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A review by bookwadreads
Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard
1.0
Now that my friends have finished book one and two, I can leave this. I've never one starred a book before, but here I am.
This review covers both Red Queen and Glass Sword. If you loved this series, that’s great! I wish I could say the same. I hated this series, and won’t be continuing after Glass Sword. I’m returning my box set because I know I am not going to read them. Kind of sad about that because I really loved the covers, but oh well.
At first glance, the summary of Red Queen gave me Hunger Games vibe. It’s set in a world where Reds are considered lesser to SIlvers, and while so far the only similar thing is it’s dystopian style setting, I haven’t been able to get that out of my mind either.
I’m going to preface this with a few things.
- Dystopian Novels are not my favorite, but I’ll read them if they’re well written. I can totally lose myself in a new world. That did not happen here.
- I saw a spoiler on one of the books that led to me knowing at least one tiny thing that would happen. I think it probably tainted the experience a bit, but to be honest, I don’t think I would have enjoyed this anyway.
I really tried to get into this series, but I don’t understand the hype for it.
Let’s start with Red Queen.
I’ve started writing my thoughts in a journal as I read. I like to tab favorite quotes, scenes, and anything that involves the romance between two characters I like. I had quite a few tabs for the first book because I love Cal. Out of the two books I read, I love Cal and him alone. I’m not sure if that would have changed in the second half of this series.
I didn’t like this book until the final twist. Reading hundreds of pages only to enjoy the final 70 pages was disappointing, but I hoped the sequel would hold my attention better.
Things I enjoyed:
- Cal, obviously. Mare dancing with Cal. Cal taking Mare home to see her family, which was thanks to Maven. (I am a very simple fangirl. I love Cal, but I feel that might have changed later in the series.)
- I really liked Julian.
- I loved Maven and Mare’s friendship, but we all know how that turned out. It’s worth saying that I liked Maven much more than Mare though.
Things I Did Not Enjoy/Fell Flat
- Evangeline vs Mare. I really hate the mean girl trope. I have for years, but from what I skimmed later on in the series, this may have turned into more than just one girl being terrible.
- I might catch flack for this, but I couldn’t get into the world-building. It’s probably my fault because I couldn’t stop comparing it to other dystopians, and also because I don’t love dystopians.
The writing wasn’t bad, but I hated Mare’s perspective. Still, I liked her POV more in the first book versus the sequel. I’ll get to that.
Despite not liking it much, I still thought this was 3.5/5 because of a) the ending b) I really love Cal and c) I decided to read book two anyway.
Onto Glass Sword
Both of my friends are enjoying this book series. I tried to keep an open mind, but I’m a picky reader. I wanted to get through it for book club, but my notes show that was not going to happen.
- It felt like Mare had this ridiculously inflated sense of self-importance even though book two began literally two fucking minutes after the end of book one. So, I deeply dislike her perspective still.
- At page 114, I decided I hated the Colonel more than Mare but then he’s not around for long so that didn’t matter.
- I enjoyed Mare being sealed in with Cal because she thinks Kilorn has betrayed her. Always a fan of oh-no-we’re-locked-in-together.
- I was glad Kilorn didn’t truly betray her, but I don’t like love triangles. It was resolved nicely though, so I liked that.
- While locked in together, Mare and Cal agree that they need to stop making mistakes for each other. I’m sure that will work out. (It doesn’t.)
- During book one, I thought the moniker ‘the Lightning Girl’ was nice. I hope that it would turn into a cool thing like the Boy Who Lived. Sweet fucking hell, I felt like I was being beat over the head with this title. It drove me crazy. Multiple times a chapter in Glass Sword, this was said. (That could be an exaggeration, but it felt like every other page.) I made a joke to a friend that I would just start taking a shot every time it was said. Don’t do that.
- Page 137: “Anyone can betray anyone, and Cal is no exception.” No. Not Cal. Leave my boy alone.
- I would have liked to have seen more action from Cal than I got to see.
Okay, I never like to write bad opinions of books because authors are still people. I hope that Victoria Aveyard is deeply proud of her accomplishments with this series. It was not a series for me, but that does not mean it was terrible.
Mare felt like a spoiled brat and an unintelligent protagonist. Someone told me they were glad Mare didn’t feel like a ‘Mary-Sue’ kind of character, but I wasn’t able to relate to Mare. Everything is about how Mare is special, how the rebellion can’t go on without her, and the narrative is centered on her to the point that I honestly have no idea who else was in this book.
We met a lot of characters. None of them were memorable. Throughout the book, it feels as though the same things are being repeated, but nothing ever happens. I was so bored the entire time, and at about half way, I started reading as quickly as possible. I wanted to know what happened, but I wanted it to be over as soon as possible.
