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A review by dandelionwine1928
Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard
1.0
(might contain slight spoilers)
I think I just find these books slightly lacking, and I can't even exactly articulate why. But I'll try in this review. For one thing, I feel like the story isn't entirely original. The plot reminds me a lot of The Young Elites. I'm not sure which book was even published first, but I see a lot of similarities.
Additionally, I find Mare's narration (the books are told from her point of view) tiresome. She's arrogant, cowardly, and at times very selfish. She considers herself the most important participant in the war that is raging on, and therefore, she puts herself above all others. At times, it's like even her family and her friends don't matter to her at all. Her thoughts revolve around Cal, Maven, and her own self-importance.
To top things off, many of the events (even the ones that I assume were expected to be exciting) are dull and repetitive. It feels like Aveyard only writes scenes and characters if they serve to further Mare's mission, but doesn't add enough development to make those characters/scenes interesting. It seemed like the plot flitted from thing to thing without development, simply to get Mare from one place to the other.
Another thing that bothered me, which was just a small thing, was how Aveyard just used normal technology but named it different things to make it seem new and different, instead of developing her world more and creating her own unique things. Like calling a submarine a "mersive," and so on. That's probably just me nitpicking, but it just felt unoriginal to me.
Overall, the book barely held my interest and I was disappointed in the characters who often seemed one-dimensional. It's too similar to other YA fantasy/dystopian books out there.
I think I just find these books slightly lacking, and I can't even exactly articulate why. But I'll try in this review. For one thing, I feel like the story isn't entirely original. The plot reminds me a lot of The Young Elites. I'm not sure which book was even published first, but I see a lot of similarities.
Additionally, I find Mare's narration (the books are told from her point of view) tiresome. She's arrogant, cowardly, and at times very selfish. She considers herself the most important participant in the war that is raging on, and therefore, she puts herself above all others. At times, it's like even her family and her friends don't matter to her at all. Her thoughts revolve around Cal, Maven, and her own self-importance.
To top things off, many of the events (even the ones that I assume were expected to be exciting) are dull and repetitive. It feels like Aveyard only writes scenes and characters if they serve to further Mare's mission, but doesn't add enough development to make those characters/scenes interesting. It seemed like the plot flitted from thing to thing without development, simply to get Mare from one place to the other.
Another thing that bothered me, which was just a small thing, was how Aveyard just used normal technology but named it different things to make it seem new and different, instead of developing her world more and creating her own unique things. Like calling a submarine a "mersive," and so on. That's probably just me nitpicking, but it just felt unoriginal to me.
Overall, the book barely held my interest and I was disappointed in the characters who often seemed one-dimensional. It's too similar to other YA fantasy/dystopian books out there.