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

Last September I dug into Victoria Aveyard's Red Queen books for the first time, my lack of WiFi allowing for absolute concentration. As soon as my WiFi returned, however, I got distracted. Now I've made my return to the world of Reds and Silvers and find myself a little conflicted. Thanks to Orion Publishing Group and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. My sincere apologies for the delay in reviewing.

Pub. Date: 7/21/2016
Publisher: Orion Publishing Group

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 wants to control.

Pursued by the vengeful Silver king, Mare sets out to find and recruit other Red-and-Silver fighters to join the rebellion.

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?

I really enjoyed the world Victoria Aveyard created in Red Queen, even though some of the world-building, upon third thought, felt a little too straightforward, or perhaps too recognisable in its intentions. But that made sense to me as well for the first book. There is so much introducing to do, and since I had already peeked into the in-between novelettes Aveyard wrote, I had some idea of how she would expand her world further. Also, it was fun to read, thrilling even at times. I was really looking forward to this expansion of the world in Glass Sword and it definitely did grow. Readers are introduced to a whole new (new in the book's world) concept of power, to new rebel intrigues, and to discussions of equality, fate, and destiny. Aveyard definitely steps up the stakes in Glass Sword, expanding her set of characters and emphasising the consequences of rebellion throughout. However, not all of it landed well for me. The intensification of everything feels like a natural step for a sequel, but somehow a good chunk of the book also... slogs a little. Things begin to feel repetitive, even if they technically aren't, and a lot of that, sadly, is down to our main character, Mare. 

Glass Sword picks up immediately after Red Queen, with Mare, Cal, Farley, Kilorn and co. on the run from Maven, who is now king. And they keep running. No one can be trusted. They have a mission, however, which is finding others like Mare and her brother, Shade, Reds with Silver-like abilities. So a lot of the running is now also recruiting new rebels. The main thread throughout Glass Sword, however, is how miserable Mare is with it all. Literally from page 1 she is in her feelings about how horrible everything is. Technically, I like this! I hate how action or superhero movies/books will just see their protagonist take punch after punch, loss after loss, and just move on like nothing happens. I want the impact of these things to be shown, because these characters are human despite their abilities. But in Mare Aveyard takes it to a different level. I even wondered if I had forgotten a major part of Red Queen because Mare felt so different. I tried figuring out where my annoyance with her came from and I think it is down to the fine line she consistently blunders over between considering herself the biggest victim and trying to be the hero and save everyone else. Her life is the worst and yet she also consistently talks about how much everyone is sacrificing for her and I found I just couldn't follow her on that journey anymore. Glass Sword has so many plot beats that I absolutely adored, from recruiting missions to growing powers to political machinations. But over it all is a very dramatic "vibe" which emanates most strongly from Mare's internal dialogue.

Now, I did read the entirety of the book, even though I began to find all these things grating about a third of the book in. As I said above, there were so many elements I did enjoy or could have enjoyed if they were worked out more fully. What I realised is that it felt like Mare was in a different book from everyone else and because she is our POV, we're missing out on something. None of the new characters we meet are really fleshed out, none of their backstories are allowed the gravitas they could have had, and none of the plot beats really land because we're stuck with Mare's perspective. Perhaps I'm for once advocating for split perspectives, which I usually don't love overly much. There was also a whole lot of action which I just don't read very well. My mind kind of glazes over by the second page of action so I didn't fully get to appreciate much of Glass Sword's perhaps most active scenes. One of these extended scenes takes place towards the end and was something I really enjoyed, even if I lost my overview of what was going on and who was where pretty quickly. I am quite torn on whether I want to continue reading the Red Queen series. On the one hand, I'm not a quitter and despite all my criticisms above I am kind of invested in this story. On the other hand, I just realised there are 2 more books rather than just one. If I had just the final book of a trilogy left, I would definitely give it a go, just for closure. But two more books? Maybe if I give it another few months I'll be ready to go again.

I give this book...

2 Universes!

Glass Sword was an interesting, if somewhat disappointing continuation of Red Queen. While it picks up from the latter immediately, the protagonist has gone through such a character change it is hard not to feel disconnected. Some of the plot beats I adored, however, certain tropes continue to enchant me, so whether I give the third book a go is still up in the air.