Glass Sword Release Day Celebration || Reading Rapunzel Review and Discussion
7:11:00 PM
*THE REVIEW PORTION WILL HAVE SPOILERS OF RED QUEEN.*
(c’mon guys it’s a sequel, what did you expect?)
THIS REVIEW WILL HAVE NO SPOILERS FOR GLASS SWORD. (AND WILL ONLY INCLUDING INFORMATION THAT HAS BEEN RELEASED FROM THE SCARLET GUARD AND EPIC READS)
ONCE AGAIN: Unavoidable spoilers for Red Queen will be mentioned in this review. If you have not read Red Queen and do not want to be spoiled, please DO NOT READ THIS REVIEW. You have been warned.*
STAY TUNED FOR GIVEAWAY!!
If you haven’t read Red Queen yet, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN GURL?
Happy Glass Sword Release day! Today is February 9th and we all know what that means.The day has finally come for my most anticipated read of 2016 to finally hit the shelves! Glass Sword is finally here! I’m so happy for everyone to read it so we can discuss THAT ENDING THOUGH. Sorry about that long spoiler message, I’m really big on not spoiling fantastic stories for fellow readers and you should be too! Tell your friends about great books like Red Queen, wait for them to finish reading, and once you’re done fangirling/crying over that ending, send them over here so we can discuss all they need to know about the sequel Glass Sword! Ahhh!! *I promise no major spoilers for Glass Sword*
Glass Sword
(Dun... Dun.....DUUUNNN!)
SYNOPSIS:
"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?"
How did I get my hands on this beauty?
So as you may have guessed, I got an ARC of Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard! ARC stands for an Advanced Reader’s Copy, which basically translates to a free book that has never been released...talk about a book lover’s dream? YES! And for the sequel of one of your favorite books? EVEN BETTER! So when this bad boy showed up at my doorstep the day after christmas, I could not contain my emotions. For a wonderful christmas miracle had been blessed upon me! Since I absolutely adored Red Queen in 2015, Glass Sword was definitely one of my most anticipated reads of 2016. I was EXTREMELY excited to read this book and could not wait for it to hit the shelves. I never imagined being sent a copy prior to the big release date, February 9th. I just quickly want to thank Epic Reads and HarperCollins so much for sending me this gorgeous collector's box (I was on the verge of tears when it arrived) It is literally so beautiful I am still in shock. Now i’ll stop my rambling before I get all emotional (again). Back to the discussion!
My thoughts?
Now on to the most exciting part of this post: What I thought about Glass Sword, the highly anticipated sequel to the debut novel Red Queen by *the queen* Victoria Aveyard… I obviously thought it was amazing. So much action, abilities, feels, and CAL. SO MUCH CAL THAT I ALMOST DIED OF HOTNESS (literally). No words will ever come close to describing how much I loved this book, but you guys already know I’m a big fan. It definitely was not the best book I’ve read, but it was still wonderful. I had missed these characters and this world more than I had remembered. Obviously, I gave this book 5 out of 5 stars. Why you may ask? Let’s get into the details.
*To make this a whole lot easier I have decided to compile a list of all the things you need to know about Glass Sword before getting your hands on it:
- Glass Sword is slower than Red Queen
Before I elaborate let me just clarify: SLOW IS NOT THE SAME AS BORING. This book is very far from boring. In the beginning of Glass Sword, Mare is on a mission to find people like her, Newbloods, who have Red blood and Silver abilities. Throughout the first half of the book they travel to different parts of Norta in hopes to find the Newbloods from Julian’s list. Things will happen at a slower pace than they did in Red Queen during this portion of the book, but don’t you worry Red Queen fans, there is definitely lots of action! If you’re stuck in the first 150 pages, Keep Reading! It only gets better from here on out.
- New Characters! (No major spoilers; Just names)
With Mare searching for the Newbloods of Norta, we were eventually going to meet a whole slew of new characters. When new characters are introduced in a book series I can’t help but get very excited. I can’t wait for you guys to read about the ones who appear in Glass Sword. The only thing I did not like about getting many new characters was the lack of depth to all of them. Not every character is explained in detail, which I expected. (Other than main characters.. duh.) The first couple of newbloods had more dialogue, and were explored better than the later ones. We delve into their stories and got to see where they came from, WHICH I LOVED! But towards the end of the novel, we merely learned the names and abilities of some newbloods. I personally didn’t mind this because I understood that Victoria could not spend the whole book telling newblood backstories (Even though I’d still love to read it!). I liked how she put more effort into the “main newbloods” as I like to call them. These “main newbloods” including Nix, Ada, Cameron, plus many more, were so cool! Reading about their lives after meeting Mare and seeing them discover and explore their abilities was very entertaining for me.
