ria_mhrj's review against another edition
2.0
I want more books like the Glass Gargoyle to exist, despite it not quite being my cup of tea. Female-led fantasy with a colourful supporting cast, an intriguing mystery and a dash of romance hits all my catnip.
Where I struggled with this book was that a whole lot of plot is going on. Our heroine is an archeologist but also a bounty hunter. She has two love interests with secrets aplenty. There are multiple villains. There are even two landlords! It was hard to keep up and I just wish things had been stripped back a little, because there was a whole lot of promise here, and I actually enjoyed the finale.
I might read more from this world, we'll see.
Where I struggled with this book was that a whole lot of plot is going on. Our heroine is an archeologist but also a bounty hunter. She has two love interests with secrets aplenty. There are multiple villains. There are even two landlords! It was hard to keep up and I just wish things had been stripped back a little, because there was a whole lot of promise here, and I actually enjoyed the finale.
I might read more from this world, we'll see.
char_722's review
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
secre's review
3.0
This is a good, fun read if a little light on details and back stories for key characters. You are introduced to Taryn as she tries to corral her three drunk singing fairies in the middle of a drunken bar brawl. To make matters more complex she is meant to be bringing in a bounty and that bounty started the bar brawl. But let’s be honest, I was on board from the mention of drunken fairies. From there things only get more complicated for Taryn as she keeps running into her mysterious bounty and he always seems to come with trouble attached. In more ways than one. Taryn's usual job is archaeology, or exploring old ruins left behind by an ancient and, in many ways, still unknown civilisation long lost to the ages of time. Bounty hunting is a side hobby considering she is currently unemployed and still needs to pay her rent.
This is quite a chaotic book with a lot going on, it’s also great fun and relatively light reading. Throughout the course of the novel you are introduced to a myriad of species and many of them make for highly interesting characters with various behavioural ticks and quirks. If anything, my main complaint would be that more attention is paid to the male love interests than to many of these potentially fascinating lives. The cast of characters is certainly colourful and there is a sense of mystery to the ancient ruins and what came before. Personally, I'd have loved to read more about the various races that populate the Four Kingdoms, or even just Taryn's small corner of it, as there is a huge amount of imagination on display here and I felt more could have been done with it.
I particularly enjoyed the fairies, as whilst they certainly are small alcoholic menaces, there is far more time spent developing their back-stories, characterisations and culture than many of the other races that sit in the background. Taryn's interactions with them are fantastic and I really enjoyed how they actively brought something meaningful to the narrative, rather than just being there for the hilarity aspects. If this kind of attention had been paid to other races and aspects of the world building, this novel would have been an easy four star read. I did feel that it fell down a little with the focus on Alric, the tall, dark and mysterious stranger who Taryn has a serious crush on even if she's having some denial issues.
The narrative is interesting, although the actual glass gargoyle doesn't show up until a good two thirds of the way through the novel. There were quite a few twists and turns that I hadn't expected and the novel certainly kept me guessing all the way to the end. There's a lot of mystery and unanswered questions here and more could have been resolved if the world building had been stronger. The humour throughout the book is fantastic though and there are several narrative arcs that are loosely linked to the overall whole that work fantastically. I mean who wouldn't want to read about a war between fairies and squirrels!?
So there's a huge amount of potential here and I'm certainly interested in what Andreas does with the following books. This is funny and fairly light reading, despite Taryn going from one catastrophe to another with barely a pause for breath. I loved the depth that was brought to the fairies and really hope that future novels in this series will fill out the other races in the same way.
This is quite a chaotic book with a lot going on, it’s also great fun and relatively light reading. Throughout the course of the novel you are introduced to a myriad of species and many of them make for highly interesting characters with various behavioural ticks and quirks. If anything, my main complaint would be that more attention is paid to the male love interests than to many of these potentially fascinating lives. The cast of characters is certainly colourful and there is a sense of mystery to the ancient ruins and what came before. Personally, I'd have loved to read more about the various races that populate the Four Kingdoms, or even just Taryn's small corner of it, as there is a huge amount of imagination on display here and I felt more could have been done with it.
I particularly enjoyed the fairies, as whilst they certainly are small alcoholic menaces, there is far more time spent developing their back-stories, characterisations and culture than many of the other races that sit in the background. Taryn's interactions with them are fantastic and I really enjoyed how they actively brought something meaningful to the narrative, rather than just being there for the hilarity aspects. If this kind of attention had been paid to other races and aspects of the world building, this novel would have been an easy four star read. I did feel that it fell down a little with the focus on Alric, the tall, dark and mysterious stranger who Taryn has a serious crush on even if she's having some denial issues.
