ARC Review: Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard

Glass Sword
Author: Victoria Aveyard
Series: Red Queen #2
Genre: YA, Fantasy
Release Date: February 11th 2016
Book Length: 488 pages
Publisher: Orion
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?

Review


Glass Sword picks up straight after the explosive ending of Red Queen. Mare and Cal are now with the Scarlet Guard but that doesn’t mean they’re safe, far from it. They're being hunted down by Maven, who is now the King of Norta. The race is on to find these so-called ‘New Bloods’: Reds who possess the powers of Slivers, the only question is, who will get to them first; Mare or Maven?

            It’s really hard to talk about Glass Sword without giving away spoilers but anyway the whole point of the book is to track down these New Bloods, King Maven will obviously send them to their death as they undermine his rule, after all Mare was portrayed to be Mareena Titanos, a lost Sliver girl living with Reds. Mare wants to find the new bloods to protect them from Maven’s wrath, she gives them a choice, runaway or join The Scarlet Guard who's mission is to dethrone the sadistic King. So it’s basically a wild goose chase for Mare, she must find the New Bloods before Maven, protect her family, as well as avoiding capture because she’s now a traitor to the crown.

Mare changes a lot in this book and not all of it was for the better, she was cunning, ruthless and sometimes cruel. I actually expected this change, in order for Mare to go up against Maven and his mother she needed to evolve and look at her past mistakes. However, Mare became my biggest problem, she lost the fire she had in Red Queen and instead became this husk of herself. I think she also suffered from a huge case of delusions of grandeur; her powers became somewhat god-like in Glass Sword and instead of giving of the impression of ‘Mare, Queen of Reds’, there was a lot of cringing and eye-rolling and just get on with it moments!



So, I think everyone knew my opinions on the romance of RQ and I can happily say this love-square is over! There are no new love interests for Mare, thank god but the romance for Glass Sword is pretty much a giant question mark, it changes depending on Mare’s moods, I’d like to think I know what’s going to happen but honestly Glass Swords feels like a completely different book at this point, so anything is possible…. I guess.

There was a lot of adventure in this book, I loved being able to explore Norta more and in addition to adventure we got heaps of action. Speaking of action, can I just take a moment to fully appreciate our exiled Price of fire, Cal? WHOA, my only complaint is I wanted, needed more of him and if I’m honest, a lot less Mare ha! Okay, not my only complaint, basically my biggest one is with a certain action scene, basically someone died but it wasn’t explained at all. The whole chapter was a mess and wasn't until the next chapter that you realise 'said character' died? Huh! *sigh*

Overall Glass Sword is somewhere between a 3-4 star read, it just wasn’t able to grip me in the way RQ did and sometimes it was a struggle to carry on reading. The only reason I’ve given it 4 stars is because of the ending, the cliffhanger was so shocking, heartbreaking and fantastic but it didn’t really make up for everything else. As much as I would like to blame the hype with this one, I really must blame myself, I was expecting A LOT more, Glass Sword is a good book but in order to follow Red Queen, I think it needed to be a great book and sadly it just wasn’t.

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25 comments:

  1. I've been wondering about Glass Sword. Thanks for your review Cody. Is there a third book in the series coming out? Hopefully it will come together better if there is a finale?

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    1. There's actually going to be 4 books now, originally it was 3 but the publisher have now said 4. I just hope it doesn't mean that book 3 is going to drag like they usually do with movies - splitting the last one in half :( haha. Yes, that's what I'm hoping for LD Thanks Kristin!

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  2. I'm really not sure if I'm going to read this one. I didn't love RQ (I gave it 3 stars, so I didn't hate it), and it did struggle to grip me in places. I'm wondering if I will be able to get through this one, because you said it didn't engage you as much! I think I've been a bit too taken with the hype - I don't think I'll be buying this one, but I might try and get it from the library when it's released!

    Wonderful review, Cody, as always! Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this one ☺
    Denise | The Bibliolater

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    1. If you didn't like RQ then you probably won't like this one Denise, honestly it felt like it was written by a completely different author, it was crazy! Me too, it's hard not to get caught up in the hype but after this I'm going to try my best as it's such a let down when your looking forward to a book :(. Great idea, if you can get get a library copy then it's worth the try.
      Thank you so much for your lovely comment Denise <3

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  3. Aw, I really enjoyed reading RQ and I thought it was quite good! I guess Glass Sword doesn't quite live up to expectations. Great review Cody!

