Glass Sword - Book Review

This book review contains major spoilers for Glass Sword.

First off... SHADE. HE WAS LIKE MY FAVOURITE CHARACTER. OF COURSE HE HAD TO D I E. WHY DID IT HAPPEN SO QUICKLY? FBIGIVBDSIH. Victoria, if you don't somehow bring him back, I will ensure that you can never access another leftover pizza again.

Ok and also... my friend is also reading the Red Queen series, and presently she has just finished the first book. I was jokingly like to her, "I'm so aware of people who might betray Mare now... Cal, Farley... what if Mare betrays herself?" BUT THAT LITERALLY HAS STARTED TO HAPPEN.

I think that the theme of Mare slowly losing herself is kinda effective. Not necessarily good, but effective. In heaps of dystopian YA books, everyone around the protagonist basically worships them, but I think the fact that heaps of Mare's friends were warning her of what she was doing, and even being afraid of her, was kinda eye-opening.

My favourite character... was Shade... but also Nanny. She gives off good vibes. Dunno why I mentioned that. All the people with abilities gives my Whisper vibes.

I still don't know how I feel about Cal. He was pretty good toward the middle of the book. And I guess that he is still good, just aware of how Mare is abusing her power. I guess that the book being written in 1st person can make you dislike other characters if the narrator doesn't agree with them. Also... how is Cal's hair black? I imagined him as blond... and Kilorn having dark hair. I guess I'm wrong about a lot of things.

I think I like Kilorn better than I used to. I don't know why. He did some pretty annoying things especially toward the start of the book. That scene where he confessed his love for Mare nearly made me cry. I don't know why. When he said "we can't choose who we love", or something, that kinda resonated with me. For the wrong reasons, probably. But moving on.

I actually don't know how I feel about the ending. I actually knew what the last line was because I saw a meme a long while before I started this series. But yeah. Obviously the ending was bad because of the fact that Mare is now trapped in a king's cage (h a h a h a) KoA-style (not really but I couldn’t not compare the two). But I feel like the "take me so you don't kill my friends" ending is overused. It is sometimes done very well but when overused tropes aren't done perfectly they seem a bit hmmm. I always feel bad negatively criticising books, but I wasn't all that satisfied with the ending. Also because Maven is my worst enemy and I just want to never see him again. And I saw him again.

Oh! That's something else I wanted to say. When Cal and Mare were saying they missed who they thought Maven was, I related. Anyway.

I should probably finish here because I have a philosophy essay due in two days and I still need to write 1000 more words. Which is funnnnn. I'm nearly on school holidays now!!! I hope to finish the Red Queen series by the end of the holidays.

Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard, 13+* ★★★★

*This age recommendation is only my opinion. Some younger people might feel comfortable reading this book, and some older people might not. That's fine, either way. Warning for potentially upsetting themes, medium-level violence, swearing and weird kissing stuff.