REVIEW: Glass Sword (Red Queen #2) by Victoria Aveyard

Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard
Series: Red Queen #2
Published by Orion on 11th February 2016
Pages: 464

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?
A great sequel to an explosive first novel. These covers though! 😍

I am not going to give a summary on this one, simply because it is a sequel, but also because so much went on I feel it would be best to just direct you to the summary given above 😊

As a character, I found Mare to be very different in this novel, but also to those I have read before. It was strange, Mare seemed to understand what she was doing was not right and unfair to the lives of others, yet she carried on. It was as though we were reading about her internal self challenges, as she  attempts to justify and proceed under the pressure of others to do what she believed she had to do. I came to the conclusion I didn't really like her in this sequel. She succumbed to pressure too easily, yet one might say on the other side, like herself, that she had to do it to help save the lives of thousands. Although, all she kept going on about was how she was the strongest, that they were after her, and how she is, of course, the only one able to defeat them because SHE WAS THE STRONGEST 😒. Goodness. I don't know how many time she told the reader that, but it was certainly way too much. It was also strange though, all the things the reader would think or question, like 'Mare has just left her family, did not say goodbye or anything, and just ditched them after she had only just seen them for one day, disappearing again', Mare would then question it herself, almost as if it has just been put in to satisfy the reader instead of having a page of her saying goodbye or similar situations like this; it was frustrating and as the reader, it felt like the easy way out of a situation.

As a reader, I have always appreciated when authors don't forget the secondary characters, and actually give them a voice, making them a key aspect of the novel. And my wish was granted! Some of our secondary characters got their own voice in this sequel. It felt more like a team this time, instead of everyone just fighting against one another. And the relationship between Mare and Cal really took a backward step and, although spoken about, it didn't take much of the attention, it was more of them arguing all the time which got rather annoying.

Otherwise, I did enjoy this sequel. Before I started this sequel I felt it could go one way or another due to how much I enjoyed the first book, and the level of hype surrounding this one. The plot was addictive and action-packed. I loved the description and visualisation, and as the reader I was really able to picture the places and events occurring and was really impressed by Aveyard's imagery. It admittedly took me ages to finish, but this was mainly due to me not wanting to read the curve-ball that was going to be thrown in at the end! The action and strategic elements incorporated in this novel was intriguing and you really got to explore more about it making you, as the reader, feel more involved, as though you are sitting round the campfire with them. The only issue with the plot I had was that sometimes it felt as though I had missed big chunks of action and information, leaving you feeling as though you had accidentally missed a chapter, yet you hadn't. On multiple occasions I had gone back to check if the chapters and page numbers aligned, simply because of this reason. It was especially apparent a particular scene involving the Queen, as it swiftly moved on to the next chapter with little explantation, as though they just cut it out to make the novel shorter. This was disappointing, especially because it was a key event within the novel. Otherwise, the plot was dangerous and thrilling, and I was pleased that I did not get confused with all the new characters coming and going throughout.

Therefore, Glass Sword is certainly worth the read if you enjoyed Red Queen, however one would say this this has the 'middle book problem', so fingers crossed the third book redeems it for us! Also, I didn't realise this is a series, not a trilogy, so I am very intrigued as to how that will pan out! 😄


Comments

  1. I just finished this and I said the same thing - middle book syndrome. But, I feel like it healed itself by the end. Once we reached the prison break scene - redmption. IMO. Great review! I'm off to the third book.
    Rebecca @ The Portsmouth Review

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, the ending really did make up for it and make you want to carry on! It was such a brilliant cliffhanger! Look forward to hearing what you think about the next book :0)

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