GLASS SWORD (Red Queen #2)
– Published 9th February 2016
by Victoria Aveyard
Rating: ***
*May contain some spoilers!*
Story:
Following on from the previous book (Red Queen),Mare Barrow and Cal are on the run from the new murderous king, Maven. If they are caught, Mare’s powers could be used to destroy anyone or anything that comes into Maven’s path so instead, they must do what they can to find anyone else who is of red blood with silver abilities. Working with other reds seems like their only option until they are both imprisoned by those she trusts the most. Her closest friend must then prove his worth in helping them escape and continue their mission to find everyone on the list given to her by Julian.
Finding out many more newbloods have been captured and put in a specially designed prison, along with a number of silvers who refused to do Maven’s orders, they set off on a rescue mission which can only end in disaster, maybe with a little success on the side.
Thoughts:
I started reading this book back when I was at uni but since I struggled to find time to read, I only ever read a chapter or two at a time. Months and months later (if not longer – I don’t actually remember when I started it) I finally get round to finishing it completely. I’m not entirely sure what I thought of the book as a whole. I absolutely loved Red Queen which is why I pre-ordered this book in the first place but every time I did get round to reading it, I never felt the urge to continue reading. Not once did I get that feeling of not being able to put the book down because it was so good. That said, I’m not sure if that is just because I didn’t read it in a close amount of time. I was reading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix around a similar time and yet every time I picked that up I felt upset if I had to put it down (and now I’m itching to reread the sixth book). I tend not to be a fan of story lines where people are constantly running away or jumping from place to place to find someone or something. I really didn’t like Insurgent because of this.
Characters wise, Mare kind of got on my nerves and I wanted to hear a lot more from Cal. Most of the time it felt like he didn’t exist. I loved Shade and Farley. Those two together were cute. The rest of the newblood characters I kept getting mixed up. I couldn’t really tell you who had what power. I suppose it didn’t help that I read it over such a long time, but they did all blur. Sometimes I forgot Maven existed too and I think it would have been interesting to hear more about what he was doing elsewhere but that may have require a change in point of view.
On a positive though, I really admired the imagination gone into the different locations and the different abilities of the newbloods. Even though they did blur, I appreciated the different personalities of the newbloods and I really could feel the motivation of the fight. The ending was my favourite part in the book, probably from around chapter 20 onwards. All of a sudden the story started picking up and the descriptions and plot surrounding the Corros prison was really interesting and from then on I couldn’t book the book down, or at least not for too long. There are so many plot twists from then that I almost couldn’t keep up. *SPOILERS UNTIL THE END* I had to reread Shade’s death a few times just to get to grips of what just happened. One minute everything seem to be going ok and even more heroically, Mare is able to kill Queen Elara and then seconds later her brother is dead. Rereading it makes you realise you probably should have seen it coming but because everything happens so fast, in the blink of an eye he’s dead. It’s heartbreaking. Farley’s reaction was every bit of drama that I needed and then the final fight… The planning and the volunteering of soldiers is the cherry on the cake (for the final chapters anyway). There is no “I’m pregnant” from Farley but instead it’s just a subtle suggestion which I loved as it avoided all the clichés. Then to top things over even more, Mare is captured by Maven. Books ends. How can that be the ending?! That wasn’t fair. Mainly because I don’t have the next book yet! I had been debating buying it as I wasn’t particularly enjoying this book, until I got to the end and now I want to read it! I’ve got to save up a bit of money first before I buy anymore books, then when I have that money I’ll need to make sure it matches my the first two, which is the more expensive edition (sorry bank account).
If you’re currently reading this book then I would suggest sticking it out. I’ve heard only good things about the final two books so far so I look forward to buying and reading them! I hope we get to hear more from Cal and find out more about Mare’s other brothers!
Onto the next book..
– KC
k i r a l c u r t i s 