A review by cuddlesome
A Face Like Glass by Frances Hardinge
5.0
I haven't smiled or laughed aloud this much reading a book in a while.
Neverfell is incredibly endearing right from the start in all her naivete and only becomes more likable as she gets older and wiser. I had a great time following her adventures and feared for her at every turn.
I don't think there was a single character I didn't like, for that matter. Even the meanest, evilest ones were charming in their own way. It felt like everyone was a fleshed-out person that had a life outside of the immediate happenings of the plot, which is how it always ought to be. Zouelle, Neverfell's beautiful, conflicted, morally gray friend, the Kleptomancer, the elusive thief with great machinations even he doesn't fully understand, and Master Grandible, Neverfell's adoptive guardian and resident grumpy cheesemaker, were among my absolute favorites and all for totally different reasons.
Even familiar tropes associated with characters like Treble, the angry, determined right hand of the Grand Steward, felt fresh and new. The main antagonists (who I hesitate to call by name since there's an element of mystery surrounding them) were appropriately large threats that felt impossible to defeat.
I am VERY hard to win over when it comes to fictional worldbuilding. I usually tune things out when fantasy/sci-fi novels do the inevitable rambling about how the society/mechanics/etc work in their particular setting. I'm more interested in characters than anything else; what do I care about the world itself? That didn't happen with A Face Like Glass.
Perhaps it's partly because the setting, Caverna, is personified. This is one of my favorite exchanges in the book:
'...You start to understand Caverna... and you fall in love with her. Imagine the most beautiful woman in the world, but with tunnels as her long, tangled, snake-like hair. Her skin is dappled in trap-lantern gold and velvety black, like a tropical frog. Her eyes are cavern lagoons, bottomless and full of hunger. When she smiles, she has diamonds and sapphires for teeth, thousands of them, needle-thin.'
'But that sounds like a monster!'
'She is. Caverna is terrifying. This is love, not liking.'
ISN'T THAT BEAUTIFUL? I LOVE THAT! WOW!
The whole book is written like that. It's so good.
One of the other reasons I was won over by the worldbuilding probably had something to do with every one of the unique magical Crafts made in the society being a sensory experience. Additionally, every time a new concept was introduced it fit easily into place with the preestablished rules.
I was on my toes with what was going to happen next the entire time. All of the pieces to the puzzle are given to the reader and retrospectively make all the sense in the world.
All that to say, this book is SO good. So so good.
Neverfell is incredibly endearing right from the start in all her naivete and only becomes more likable as she gets older and wiser. I had a great time following her adventures and feared for her at every turn.
I don't think there was a single character I didn't like, for that matter. Even the meanest, evilest ones were charming in their own way. It felt like everyone was a fleshed-out person that had a life outside of the immediate happenings of the plot, which is how it always ought to be. Zouelle, Neverfell's beautiful, conflicted, morally gray friend, the Kleptomancer, the elusive thief with great machinations even he doesn't fully understand, and Master Grandible, Neverfell's adoptive guardian and resident grumpy cheesemaker, were among my absolute favorites and all for totally different reasons.
Even familiar tropes associated with characters like Treble, the angry, determined right hand of the Grand Steward, felt fresh and new. The main antagonists (who I hesitate to call by name since there's an element of mystery surrounding them) were appropriately large threats that felt impossible to defeat.
I am VERY hard to win over when it comes to fictional worldbuilding. I usually tune things out when fantasy/sci-fi novels do the inevitable rambling about how the society/mechanics/etc work in their particular setting. I'm more interested in characters than anything else; what do I care about the world itself? That didn't happen with A Face Like Glass.
Perhaps it's partly because the setting, Caverna, is personified. This is one of my favorite exchanges in the book:
'...You start to understand Caverna... and you fall in love with her. Imagine the most beautiful woman in the world, but with tunnels as her long, tangled, snake-like hair. Her skin is dappled in trap-lantern gold and velvety black, like a tropical frog. Her eyes are cavern lagoons, bottomless and full of hunger. When she smiles, she has diamonds and sapphires for teeth, thousands of them, needle-thin.'
'But that sounds like a monster!'
'She is. Caverna is terrifying. This is love, not liking.'
ISN'T THAT BEAUTIFUL? I LOVE THAT! WOW!
The whole book is written like that. It's so good.
One of the other reasons I was won over by the worldbuilding probably had something to do with every one of the unique magical Crafts made in the society being a sensory experience. Additionally, every time a new concept was introduced it fit easily into place with the preestablished rules.
I was on my toes with what was going to happen next the entire time. All of the pieces to the puzzle are given to the reader and retrospectively make all the sense in the world.
All that to say, this book is SO good. So so good.