The narrative is interesting, although the actual glass gargoyle doesn't show up until a good two thirds of the way through the novel. There were quite a few twists and turns that I hadn't expected and the novel certainly kept me guessing all the way to the end. There's a lot of mystery and unanswered questions here and more could have been resolved if the world building had been stronger. The humour throughout the book is fantastic though and there are several narrative arcs that are loosely linked to the overall whole that work fantastically. I mean who wouldn't want to read about a war between fairies and squirrels!?
So there's a huge amount of potential here and I'm certainly interested in what Andreas does with the following books. This is funny and fairly light reading, despite Taryn going from one catastrophe to another with barely a pause for breath. I loved the depth that was brought to the fairies and really hope that future novels in this series will fill out the other races in the same way.
bananatricky's review
3.0
Two and a half stars.
Taryn St Giles is an archaeologist down on her luck, forced to resort to bounty hunting to make ends meet. She is the reluctant owner of three fairies who can usually be relied upon to get drunk and start fights. As the book opens Taryn is hunting for a bounty, although she collars him relatively easy he doesn't stay collared for long - and that is the start of a crazy journey. Soon there are mysterious disappearances, dead bodies, mysterious strangers, gypsies, jinn, elves, trolls, dragon-like creatures etc, etc.
Where to start? First, I received this ARC back in January last year, so my bad for not reading and reviewing earlier. However, the book was first published in March 2015 so I really don't understand why my copy has so many words runningtogether missing the intervening spaces. Also, there appears to be no formatting of the chapter headings which makes it difficult to 'feel' the breaks between chapters as they just merge into one long chapter. Previewing the Kindle version on Amazon doesn't look that much better either.
Second, there is waaaay too much stuff in this book and not enough world-building/ development. It doesn't help that Taryn hasn't a clue what is going on. I think it took half the book before the eponymous Glass Gargoyle was even mentioned. Taryn has a backstory and a mystery about her species which are just barely glanced upon. There seems to be a cast of thousands and the purpose of most of them seems vague at best. Villains drop in and out and we don't know why. The book even ends on a sort of cliffhanger - sort of.
I don't know whether Marie Andreas has got the idea for the whole series in her mind and has written the series as if it were one long book, or if she had so many ideas that she couldn't bear to to drop any, but the book ended up as a series of occurrences with no real conclusion. I still have no idea what species Taryn belongs to, I don't know who/ what Alric is (although I do have a good idea), I don't know who hired the jinn, I don't understand the Marcos plot, I don't know what set off all of these events, I don't see the purpose of Harlan, Covey, Cirocco, Dogmaela or Foxy, heck half the time I couldn't tell whether they were friends or enemies (obviously not the ones who were marked as enemies). There are extinct/ mythical elves, older more ancient races, lots of new creatures that I've never heard of, magical powers, although Taryn is a null, potions etc AND NONE OF IT IS EXPLAINED.
I think there is a really good series possibly lost in this but I just can't summon up the enthusiasm to try reading the second book.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.
Taryn St Giles is an archaeologist down on her luck, forced to resort to bounty hunting to make ends meet. She is the reluctant owner of three fairies who can usually be relied upon to get drunk and start fights. As the book opens Taryn is hunting for a bounty, although she collars him relatively easy he doesn't stay collared for long - and that is the start of a crazy journey. Soon there are mysterious disappearances, dead bodies, mysterious strangers, gypsies, jinn, elves, trolls, dragon-like creatures etc, etc.
Where to start? First, I received this ARC back in January last year, so my bad for not reading and reviewing earlier. However, the book was first published in March 2015 so I really don't understand why my copy has so many words runningtogether missing the intervening spaces. Also, there appears to be no formatting of the chapter headings which makes it difficult to 'feel' the breaks between chapters as they just merge into one long chapter. Previewing the Kindle version on Amazon doesn't look that much better either.
Second, there is waaaay too much stuff in this book and not enough world-building/ development. It doesn't help that Taryn hasn't a clue what is going on. I think it took half the book before the eponymous Glass Gargoyle was even mentioned. Taryn has a backstory and a mystery about her species which are just barely glanced upon. There seems to be a cast of thousands and the purpose of most of them seems vague at best. Villains drop in and out and we don't know why. The book even ends on a sort of cliffhanger - sort of.
