Written by Blake Smith
If I am a sword, I am a sword made of glass, and I feel myself beginning to shatter
Look guys, I get it…The Red Queen series is almost 4 years old now. There have been hundreds of book reviews covering the series and countless YouTube videos discussing the ins and outs of the book. However, I am just now reading through them, and I couldn’t not write about them! So, if you haven’t read them yet, I highly encourage you to go pick up the first book in the series, Red Queen. And, if you have read them, well I suppose you’ll have to suffer through yet another review with some spoilers ahead!
First Thoughts
A thrilling and page-turning follow-up from the first novel in the series Red Queen, Glass Sword begins with our beloved heroine, Mare Barrow and her on again off again love interest, Cal. They are both fleeing with the Red Guard from Maven, his mother, and all their Silver wrath. Glass Sword engulfs you from the very first words on the page, however, the pace of the rest of the novel is undulating. Starting off with a bang, levelling out for a while, and then picking back up again; Glass Sword is not as suspenseful as Red Queen, but is still a wonderfully written novel that proves to be a fantastic sequel.
Main Plot
In Red Queen, Julian Jacos leaves Mare with a list of names that will prove helpful to her and her conquest: newbloods. The only problem, Maven knows about this list as well, and will do anything in his power to keep the newbloods a secret (anything meaning killing innocent children and hanging newbloods in the street). It’s a race to find the most newbloods first, and most of Glass Sword revolves around Mare and her group of followers finding and recruiting newbloods before Maven can slaughter them. All this recruitment, introduces us to many new characters with some kick-ass powers to help fight.
New Characters
Shade: Throughout the entirety of this book, we come to know and love Mare’s brother, Shade. His power (teleportation) saves the group from many dire circumstances, and without him, many of the newbloods would have probably ended up murdered by Maven. Shade and Farley even have a cute little romance that may leave us with a little something to look forward to in King’s Cage! However, just as their romance is coming to fruition and after we have totally fallen in love with Shade, Aveyard takes him away from us. I’m guessing if you have made it this far in the review, then you know the death scene I am referring to. Let’s just take a moment to remember Shade, shall we?
Colonel Farley: We finally understand why Farley is such a hard-ass; because her dad is a jerk. He is introduced to us as one of the captains of the Red Guard, but as far as I can tell, he is just as bad as the Silver leaders. After locking Cal and Mare up in a silent stone jail cell, he gets what is coming to him from Kilorn and a needle in the neck; which gives them just enough time to escape on their recruiting mission. Colonel Farley is only incorporated into a small section of the book; however, his presence is quite significant toward then end of the novel and his actions may have just put him back in the readers’ good graces.
Newbloods: The most interesting and exciting part of Glass Sword for me was the introduction of SO many cool newbloods. From the power to control gravity to shape shifting to an insatiable wealth of knowledge, the abilities of these new characters are astounding.
Jon: He’s a creepy old man. With red eyes. And long gray hair. And… he’s a clairvoyant. He comes to us about halfway through the story, and predicts some outlandish but potentially true events. However, no one believes him except Mare, but she’s the leader so everyone else decides to follow along. Jon sets up the rest of the book by telling Mare to find another newblood (Cameron) and when and where to rescue other newbloods and Silvers who are imprisoned by Maven. Jon seems cool…until the end of the book and he’s standing side by side with Maven!!! Didn’t see that one coming (but I bet he did…get it?)
Cameron: Cameron is the newblood that Jon was referring to and most likely the most powerful newblood that we have encountered thus far. She can take an enemy’s power away and make them crumble (think dementor but a tad bit worse). However, she isn’t at all fond of Mare and is seemingly forced into joining the Red Guard. She has a few heated battles with Mare and Cal, but finally comes around and proves to be a valuable asset to the team. I expect and hope to see a lot more of her in King’s Cage.
Character Development
Cal – Cal bursts onto the scene in Red Queen as the stereotypical prince. He’s smart, charming, handsome, and wants nothing more than to be a noble leader for his people and to please his regal father. However, over the course of a few hundred pages and multiple deaths, we see Cal transform from prince to an emotional ghost and from an emotional ghost to a leader and recruiter of the rebellion. Cal is pulled between joining the girl he loves and fighting with the same people for the same cause that he was just trying to, stop or being an outcast entirely with no one to lean on. Just as Maven once said though, Cal will always choose Mare.
Mare – I have a love-hate relationship with Mare. Sure, she didn’t ask for anything of this and she has seen some crap over the course of the last year, but some of her decisions infuriate me! Mare grows the most significantly of all the characters in this book. Throughout the entirety of the novel, she goes from shy little lightning girl who only wants to be accepted by everyone to fearless leader and an adamant decision maker. The way other people treat her at the beginning of the book compared toward the end, is polar opposite. Although she has made some questionable decisions and treated the people she cares about the most, poorly, Mare has commanded and earned the respect she deserves.
Final Rating
One review I read described the Red Queen series as Game of Thrones meets X-Men with a little bit of The Hunger Games thrown in, and I could not agree more. Although not as page-turning as Red Queen, Glass Sword is an exciting and adventure laden sequel. Loaded with new characters and intriguing new powers made up for the lack of suspense Red Queen introduced us to. And that ending…
With one hand, he points at his feet. His fingers are whiter than I remember.
I do as he say.
I kneel.
I can’t imagine having to wait for the third book in the series to come out. Perks of reading a series four years too late, you don’t have to wait! I give this a book an 8/10, only because I gave Red Queen 9/10 and Glass Sword isn’t quite as good as RQ. Excited to see where the series goes from here! Check back soon for my review of King’s Cage!