- Shade is back!
Speaking of entertaining..If you have not already read Red Queen: *MAJOR RED QUEEN SPOILER RIGHT HERE*; Shade is back! This is the character I was so desperate to learn about after the ending of Red Queen. As you may know, Mare’s older brother Shade, as we found out at the end of Red Queen, is a member of the Scarlet Guard. After Mare and Cal are saved from the Bowl of Bones and shoved into the Undertrain, Mare was finally reunited with her brother, who was once thought to be dead. Not only is Shade alive, he is also a Newblood. I loved learning about Shade. He was honestly one of my favorite characters, and I loved his connection with Mare. Since Glass Sword had a very dark and emotional tone to it, he has a special way of lightening the mood. Don’t get me wrong- this book has a lot of action and slight romance too, but when a novel is very heavy like this one is, I feel it is always important to have a character like Shade to give the reader a little “relief”.
- New Abilities!
I was really happy with all the new abilities Victoria introduced in Glass Sword. Reading about the characters and how they controlled their powers reminded me a lot of Mare in Red Queen. Flying, creating illusions, manipulating sound, and super intelligence are only a few of the powers showcased in this book.
- Victoria is the Queen of Cliffhangers and Twists
George R.R. Martin sure taught Victoria well. As you may know, the lovely people at
team Epic Reads posted the first 7 chapters of Glass Sword on their blog! You also may know that chapter 7 just happens to end on a cliffhanger (a reader’s worst nightmare). One thing you need to know before reading Glass Sword is that THERE ARE SEVERAL TWISTS/SURPRISES (almost as bad as a cliffhanger). You thought Maven surprised you in Red Queen? Oh just you wait. Victoria had a lightning bolt full of mischief up her sleeve while writing Glass Sword. And we all know lightning has no mercy.
*Random things I want to mention:*
-We learn a lot about Farley’s character in this book which I really loved. Seeing a different side of her, the more vulnerable and emotional side, was amazing.
-Maven isn’t as present in Glass Sword than he was in Red Queen. Which I was surprisingly sad about? Love me a good Maven scene.
-Cal is still beautiful.
and....
-I love Shade so much in this book.
So my final thoughts?
I highly recommend any fan of Red Queen to pick up Glass Sword. Being able to dive into the kingdom of Norta again made this book ten times better than I thought it would be. The fact that I already knew and loved the cast of characters in this book and the world that Victoria built, made my reading experience very (EXTREMELY) enjoyable. So I would take this into consideration (My love for the first book and the characters in the story) when choosing to read this book. If i’m being honest, if you did not like Red Queen (as much as I did) you most likely won’t like Glass Sword either. The best advice I can give you is to give Glass Sword a shot.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR (MY QUEEN)
Victoria Aveyard is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Red Queen. Victoria was born and raised in East Longmeadow, Massachusetts, a small town known only for the worst traffic rotary in the continental United States. She moved to Los Angeles to earn a BFA in screenwriting at the University of Southern California. She currently splits her time between the East and West coasts. As an author and screenwriter, she uses her career as an excuse to read too many books and watch too many movies. She has sold several television pilots and feature-length screenplays. You can visit her online at www.victoriaaveyard.comor on Twitter at @VictoriaAveyard.
GIVEAWAY:
I teamed up with Me, My Shelf, and I and HarperTeen to bring you this awesome Red Queen Giveaway!
One winner will get a RED QUEEN Prize pack from HarperTeen, which includes:
- 1 Physical Copy of CRUEL CROWN (0.1 & 0.2 Red Queen)
- 1 Red Queen foam sword that reads “Kneel or Bleed”
- 1 Scarlet Guard scarf
*Must be 13+ To Enter | Ships in US only |
See Terms & Conditions for full contest rules before entering some restrictions apply*
***It's easy to enter just click the link below!***
***a Rafflecopter giveaway***
Ok everyone, you are now ready to embark on the journey to find the NewBloods in Glass Sword. Good luck…
p.s: hit me up when you get to the end so we can scream together
We will Rise Red as the Dawn
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