I hate that I couldn’t get into this series and I plan on googling what happens to Cal because I did like him.
This review covers both Red Queen and Glass Sword. If you loved this series, that’s great! I wish I could say the same. I hated this series, and won’t be continuing after Glass Sword. I’m returning my box set because I know I am not going to read them. Kind of sad about that because I really loved the covers, but oh well.
At first glance, the summary of Red Queen gave me Hunger Games vibe. It’s set in a world where Reds are considered lesser to SIlvers, and while so far the only similar thing is it’s dystopian style setting, I haven’t been able to get that out of my mind either.
I’m going to preface this with a few things.
- Dystopian Novels are not my favorite, but I’ll read them if they’re well written. I can totally lose myself in a new world. That did not happen here.
- I saw a spoiler on one of the books that led to me knowing at least one tiny thing that would happen. I think it probably tainted the experience a bit, but to be honest, I don’t think I would have enjoyed this anyway.
I really tried to get into this series, but I don’t understand the hype for it.
Let’s start with Red Queen.
I’ve started writing my thoughts in a journal as I read. I like to tab favorite quotes, scenes, and anything that involves the romance between two characters I like. I had quite a few tabs for the first book because I love Cal. Out of the two books I read, I love Cal and him alone. I’m not sure if that would have changed in the second half of this series.
I didn’t like this book until the final twist. Reading hundreds of pages only to enjoy the final 70 pages was disappointing, but I hoped the sequel would hold my attention better.
Things I enjoyed:
- Cal, obviously. Mare dancing with Cal. Cal taking Mare home to see her family, which was thanks to Maven. (I am a very simple fangirl. I love Cal, but I feel that might have changed later in the series.)
- I really liked Julian.
- I loved Maven and Mare’s friendship, but we all know how that turned out. It’s worth saying that I liked Maven much more than Mare though.
Things I Did Not Enjoy/Fell Flat
- Evangeline vs Mare. I really hate the mean girl trope. I have for years, but from what I skimmed later on in the series, this may have turned into more than just one girl being terrible.
- I might catch flack for this, but I couldn’t get into the world-building. It’s probably my fault because I couldn’t stop comparing it to other dystopians, and also because I don’t love dystopians.
The writing wasn’t bad, but I hated Mare’s perspective. Still, I liked her POV more in the first book versus the sequel. I’ll get to that.
Despite not liking it much, I still thought this was 3.5/5 because of a) the ending b) I really love Cal and c) I decided to read book two anyway.
Onto Glass Sword
Both of my friends are enjoying this book series. I tried to keep an open mind, but I’m a picky reader. I wanted to get through it for book club, but my notes show that was not going to happen.
- It felt like Mare had this ridiculously inflated sense of self-importance even though book two began literally two fucking minutes after the end of book one. So, I deeply dislike her perspective still.
- At page 114, I decided I hated the Colonel more than Mare but then he’s not around for long so that didn’t matter.
- I enjoyed Mare being sealed in with Cal because she thinks Kilorn has betrayed her. Always a fan of oh-no-we’re-locked-in-together.
- I was glad Kilorn didn’t truly betray her, but I don’t like love triangles. It was resolved nicely though, so I liked that.
- While locked in together, Mare and Cal agree that they need to stop making mistakes for each other. I’m sure that will work out. (It doesn’t.)
- During book one, I thought the moniker ‘the Lightning Girl’ was nice. I hope that it would turn into a cool thing like the Boy Who Lived. Sweet fucking hell, I felt like I was being beat over the head with this title. It drove me crazy. Multiple times a chapter in Glass Sword, this was said. (That could be an exaggeration, but it felt like every other page.) I made a joke to a friend that I would just start taking a shot every time it was said. Don’t do that.
- Page 137: “Anyone can betray anyone, and Cal is no exception.” No. Not Cal. Leave my boy alone.
- I would have liked to have seen more action from Cal than I got to see.
Okay, I never like to write bad opinions of books because authors are still people. I hope that Victoria Aveyard is deeply proud of her accomplishments with this series. It was not a series for me, but that does not mean it was terrible.
Mare felt like a spoiled brat and an unintelligent protagonist. Someone told me they were glad Mare didn’t feel like a ‘Mary-Sue’ kind of character, but I wasn’t able to relate to Mare. Everything is about how Mare is special, how the rebellion can’t go on without her, and the narrative is centered on her to the point that I honestly have no idea who else was in this book.
We met a lot of characters. None of them were memorable. Throughout the book, it feels as though the same things are being repeated, but nothing ever happens. I was so bored the entire time, and at about half way, I started reading as quickly as possible. I wanted to know what happened, but I wanted it to be over as soon as possible.
I hate that I couldn’t get into this series and I plan on googling what happens to Cal because I did like him.