    Cloe @ Mornings and Epilogues

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    1. Me too RQ was such a strong debut and I can only hope Book 3 will pick up what was lost in Glass Sword. Thank you Cloe :D

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  4. I've been DYING to read Glass Sword ever since I finished RQ and found out about the release date! It looks like Glass Sword still has the action-packed suspense that left me breathless in Red Queen, which is good, although it's unfortunate that it wasn't that gripping as Red Queen. I will still read Glass Sword though. HOW CAN I RESIST SUCH A BEAUTIFUL COVER?!? xD

    Really great review, Cody!

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    1. That was the best thing about Red Queen don't you think? It was just so good that I basically did nothing for an entire day because I couldn't tear myself away from the book, so disappointing about Glass Sword. Yes definitely still give it a try, I really hope you enjoy it. Oh that cover is to die for, I want that crown!! Thank you Mara :)

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  5. Yet another book that suffers from Second-Book-Syndrome? That's too bad. I was really hoping this book would completely knock out Red Queen!
    I'm still going to read Glass Sword, but it probably won't be too high on my TBR list. Too many other good books you've recommended me (cough, Rebel of Sands and the Sleeping Prince ;) haha) Hopefully the next book will be better!
    Fabulous review as always, Cody!

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    1. YES ERIKA, Second-Book Syndrome strikes again. Why did it have to hit this series? It should have been amazing *sigh*. Yes, you definitely have to read it because I would love to know your thoughts. Oh my god yes, Rebel of the Sands and The Sleeping Prince need to stay pretty high up on your list ;). Thank you SO much xx

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  6. I agree. I gave it 3.5 stars which fits perfectly with your review because less Mare and more Cal and this book is chaotic (well, the story is) but still somewhat enjoyable.

    Laura @ psilovethatbook

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    1. 3.5 is so on point. Glass Sword was a bit of a mess right? Let's just pray Aveyard pulls it together for RQ3!!

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  7. I think I may not read this one. The first one was pretty meh for me and I haven't seen any GREAT reviews for this one so far. Sorry this one wasn't quite as great as you were expecting. Great review!

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  8. I still haven't read this yet! But I can't wait, I read the beginning of your review (So, I'm not spoilt) and I saw your score! I'm so excited!

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    1. Ohh I hope you enjoy it, you'll have to let me know what you think :)

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  9. Haha, I actually still haven't read RQ yet, oops. Oh no, from what I can tell, not a lot of people are enjoying this book as much as they enjoy RQ. I'm a bit wary about this series now. Sorry this wasn't as great as you expected it to be. Hopefully your next book will be amazing!

    Great review!!

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    1. I'm a little glad I'm not the only one because I was worried I would have been the odd one out haha :). If you ever try them you'll have to let me know what you think. Thank you Maisha :D

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  10. Great review, I'm so jealous you got an ARC copy!! I really hope the hype of this won't put me off, and hopefully your review will give me some perspective when I start reading it (after re-reading Red Queen, of course!) Still so psyched its finally here, eek!! :D

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  11. This review is not making me happy because I'm hearing things I dont want to hear but I'm still very excited to read it. Nice review :)

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  12. I haven't started this series, but I'm hearing some good things. Thanks for the detailed review. :)

    - Scott The Jolly Wordsmith

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  13. Ugghh I finally want to get my hands on a copy of this book (although I still have to read Red Queen...). It sounds amazing! Great review. :) And cool blog!
    Your new follower,
    Yasmine @ Swissbookworm

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  14. Since to me, Red Queen wasn't the best. I probably wouldn't like this at all... yeah.
    Great review!

    Carrie @The Book Goddess

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  15. I enjoyed Red Queen but I've been reading Glass Sword for the past couple of weeks and it's taking me so long to finish it because it seems to be dragging on. I'll stick with it though!

    Katie @ The Queen of Teen Fiction

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  16. Ha! The GIF you chose definitely sums up my thoughts about this book. :) Great post!

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