About the Book:Title: Glass Sword (Red Queen #2)
Author: Victoria Aveyard
Pub. Date: Feb. 9, 2016
Publisher: Harper Teen
Pages: 444
Rating: 4/5 stars
Synopsis:
If there’s one thing Mare Barrow knows, it’s that she’s different.
Mare Barrow’s blood is red—the color of common folk—but her Silver ability, the power to control lightning, has turned her into a weapon that the royal court tries to control.
The crown calls her an impossibility, a fake, but as she makes her escape from Maven, the prince—the friend—who betrayed her, Mare uncovers something startling: she is not the only one of her kind.
Pursued by Maven, now a vindictive king, Mare sets out to find and recruit other Red-and-Silver fighters to join in the struggle against her oppressors.
But Mare finds herself on a deadly path, at risk of becoming exactly the kind of monster she is trying to defeat.
Will she shatter under the weight of the lives that are the cost of rebellion? Or have treachery and betrayal hardened her forever?
The electrifying next installment in the Red Queen series escalates the struggle between the growing rebel army and the blood-segregated world they’ve always known—and pits Mare against the darkness that has grown in her soul.
Mare Barrow’s blood is red—the color of common folk—but her Silver ability, the power to control lightning, has turned her into a weapon that the royal court tries to control.
The crown calls her an impossibility, a fake, but as she makes her escape from Maven, the prince—the friend—who betrayed her, Mare uncovers something startling: she is not the only one of her kind.
Pursued by Maven, now a vindictive king, Mare sets out to find and recruit other Red-and-Silver fighters to join in the struggle against her oppressors.
But Mare finds herself on a deadly path, at risk of becoming exactly the kind of monster she is trying to defeat.
Will she shatter under the weight of the lives that are the cost of rebellion? Or have treachery and betrayal hardened her forever?
The electrifying next installment in the Red Queen series escalates the struggle between the growing rebel army and the blood-segregated world they’ve always known—and pits Mare against the darkness that has grown in her soul.
Review:
I had some pretty high expectations after Red Queen, and I don't know if it's because of this that I didn't love this book as much as the first, or if it was the hype, but I'm going to go with the former. Don't get me wrong, I still really enjoyed this book, but this follow-up just didn't enthrall me as much as the first novel. There was something missing, and in many ways, this seemed like a completely different book. It's actually very difficult to talk about this book in the way I want without giving away any spoilers, but I'm going to do my best.
Glass Sword picks up right where Red Queen left off. Mare and the Reds are going to track down the New Bloods to fight back against Maven and his mother. But as she is now considered a traitor to the crown, her mission is a bit harder since she is avoiding capture. On top of this, she needs to protect her family and those she holds most dear. I did expect changes in Mare's character, but some of the changes that happened were most definitely not expected. There were times where I honestly didn't like her at all because she (in my opinion) became just as ruthless and cruel as Maven. Now to a certain extent she needed to think like him, and mirror his actions in order to rise up and fight back. But I also feel like there were times she went too far. It was critical that Mare change in order to even remotely be able to overcome past mistakes to defeat Maven and his mother. With this though, she lost what made her special and likable in the first novel. Mare became a shell of herself, but at the same time became very arrogant (not the best word to use, but you get the idea) in her powers. She began to think of herself as god-like, and sure this is basically true, but girl...you're not any better than any of the other New Bloods.
Thankfully, there are no new love interests introduced in this novel. But what bothered me was how flippant Mare was in regards to her feelings. How she felt for certain characters changed depending on her mood or heck even the weather (<--slight exaggeration there). Honestly though, the romance really took a backseat in this novel, which might have been a good thing because it didn't really fit that well with the overall story. So even though Mare's indecisiveness bothered me, I thought there was a good balance in regards to the romance.
The action was fantastic in this book though. There are plenty of exciting scenes filled with heart-pounding moments. No one is safe, and there were some tear-inducing deaths that resulted. However, this is one scene in this book that I needed to go back and read several times just to see where it was mentioned that a character died. In this scene, things became very jumbled, and I'm not quite sure why. Every other scene was written beautifully, but this scene (and trust me, it's a pretty important scene) was very sub-par when compared to everything else in this book.
I don't think it could ever be questioned that Victoria Aveyard is a gifted author, and she definitely knows how to tell a story. I love her writing, and I love being in this world. This story, the world, and the characters are extremely unique and creative. And it is for this reason that I gave the book 4 stars. I know it seems like I didn't like this book that much, but I honestly did enjoy it a great deal. It just wasn't what I expected, and it didn't grab me as much as the first book. I am extremely interested to see what happens in the third book, especially because of the ending. It's very shocking and honestly, it was a fantastic twist. My expectations for the next book might not be as high, but I think it's going to be a great novel nonetheless.
Glass Sword picks up right where Red Queen left off. Mare and the Reds are going to track down the New Bloods to fight back against Maven and his mother. But as she is now considered a traitor to the crown, her mission is a bit harder since she is avoiding capture. On top of this, she needs to protect her family and those she holds most dear. I did expect changes in Mare's character, but some of the changes that happened were most definitely not expected. There were times where I honestly didn't like her at all because she (in my opinion) became just as ruthless and cruel as Maven. Now to a certain extent she needed to think like him, and mirror his actions in order to rise up and fight back. But I also feel like there were times she went too far. It was critical that Mare change in order to even remotely be able to overcome past mistakes to defeat Maven and his mother. With this though, she lost what made her special and likable in the first novel. Mare became a shell of herself, but at the same time became very arrogant (not the best word to use, but you get the idea) in her powers. She began to think of herself as god-like, and sure this is basically true, but girl...you're not any better than any of the other New Bloods.
Thankfully, there are no new love interests introduced in this novel. But what bothered me was how flippant Mare was in regards to her feelings. How she felt for certain characters changed depending on her mood or heck even the weather (<--slight exaggeration there). Honestly though, the romance really took a backseat in this novel, which might have been a good thing because it didn't really fit that well with the overall story. So even though Mare's indecisiveness bothered me, I thought there was a good balance in regards to the romance.
The action was fantastic in this book though. There are plenty of exciting scenes filled with heart-pounding moments. No one is safe, and there were some tear-inducing deaths that resulted. However, this is one scene in this book that I needed to go back and read several times just to see where it was mentioned that a character died. In this scene, things became very jumbled, and I'm not quite sure why. Every other scene was written beautifully, but this scene (and trust me, it's a pretty important scene) was very sub-par when compared to everything else in this book.
I don't think it could ever be questioned that Victoria Aveyard is a gifted author, and she definitely knows how to tell a story. I love her writing, and I love being in this world. This story, the world, and the characters are extremely unique and creative. And it is for this reason that I gave the book 4 stars. I know it seems like I didn't like this book that much, but I honestly did enjoy it a great deal. It just wasn't what I expected, and it didn't grab me as much as the first book. I am extremely interested to see what happens in the third book, especially because of the ending. It's very shocking and honestly, it was a fantastic twist. My expectations for the next book might not be as high, but I think it's going to be a great novel nonetheless.
Happy reading :)
~Cassie
Oh nice! Hearing how this one isn't quite what any of us expect! Mare's character takes a dramatic change! I haven't read it yet because I heard of its cliffhanger ending! I'm getting tired of those! LOL! So I try to hold off reading them if and when I can! Glad to see you still enjoyed this one overall! Nice review!
ReplyDeleteThanks!! I would definitely hold off a bit to read it because of the ending. I think this series would actually be a good one to be able to read straight through if that makes sense.
Delete~Cassie