Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard
Publisher: HarperTeen (9th Feb 2016)
Blurb:
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?
Red Queen was one of the most talked about books last year and I had to find out what the whole fuss was about. I finally read it last July and I have to admit, Red Queen was an electrifying read with heart-stopping action and the epic fight scenes. So here’s what I think of Glass Sword – if you’ve not read Red Queen, I strongly suggest that you don’t read this review as it would contain some spoilers. Sorry!
Glass Sword continues where Red Queen left off and Mare and Cal have narrowly escaped their doom and the crutches of Maven, the boy who Mare trusted but ultimately betrayed her. With a mission to recruit the Reds with abilities, Mare and the gang embark on a journey that could possibly spark an evolution to overthrow the Silvers in Norta and seek revenge on Maven and his mother, the viperous mastermind that is Queen Elara.
I have to admit, I was really excited for Glass Sword because I am quite the X-Men geek (I love superpowers and that alone, sparked my interest towards Red Queen) and at the end of the first book, Julian Jacos’s list promises that there will be more characters with superpowers – Reds just like Mare who have Silver abilities. Reading Glass Sword reminded me of X-Men: First Class, where we first see JenLaw looking amazing as Mystique and Michael Fassbender looking every bit of sexy as he was the baddie. I liked the idea of recruiting newbloods (that’s what the Reds with Silver abilities are called) and I was particularly fascinated by the different superpowers and abilities they had.
Okay, here’s the deal with Mare in Glass Sword. A lot of my friends and fellow bloggers who have read Glass Sword thought Mare was annoying and very different from the Mare in Red Queen and I wholeheartedly agree with them. I liked that she’s different because circumstances have made her cruel and calculative. I do admit that there were some parts of the book that I just wanted to give her a good shake and a firm talking-to.
For me, I felt that Glass Sword started off a bit too slowly for my liking and it took me a while to get into the story because unlike the fast-paced first book, Glass Sword was more of a slow burn. Once you get past the first 100 pages or so, things do pick up and Victoria Aveyard’s signature flair for the dramatics and explosive action scenes do kick in. If you're a fan of the romance, be warned that the romance between Mare and Cal takes a step back to make way for all the political struggles and power play between Mare, Maven and the Scarlet Guard and all the glorious badassery on Mare's part.
It is a known fact that Victoria Aveyard has a knack for dramatic scenes and moments that would render her readers speechless. Hello, have you read Red Queen? I cheered, whooped and even gasped when I was reading Glass Sword. I never doubted Victoria Aveyard's uncanny ability to weave an unforgettable story and step up her game from Red Queen. From what I've read in Glass Sword, I have an inkling that there's going to be something huge in the next book and I can't fudging wait. However, compared to its predecessor, Red Queen which set the bar really high for a sequel to top, I expected something more in Glass Sword but I didn’t get the feeling of satisfaction I had hoped. Don’t get me wrong. I loved that Glass Sword was action-packed and Mare was a badass bitch with her lighting powers which got me going "Yasssss, fry that bitch!".
It was a good enough sequel but I wished there was more that would get me invested in so I would eagerly await the next book. For the life of me, I was expecting more twisted mind games by Maven, but I was slightly disappointed that he didn’t get a bigger role in Glass Sword but man alive, I think he’s beginning to grow on me. Like, in a nasty but sexy villian kind of way. Sorry, I'm weird. I would so read Book 3 just for Maven. And Cal, who can forget Cal? And we need the map back, HC. We do.
I'd like to thank MPH Distributors Malaysia for a copy of Glass Sword in exchange for an honest review.
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