things to do, like reading good books.

This took way to long to get through. I had to take breaks after a few chapters just because of the dullness, repeativeness and the lack of emotion Mare was giving as a narrator. Korrect me if I'm wrong (Mare wasn't that emotional in the first book) but except one scene at the end she was even more emotionless than in the previous book. Also she became kind of indecisive: One page she roots for Cal/says Silvers aren't that bad, next one she hates him/ Silvers. Get your thoughts together, stupid lightning girl.

I saw most of the plottwists coming since the narration almost foreshadows everything! I didn't guess the deaths in the book at first but it became kinda obvious.

The first half was slow and boring most of the times, mixed with the endless repeations of ‘quotes' from the first book. It just felt as if these passages were added to lengthen the book. But this cliffhanger.... was really good.

I think about reading the next one to see if it will become better (like the first one). I like non whinny characters as Mare is one. But since she still got on my nerves I will wait until I read the third one (and hope that I don't get in a reading slump WHILE reading it).

3.5 stars.
It didn't really capture my true interest until the second half. And I just... I really don't like Mare. At all. While reading this, I wanted to read about Farley and Shade, and Maven (even though he's horrible), rather than Mare's internal dialogue of feeling sorry for herself but simultaneously being annoyed at other people for also struggling... I don't know. I'll probably continue the series since I already own King's Cage, but I hope our main character shows some development. And I'm gonna be really sad if we barely see Farley at all.

In the last book the ending gave me hope that this was going to end up being something I'd greatly enjoy. Yet, through 300 pages this is not the case. Instead the novel got incredibly repetitive with Mare's inner monologues. “Cal....I have feelings for you but I can't” “Maven...I have feelings for you but I can't.” “I can't trust anyone and I'm so sad.” “No one trusts me and I'm so sad.”

The words change a bit, but these same monologues are repeated over and over and over again. I'm just not really interested when it's offering me nothing from a character standpoint but wallowing. Still I don't think it deservers one star because the plot is interesting. Unfortunately though for me, it can't overcome the characters so this will be my first DNF of 2023.

Honestly, I have no idea why I read this book despite being sorely disappointed in [b:Red Queen 22328546 Red Queen (Red Queen, #1) Victoria Aveyard https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1449778912s/22328546.jpg 25037051]. Maybe I wanted it to get better, but sadly it didn't. What annoyed me the most in the first book was the heroine, Mare, and I don't see her improving anytime soon with how she behaves in this one. She's still selfish, she never learns, and she doesn't give a crap about things she should care about.The romance is still shallow and cheesy, but this time there's not enough Maven to make up for it, so I was left cringing the whole time. I also feel like the writing has gotten worse compared to the first book. At this point I'm totally giving up on this series, but we'll see if masochism will take over and make me read the next volumes.

That was a rough ride.
Warning : Major spoiler's coming.
Shade mati, uh sedihnya, pdhl Shade adlh kakak yg paling dekat dgn Mare. Mare sangat terpukul krn kehilangan Shade.
Porsi Maven sedikit sekali di buku 2 ini, namun tetap memberi kesan. Tidak biasanya hatiku terbelah antara 2 cowok yg menyukai tokoh cewek tp khusus seri ini, aku suka Cal maupun Maven. Maven juga memburu newblood spt Mare & langsung mengeksekusi ataupun diciduk untuk dimasukkan ke penjara. Setiap kali Mare telat mendatangi newblood di daftar Julian, Maven meninggalkan surat untuk Mare, yg isinya Maven menginginkan Mare kembali padanya.
“Maven lies as easily as he breathes, and his mother holds his leash but not his heart”
Cal mengatakan itu stlh Mare di KO oleh mesin Maven & dicap M di bahunya.
Lanjut ke buku 3 yg sptnya akan byk porsi Maven...

I had such high hopes for this book. I freaking LOVED Red Queen. But Glass Sword was so freaking slow!!! It took me two freaking months to get through it! All of the important parts felt really anticlimactic. Mare annoyed me to no end. Make up your damn mind, girl! Glad to be done with this thing. Ugh.

I understand that usually....the MC of a book means that the book revolves around said MC. Maybe its because I loathe Bone Marrow(Mare Barrow, but every time her name is used whole I read bone marrow). This book.... I still feel like the characters don't know what kind of people they want to be. Cal is sometimes reasonable, and sometimes he just makes no sense. There is some weird love square thing happening too. Why is everyone so obsesses with her? She whines and complains about everything, and thinks that the world revolves around her. And Maven, WTF DUDE. Just... wtf.

I had a hard time actually reading most of this book, I skimmed through probably 60-70% of it, not a lot was happening. But the last chapter things got interesting. And seriously, how can anyone think that Maven will be able to redeem himself?

I will probably suffer and read the next 2 books, I want to know what happens at the end.