Review: Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard

Title: Glass Sword
Author: Victoria Aveyard
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release Date: February 9, 2016

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?

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Where do I begin?

I had originally seen many disappointed reviews, so I went into reading this with an open mind.  I might not enjoy it.  I might even hate it.  But I absolutely had to know what happened after the end of Red Queen.

I am so happy that I was not disappointed in the way others were.  I thoroughly enjoyed the entire book.  Okay, some people have a point.  Not much really happens throughout the majority.  But we do get to see Cal and Kilorn grow and maybe even kind of become friends?  And there are a lot of changes to Mare that have to happen over the course of the book.  Plot-wise, not much happens.  But character-wise?  It was right on point.

The addition of Farley and Shade to the main group was even better.  And there is even more of Cal here (I love Cal).

Yes, this book is cliche.  In fact this series uses so many cliches that it embraces its clicheness into becoming something new.  It is also slightly predictable.  Maybe a little more so than Red Queen.  But that doesn't mean I wasn't sitting at the edge of my seat through the ending biting my nails to find out if I was right.  In fact, there was a twist or two thrown in that I hadn't expected.  

I cried in this book.  If an author gets me to cry, I consider that a success.  It is my goal to cry when something horrible happens.  If I don't, the author didn't do their job.

I cried.  And I trudged on.

In short, if you're looking for something plot driven, this series probably isn't for you.  But I love the characters so much.  If you don't mind the "so-typically-dystopian" that Red Queen was, give this a shot.  The end may not come as a shock, but it will have you screaming and trying to fgure out what is next.