Glass Sword
Ratings218
Average rating3.6
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.
For the record, at this point, I am only continuing the series to root for the female trifecta of Mare, Farley, and Kamryn to kick all those dudes in the a##.
I only got to read this book a solid year after I read Red Queen, but it did NOT disappoint!! Loved the angst and internal character development <3
This book really became the reason as to why I began reading more fantasy (The Selection series, the Throne of Glass series, the Shatter Me series, etc).
10/10 would recommend!
It toke me so much to finish the book, I really think that it doesn't have the details that is needed in some parts. But the plot still impressed me.
I liked the first book of the series, but this? I'm disappointed. It started well, however, it got boring, repetitive.
No depth to the new characters so, I didn't care about them.
Mare is getting more annoying and arrogant.
The relationship between Cal and Mare felt forced, no chemistry between them.
Overall, I don't think I'll complete this series, I'm not intrigued enough to finish it.
Ik kon er maar niet doorheen komen. Mensen worden geïntroduceerd en vervolgens zo snel weer uit het verhaal geschreven dat ik bijna geen moeite wilde doen om ze ook maar te leren kennen. Jammer.
This book was such a roller coaster of emotions. I was all the time mentally looking behind me to see who would stab me in the back hahahah
Sometimes I can't truly comprehend Cal's intentions or even what the heck is going through Mare's mind but I love all the scheaming. I need to know what happens next. I hope I see more of Maven, as much as a I hate him he's a character I wanna explore more. And CAL.
ALSO....SPOILERS**
I can't believe we lost Shade ;;; it broke my heart!
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.
I hated. Hated Mare. She was lovely and fun in the beginning but an absolute utter b*tch at the end. Why is everything about her? She's not the effing queen. But, loved the rest of the book!
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...
Actual Rating: 3.25I will say- I liked this much better than [b:Red Queen 22328546 Red Queen (Red Queen, #1) Victoria Aveyard https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1449778912s/22328546.jpg 25037051]. But I still wasn't thrilled with it. For the most part, I was bored. I could mostly blame this on the fact that this book suffered some really awful middle book syndrome. Even though it's not a trilogy, I'm still calling it middle book syndrome.The characters really lacked for me. I only cared about Cal. He was the only character I liked. Mare never ceased to annoy me, I hated her as a character, to be completely honest. She could never decide whether to be “Mare” or “Mareena” in this book, which simply got old after some time. Really, the best character is Maven. I mean what a villain! He's a fantastic antagonist.The one thing I liked about this book was the writing. It's both beautiful and elegant. For me, it isn't hard to believe that Aveyard is a screen-writer, because the writing does make it seem like I'm reading a movie- but not in script format.I'm not finishing this series. It isn't good enough for me, and I've already wasted enough time on it.
Better than the first, but still not great. The writing (or editing) has improved some, but not enough. Still, I'm a sucker for Shade and Cal. Hoping for a redeeming conclusion.
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.
I don't know if I'm just losing interest in the Young Adult genre, but I could not wait for this book to end. I'm starting to equate Mare with Katness where I spend the whole book hoping she gets killed off. I will not be picking up any more in this series.
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.
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.
