Glitter

When you first read the description of Glitter, you might think it's just plain odd. Breaking Bad meets Marie Antoinette? A pretty young thing and a powerful drug in lip gloss?

But what you get is a wonderfully original read that's edgy, fun, and has just enough history meets sf to keep you reading non-stop until you finish. Honestly, if I didn't have to work, I would have binge read this entire thing in one sitting.

Now, keep in mind, it's a cliffhanger. But, oh it's a good one. If book two were available now, it would already be on my kindle and I'd be reading it instead of typing this review. It's the kind of cliffhanger that makes you scream “NO!”, yet doesn't anger you. You just really, really, really want to see what happens next.

The world building was stellar. As I read, the more logical part of my brain would come up with questions, but the author handled them beautifully, building a complete world that's utterly different from anything you've read before.

And our characters? Complex. Danica is very like Marie Antoinette in which she's well meaning, yet incredibly self-centered all at once. Yet, she's still likable. But, oh, so many people get hurt in her quest for freedom. I hope the next installment is out because I am ready!

I received this book through netgalley, but all opinions are my own

I'm on the fence with this one, which is why three stars. I enjoyed reading it, but I am also very indifferent towards it, this may be because there were a few things I could not get over and were confusing.... most of which would be spoilers...

Anyhow, I thought the setting was very unique and the court intrigue was interesting. I liked the idea of M.A.R.I.E and the bots which really made this quite sci-fi. Our main character is very smart and good with math, but unfortunately rarely gets to use it and is bested often– granted not in her area of expertise. The fact that people ‘hack' into M.A.R.I.E was also super cool and I thought we would learn more about it, but no. They just do it and we accept that even if we don't know from where they are hacking into the system.

Another interesting aspect was the fact that the palace is really its own culture, so when Danica bumps into people from the real world it almost makes this story feel like a story WITHIN a story. It was almost jarring, but still fascinating.

I will say, one of the times I really disliked was when Saber said he liked the “desperate” version of her and not when she is bold. I was left like:



so done with this ship.

All in all, I am still interested in knowing how it ends, but I am pacing nor screaming frustration while waiting for the sequel. I'll read it when I get to it.