I don't know whether Marie Andreas has got the idea for the whole series in her mind and has written the series as if it were one long book, or if she had so many ideas that she couldn't bear to to drop any, but the book ended up as a series of occurrences with no real conclusion. I still have no idea what species Taryn belongs to, I don't know who/ what Alric is (although I do have a good idea), I don't know who hired the jinn, I don't understand the Marcos plot, I don't know what set off all of these events, I don't see the purpose of Harlan, Covey, Cirocco, Dogmaela or Foxy, heck half the time I couldn't tell whether they were friends or enemies (obviously not the ones who were marked as enemies). There are extinct/ mythical elves, older more ancient races, lots of new creatures that I've never heard of, magical powers, although Taryn is a null, potions etc AND NONE OF IT IS EXPLAINED.
I think there is a really good series possibly lost in this but I just can't summon up the enthusiasm to try reading the second book.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.
slc333's review
3.0
Light enjoyable fantasy read. It had some good points and some parts where I struggled to remain engaged. Highlight was the heroine Taryn’s three crazy, drunken fairy sidekicks.
abeautytoyourbeast's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
misskreads's review
3.0
This was a lot more fun than I was expecting. A little predictable but still fun. I would actually give it 3.5. The fairies made the book laugh out loud funny at parts. Looking forward to the second book.
jacquihutton001's review against another edition
4.0
Archaeology! Ancient Elves! Tiny drunken fairies! Loved this book.
writetoexpress's review against another edition
3.0
NetGalley Review
Not only did the synopsis grab the attention but so had the gorgeous cover. I was hooked immediately, even without having read a single page.
I don't want to spoil the book too much, but let me just say that it was an adventure. Honestly, there need to be more fantasy-mystery books for young adults. Forget dystopias!
The characters were unique, as was the plot. I found myself laughing numerous times throughout. The story progressed a relatively good pace, which is fantastic considering how much action it contained.
My only negative was the slightly confusing ending. But I guess I'll just have to read the next book to find out what happens next!
Not only did the synopsis grab the attention but so had the gorgeous cover. I was hooked immediately, even without having read a single page.
I don't want to spoil the book too much, but let me just say that it was an adventure. Honestly, there need to be more fantasy-mystery books for young adults. Forget dystopias!
The characters were unique, as was the plot. I found myself laughing numerous times throughout. The story progressed a relatively good pace, which is fantastic considering how much action it contained.
My only negative was the slightly confusing ending. But I guess I'll just have to read the next book to find out what happens next!
marufahoque's review
1.0
Let's start with the pros: I liked the faeries. And that's about it.
Cons:
-I didn't like the need for them to be drunk. Why not have unruly faeries without having to be drunk? AND why did everything have to revolve around alcohol? To have an excuse for the MC to do stupid things is bad writing, in my opinion.
-Writing: found typos. And it felt "immature" despite the MC being an adult, or trying to be one. It's first person POV, by the way! (Why do all these twenty-something girls struggle to pay rent in fantasy settings? That's my reality. I'm reading fantasy to escape from it, so why do I have to be reminded of it???) Also, the writing style is very...amateur? (Can't think of the word, right now since it's 1 AM, but probably remember in the daytime) What I mean is this: Waiting for the bus, I stumbled into him. Swallowing my pride, I approached him. Regretting my decision, I hurried away. NOTE: This is not from the book, just something I made up so you see what I'm talking about. And there are chapters written like this. And within each paragraph, the sentences are structured LIKE THIS. I'm not an editor, but this is not smooth writing. It didn't flow for me as I read it.
-Modern jargon: this ties in with the writing. Words and phrases like 'buster' and 'tricks up my sleeves' don't fit into a fantastical setting.
-World-building: we are thrown a bunch of fantasy and mythological creatures, some even made-up, mention magic and dragons, just so this book falls into a fantasy category? Nope. That's not how fantasy works. This book read more like a contemporary than fantasy. Different nationalities just replaced by dwarfs, trolls, and goblins. And the mention of a random level 20 mage? Wait, is this litRPG? Am I missing something here?
-MC is supposed to be an archaeologist, but all she likes is digging? And cataloguing? And how does that tie into her being a bounty hunter for a (recent) living? It just didn't seem consistent. Also, her getting into trouble after trouble and constantly being saved by some mystery love interest was more than contrived, it was one eye-roll after another. We get your ex-boyfriend ran away, but now this? The MC didn't do anything on her own, the setting and people/creatures around her did. Only thing she did was try to make out with who ever looked good to her.
