Glass Sword

Rereading this series, but listening as an audiobook this time around. One of my absolute favorite series and I’m so glad I got back into it. Loving the audiobook and being able to listen to it on my way to work and classes. Highly recommend!

I've read this through once, and then DNF about three times after. It's good, but something about it stalls for me and I find it hard to finish to get to the next book.

Dnf

Honestly I don't know what to say. This book broke me, I'm basically lost for words. But I truly did enjoy this book and look forward to King's Cage. ..Goodness gracious. There are things in Glass Sword that I don't think I will get over anytime soon when I start reading book 3 of the Red Queen series: King's Cage. Another thing about Glass Sword, I held my breath through out the whole book, the anticipation and *sigh*, I am lost for words.

tough read. i had high hopes because i loved the first book, but this just didn't catch my attention and i had to force myself to pick this back up numerous times. just second book syndrome imo, and i don't want this to drive me away from finishing the series! [finished back in 2018]

Too many new characters to keep up with, so many repeating scenes, and overly wordy descriptions of everything. Not a fan.

Lots of internal monologue from main character and pretty much no interactions between characters to develop relationships. Textbook example of telling development instead of showing it

First half was really slow but the ending saved it for me

Book #33 Read in 2016 Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard This is the second in a paranormal young adult series, the sequel to Red Queen. While I enjoyed the first book more, this book was a good read. It picks up right where Red Queen leaves off, and the battle against evil King Maven continues for Mare and Cal. This book has great characters and a lot of action. I am hoping there is a third book in the works. I recommend this read to high school readers and adults.

This book blew me away! It starts exactly where Red Queen left off so if you haven't read Red Queen for a while I highly recommend giving it a quick re-read before starting this. Let's start by saying this book broke my heart, then put it back together than broke it again! Seeing Mare struggle was so hard to read. The whole time you want her to just see that she is not broken and to accept the love that Cal and Kilorn offer but she keeps them at a distance fearing that they will betray her and it is so hard to read. Typically in these types of books the heroine realizes that love conquers all and dives head first into a relationship so it was refreshing to have Mare take a more realistic approach. She was hurt and betrayed so many times that trust is hard and she's also trying to lead a group of special people and it's a lot for a 17 year old to take on. This book definitely did not take the route I thought it was going to and all it left me with was a desire for more! Here's hoping book 3 in the series comes soon because that ending was so crazy that I need to know what happens next!

i unfortunately found this boring because the same pattern in scenes kept appearing. Book could've been way shorter, and too many new characters are being introduced.

#teammaven

This book was just as captivating as the first. While it did feel a bit slower I still found myself very immersed in the story. This one is absolutely emotional and will take you on one hell of a ride!

Keeping turning pages.

