Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard

Series: The Red Queen Trilogy (bk. 2)

Genera(s): Dystopian Sci-fi/Fantasy/Paranormal Romance

Subjects: abilities, superpowers, supernatural, magic, war, rebellions

Setting: Norta (All of New England, New York, Pennsylvania)

POV/Tense: 1st person POV, present tense: Mare Barrow

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 440 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $19.99

Publisher: HarperTeen

Summary/ product description: “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?”

My Review: The Glass Sword is the sequel to Red Queen. I really enjoyed Red Queen. It was exciting and unique. This book for me suffers a bit of a sequel slump. There’s a lot of cool stuff in it, but it lacks some of the excitement of the first book. I think finding other Newbloods with abilities is cool in an X-men kind of way, but it becomes hard to keep track of them. I had to make a list to keep track of characters, their appearance and powers. Some stuff is just brushed over to quickly. It’s possible that this sequel was less exciting because it took me a week to read it because I was so busy with school and work. It’s kind of a long book with too many little words on each page (each page could easily be 2 pages).

I did enjoy it though. I loved all the different abilities, from illusions to invulnerability, the Newbloods had powers that no Silver had. The training and the missions were pretty awesome. There are a lot of similarities with other series about people with special abilities, like The Young Elites series by Marie Lu, but that was high fantasy, and this is dystopian-fantasy. The world building is amazing and it’s about 350 years I the future. Global warming happened, as well as nuclear warfare, and radiation possibly resulting in the existence of the Silvers. It’s never explained completely.

There’s some romance, but I don’t think there’s enough. Cal seems like a great guy, despite being the prince. He’s like a Fire-Bender in Avatar. His brother is kind of evil, what with tricking Mare, and making Cal kill his father. I was kind of hoping Maven was secretly a Whisperer like his mother, and other pretended to be a Burner, but I’m mistaken. Mare is a badass, but less likable in the sequel. I guess she’s more flawed with all the stuff she had to go though. Kind of like Adelina in The Young Elites. The book got a lot more exciting and fast near the end, when Mare’s team tries to break out the Newbloods that Maven captured, as well as wrongly imprisoned Silvers. It makes up for all the slow parts that could have easily been left out and made this book shorter. So, I give this sequel 4 stars.

I recommend Red Queen to fans of the following types of books. Books about rebellions, dystopian or otherwise: The Young Elites or Legend by Marie Lu, Divergent by Veronica Roth, Pawn by Aimee Carter, Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Page. Dystopian books with fantasy elements: The Selection by Kiera Cass, Crewel by Gennifer Albin, The Jewel by Amy Ewing, Defiance by C.J. Redwine. Books in which superpowers/magic powers play a big role: Glitch by Heather Anastasiu, Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi, Illusive by Emily Lloyd Jones, Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson, Blackout by Robsion Wells, Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini (also has character with lightning powers). Unique fantasy books: Snow Like Ashes by Sarah Raasch, Shadow and Bone by Leugh Bardugo, Incarnate by Jodi Meadows

Cover Art Review: I love the simple photo illustration of the glass sword-crown dripping blood. The cover is a larger size and it’s metallic and the background mimics light blue silk. The crown and title is embossed.