-The faeries' names: how are they okay with names like 'Garbage'? And the faery queen's name was supposed to be hilarious? It must've slipped by me. And we never know why the faeries protect the MC and conveniently come to her aid whenever she's in danger. Does the MC being half fae mean anything? We don't even know because the MC doesn't even know! And like all fantasy tropes these days, the MC is an orphan, so her parents won't be telling her anything about that. And she's supposed to NOT be affected by magic? Yet, everything that comes in contact with her that HAS magic is easily capable to assaulting her. And the fact that she can mysteriously read ancient languages for a few seconds? Yeah, we know there's something "special" about her, but we won't know until we read the rest of the series.
-Glass gargoyle: the thing everyone's looking for somehow ends up with the MC?
-The ending: so the big battle between the evil creature and the MC? That didn't even happen. The mysterious love-interest literally took the battle to another DIMENSION and fought the evil guy there. Then everything is back to "normal"? Yeah, I'm disappointed, too.
Overall, this mashup of fantasy didn't work for me, hence, the one star.
Do I recommend? No. Will I continue to read the rest of the series? No. Will I keep searching for better fantasy books? Yes. Always. Maybe I should write one. Or two. Or more until I forget there are sad, underwhelming books like these.
Cons:
-I didn't like the need for them to be drunk. Why not have unruly faeries without having to be drunk? AND why did everything have to revolve around alcohol? To have an excuse for the MC to do stupid things is bad writing, in my opinion.
-Writing: found typos. And it felt "immature" despite the MC being an adult, or trying to be one. It's first person POV, by the way! (Why do all these twenty-something girls struggle to pay rent in fantasy settings? That's my reality. I'm reading fantasy to escape from it, so why do I have to be reminded of it???) Also, the writing style is very...amateur? (Can't think of the word, right now since it's 1 AM, but probably remember in the daytime) What I mean is this: Waiting for the bus, I stumbled into him. Swallowing my pride, I approached him. Regretting my decision, I hurried away. NOTE: This is not from the book, just something I made up so you see what I'm talking about. And there are chapters written like this. And within each paragraph, the sentences are structured LIKE THIS. I'm not an editor, but this is not smooth writing. It didn't flow for me as I read it.
-Modern jargon: this ties in with the writing. Words and phrases like 'buster' and 'tricks up my sleeves' don't fit into a fantastical setting.
-World-building: we are thrown a bunch of fantasy and mythological creatures, some even made-up, mention magic and dragons, just so this book falls into a fantasy category? Nope. That's not how fantasy works. This book read more like a contemporary than fantasy. Different nationalities just replaced by dwarfs, trolls, and goblins. And the mention of a random level 20 mage? Wait, is this litRPG? Am I missing something here?
-MC is supposed to be an archaeologist, but all she likes is digging? And cataloguing? And how does that tie into her being a bounty hunter for a (recent) living? It just didn't seem consistent. Also, her getting into trouble after trouble and constantly being saved by some mystery love interest was more than contrived, it was one eye-roll after another. We get your ex-boyfriend ran away, but now this? The MC didn't do anything on her own, the setting and people/creatures around her did. Only thing she did was try to make out with who ever looked good to her.
-The faeries' names: how are they okay with names like 'Garbage'? And the faery queen's name was supposed to be hilarious? It must've slipped by me. And we never know why the faeries protect the MC and conveniently come to her aid whenever she's in danger. Does the MC being half fae mean anything? We don't even know because the MC doesn't even know! And like all fantasy tropes these days, the MC is an orphan, so her parents won't be telling her anything about that. And she's supposed to NOT be affected by magic? Yet, everything that comes in contact with her that HAS magic is easily capable to assaulting her. And the fact that she can mysteriously read ancient languages for a few seconds? Yeah, we know there's something "special" about her, but we won't know until we read the rest of the series.
-Glass gargoyle: the thing everyone's looking for somehow ends up with the MC?
-The ending: so the big battle between the evil creature and the MC? That didn't even happen. The mysterious love-interest literally took the battle to another DIMENSION and fought the evil guy there. Then everything is back to "normal"? Yeah, I'm disappointed, too.
Overall, this mashup of fantasy didn't work for me, hence, the one star.
Do I recommend? No. Will I continue to read the rest of the series? No. Will I keep searching for better fantasy books? Yes. Always. Maybe I should write one. Or two. Or more until I forget there are sad, underwhelming books like these.