Read this review and more on my blog October Tune! Warning: This review may contain spoilers for the first book, so if you haven't read that book yet, you should probably not read this review! Last year, I read  Red Queen , the first book in a series about a girl who finds out she's special. She has a power that she's not supossed to have, because she has Red blood and only Silver bloods have powers. But here she is, Mare Barrow, red blood flowing through her veins, and the power to summon/feel electricity at her will. I was very intrigued in this book, especially because of the whole special powers theme, and because this book was a fantasy novel (with a fantasy world) but still so modern with cameras, trains and (obviously) electricity! Glass Sword is the second book in the series, and I wasn't so sure if I wanted to read it, because I'd seen very mixed reviews on Goodreads. I decided to just pick it up after I saw it discounted and read it almost immediately after it arrived. I was - and still am - in a reading slump, so it took me a while to get into this book, but stars it was good. The story takes off almost immediately where the first book left us - in the underground train on their way to the Red Guards secret hide-out. Mare has just found out her brother Shade is still alive and a newblood like her. We arrive at the hide-out, only to be swept away almost as quickly, because Maven knows where they are and is leveling the city just to find her. From then on, this book is a damn rollercoaster. Honestly, I kept comparing this book to X-Men. Which is not a bad thing really, but my mind just kept going back to X-Men while I was reading this book, and I don't think that's what the author wanted. The newbloods are basically mutants, because their blood has mutated so they get their powers. I do really love X-Men, and I've always been a fan of stories where people get powers, but yeah, I don't know. (view spoiler)[There is Mare, who can summon lightning and that reminded me a bit of Storm. There's the stoneskins (or whatever they were called) one of which made his entrance by running through a wall, which reminded me of Juggernaut (or Colossus or Luke Cage, though that one isn't a mutant). Nanny was basically Mystique because she could change into anyone and even take over their voices. Shade reminded me a bit of a combination of Nightcrawler and Quicksilver. So yeah. (hide spoiler)] I read a couple of spoiler-free reviews on Goodreads, and saw that people are still shipping Mare with Maven, after all he's done in this book, and I don't get it? After all the shit he's put her through, after all the people he's killed just to get her to come back to him. In this book, Mare often feels disgusted by Maven whenever she thinks of him or sees what he's done. (view spoiler)[When Nanny morphs into him to get into the prison, Mare nearly punches her even though she knows it's not really Maven. I think that shows how much she hates what Maven has become. (hide spoiler)] Maven's behavious in this book was childish and Joffrey-like. Honestly. He kills people just to get Mare back to him? What the hell, no. I will never go down with this ship, never never never. (view spoiler)[I don't really ship Mare with Cal either, nor with Kilorn. And that last bit annoyed me too, because it's so old already. The best friend, the one she grew up with, turns out to be in love with her as well. Ugh, please stop. (hide spoiler)] Like the previous book, Glass Sword had a couple of twists, but I have to admit that, like the previous book, I saw (some of) them coming. (view spoiler)[I knew that Kilorn was going to confess his love for Mare, I knew that she would get locked up with Cal in that silent stone room and that Kilorn was going to do that. I knew Farley was pregnant before it was announced. Or well - Mare still doesn't even know it yet, so it's not official yet, but I already know she's going to find out in the next book. (hide spoiler)] There was only one that I didn't see coming, and that was the ending. THAT ENDING HOLY SHIT WHAT. Anyway, I am a bit sad that I found the book so predictable, because the twists are good, but I just didn't experience the way other people did. I don't have any comments on the characters, other than that I really enjoyed reading about all of them. I loved the newbloods, and I loved their powers. Mare went through a couple of changes in this book, which I understood. I mean you can't be chased by the king of your country, almost get killed multiple times, and then end up being the same person. What I did like was that this book wasn't centered around romance that much, which happens a lot in YA books. There was romance, but very subtle and not too in-your-face, which is exactly how I want my romance. (view spoiler)[There is just one thing I am a bit crossed about. Shade's death. I mean sure it was in the middle of battle and they lost a couple of others, but why Shade? Why?! Perhaps to make Mare's escape/being rescued in the next book a bit more difficult, but still WHY SHADE. (hide spoiler)] The one thing I would have loved having in this book, was a map. There is a map of the Red Queen world, but it just isn't in my books, which is such a shame, because I was terribly confused by all the new cities and towns they visited in this book, to find newbloods. Maybe it's just the editions that I have, and others do have a map, but I really wished that it'd been in every edition of the books. In the end, I really enjoyed Glass Sword and I will certainly be reading the next book in the series. If you love X-Men and you love fantasy books that also have a hint of science fiction, you should definitely check out the Red Queen series by Victoria Aveyard! My opinion on this book in one gif:

AHHH I LOVE THIS SERIES <3

The first 200 pages were a bit tedious. The character building feels a bit shallow as I don’t really feel as saddened by things as I think the author intended. Also, I understand this is a teen fantasy, but having two teens sleep together every night but saying they don’t do anything feels very un-teen behavior.

However! The last 250 pages did have a much better pace and made up for the lackluster other details.

DNF'd this. Totally a "filler" book. Idk if it's because I tried to read this immediately after Six of Crows, or if it's been too long and I can't remember how great Red Queen was, but I couldn't get into this and I'm not ashamed to leave personally honest feedback. You're welcome.

Fast paced and exciting, but also tremendously sad. By the end of the book I felt like crying in frustration. I know this means that I have to read the next one to see some characters redeemed and some conflicts get solved.

shade 🙁

You just have to give it time!

Although I felt that the first part of the book was slow, I later understood it needed to be that way.

It's a good continuing of for the Red Queen.

The last part really convince me to read the next one

4/5

This is more of a 4.5 than a 4 to be honest. It was still as gripping and intense as Red Queen BUT I have to admit my interest faltered in and out for the first few chapters. However, halfway through the book it got better and goddamn that's good. It did it again, it evoked my emotions. I didn't love it like I loved Red Queen but this was a good sequel to follow up.