Glass Sword

By: Victoria Aveyard

Narrated by: Amanda Dolan

Length: 14 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's Summary

If there's one thing Mare Barrow knows, it's that she's different.

Mare's blood is red - the colour 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 the prince and friend who betrayed her, Mare uncovers something startling: she is not the only one of her kind.

Pursued by the Silver 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?

©2016 Victoria Aveyard (P)2016 HarperCollins Publishers US

X-Men: First Class + Grisha Trilogy = Glass Sword

What other book might you compare Glass Sword to and why?

Glass Sword seems to me like a mix of the movie "X-men: First Class" and Leigh Bardugo's Grisha Trilogy (Especially the 2nd book - Siege and Storm). Thus expect this book to have an equivalent to a recruitment and training montage and for the main character to be the sort-of leader of a group of super-powered individuals
Not to mention Mare is showing shades of Grisha Trilogy's Alina Starkov

Any additional comments?

I don't think Glass Sword is as good as the first book: Red Queen. But maybe that's just me. I certainly prefer the first book for it's deception and political intrigue within the palace. The second book shows Mare outside the palace. But I feel that the way the book handles Mare fighting back has certainly been done before (ie it's basically a mix of Alina Starkov readying the Grisha to fight the Darkling and Katniss Everdeen allowing her image to be used to fuel a rebellion). So I'm not particularly impressed with the majority of the book. This is not to say it was a bad book.

I think it's ok. There's certainly a lot of action going on in this book as Mare and her friends are being hunted by the King and finding ways to fight back.

However, none of the new characters introduced appealed to me. A lot of them are side characters and are kind of cardboard cut-outs of characters I've read before. Or maybe it's just because the whole book is from Mare's POV and Mare (unfortunately) intentionally And unintentionally never really let herself get close enough to know them better?

In any case, you might wonder why I even gave this book a 4 star rating.

Simple: MAVEN

This book could certainly have been better with a lot more MAVEN in my opinion. Not to say that I want Maven to win. Just saying that the plot only really picks up when Maven makes an actual appearance (however scant it is in this book).

Mare and Maven's twisted bond is a guilty pleasure of mine. I went into Glass Sword expecting to read on the aftermath of Maven's betrayal. And with regards to Mare and Maven, it did not disappoint me. And this is the main reason I'm looking forward to the third book

So to summarize:
Don't expect a lot of appearances from Maven. But do look out for them because if you like reading/listening to something similar to the Grisha Trilogy's Darking and Alina bond, you might like it every time Maven and Mare share a scene.

Speechless

I honestly expected nothing much for a sequel, but Aveyard and Dolan made me regret ever having thought that. Brilliant plot, amazing performance, it's a re-hear for me, even if I'd have to go through some of the most heart wrenching moments again.

A bit wishy washy

First of all; the performance of Amanda Dolman was great, I have no criticism of her whatsoever.
The story however....
I really enjoyed the first book in this series, so couldn't wait to get started on this one. The story picks up immediately after the first installment's ending, so there's no awkward time gap to fill in. In this book, we see the world expand further and new characters are introduced and the story does get quite dark and upsetting at points too - which one would expect in a dystopian future story based on racism and hatred.
What starts off as a promising sequel quickly becomes and almost continual introspection. I enjoyed Mare's character in the Red Queen, but in this book she became increasingly more irritating. Which isn't great when it's the main character and the story is first person, told with her voice!
Almost every paragraph was followed with a soliloquy on internal conflict. Mare's inner thoughts are repeated CONSTANTLY and don't really change. She's incredibly self centred, believing that she and she alone is the one doing everything to save everyone and she mustn't let anything/anyone distract her from her goal of rescuing new bloods. But then she complains about how her team are afraid and standoffish with her - although she makes no effort with them - and her internal monologue repeats her fear she is going to die alone.
This becomes increasingly annoying. Her selfishness (abandoning her family without word, using Cal, refusing to be diverted from her mission at the expense of thousands of lives) combined with her cut and paste inner self talk is MADDENING.
"I love Cal, no he's a Silver and a distraction, no I would die for him, no I don't need him or anyone, nobody likes me, I don't care what they think, I am the only one who can save everyone, I need to build an army to save everyone, I have to baby Killorn and keep him safe, Killorn is annoying me and I hate him, I hate Maven, I miss Maven, me me me me....." UGH!
So I guess if you can handle that, then you will enjoy this book haha. I only managed to finish it because I want to know how the story ends, and skipping a big chunk of the middle of a trilogy isn't the best idea! I also am quite fond of some of the other characters, despite Mare's incessant introspection and self importance.
I'm hoping that the final part sees her give her head a good shake and realise it's not all about her.

Good sequel, not so good narration

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

A decent follow up to Red Queen from a story perspective, but I was disappointed in the narration. Too fast, not enough emotion or distinction in dialogue.

Good Storyline - main character a bit of a 'mare.

Storyline is good enough to continue with, can't help draw comparisons with the storyline against both the Hunger Games and Frost Blood series a bit but there is enough 'newness' to the storyline for it to feel a coincidence or inspiration more than a rip off.

Pun not even intended in the headline, I just noticed it, but she really is a nightmare. I mean, don't get me wrong she's not awful, but she is ungrateful, and sometimes unintelligent in decision making, and is breathtakingly frustrating that she just stays silent rather than stating the blindingly obvious when challenged sometimes. I don't know how many times we had to be told she doesn't trust anyone, she loves Cal, but she doesn't trust him, she likes Farley but doesn't quite trust her, she likes all her new blood pals, but doesn't really trust them all. Asks a lot of them in return for no trust. Also don't know how many times we have to be told she loves Cal but feels like they can't be together. Ok cool, stop saying it then, we heard you the first time. Feel like the narrator just worried too much about trying to get certain points and feelings across and it became irritating/repetitive after a while.

Narrator is really good though, enthusiastic and kept me engaged.

I would recommend this series despite Mare being a bit annoying.

Middle book

I loved the first book - great characters, plot etc. This one seems to have fallen into the classic series middle book trap. It just doesn't do much or go anywhere. But I'm hoping the next one will pick up again.

Amazing

I tjought it was read wonderfully and the story was great. Would definitely recommend, and i look forward to finishing the series.

really like this set of books but.....

so I have been listening to this book over the last few days and found that in places it slowed to a place I felt I was going to sleep! then it seamed to flash by and lose me altogether I will listen again a fee times and see if can understand. it could be that it's a little to much for this dyslexicto graps

Great 2nd instalment although there are a few issues

Captivating 2nd instalment, the middle if the book drags on a little bit although is arguably important. Given the amount of world-building in the first book I couldn't help but notice a few odd things relating to silver abilities, healers are called 3 different names in the book while it's said there are only 2 types with different abilities, slightly confusing and immersion-breaking. And I don't think i'll ever be okay with the near complete dismissal and lack of description of an important character death.

Although overall a good read that manages to still keep my interest, hopefully it manages to keep for the whole series.

Reminds me of the hunger games.

Good story line that was not always predictable. Many elements similar to the hunger games but still different enough to grip you. Would love to see it turned into a movie.

to long and goes no wear

to long and goes no wear. read well though. just q poor story line. don't waste your time