Review: Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard

3 1/2 STARS FOR X-MEN LIKE RECRUITING, CAL, & A WELL DEVELOPED HEROINE! 

Kneel Or Bleed

If there’s one thing Mare Barrow knows, it’s that she’s different.

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?

The electrifying next installment in the Red Queen series escalates the struggle between the growing rebel army and the blood-segregated world they’ve always known—and pits Mare against the darkness that has grown in her soul.

If you have not read Red Queen, then I suggest that you wait to read my review. Glass Sword is the sequel to Red Queen and cannot be read as a stand-alone. 

I have done it! I have finally read this book! I first read Red Queen, the first book in the series, last year when it came out and since then I have been dying to read the sequel. The book came out in February, but unfortunately my to be read books were way to high for me to have the chance to read it and the perfect opportunity came in May while I was on a vacation. 

So, I have read a little bit of the reviews on Goodreads after I read the book for myself and I don't know where I stand with everyone else. For the most part, I feel like there are a lot of mixed reviews. Either people love it, giving it a 5 star rating, which if you can tell by my reviews that is not something that I do. I do not give a book a 5 star rating unless I feel like it is one of my favorite books of all time and ranks on my top 5 or top 10 books. Just wanted to clarify that. Back to the topic at hand, so the book is falling into either the reader really loves the book or people are giving it a 1 or 2 star and do not believe that it lives up to the caliber of Red Queen. 

So where do I stand? Well, I give it a 3 1/2 stars. 3, because it is not quite a 4 and the 1/2 because I do think that it does have enough qualities and substance to be recognized. The hardest thing with books in a series is trying to review and rate them as individual books. If a book is a trilogy, then it is a little bit easier. I felt like I had a clear judgement with how I felt of each book in the Hunger Games series. The same can be said for the Harry Potter series, but this is also after the series is finished that I feel like I can say that. I state this, because as a reader and reviewer, once the book is finished and the reader knows that the series is not over, they have to acknowledge that. There is more to the story. So, that is my overall thought process while reviewing this book and future books in general when they are in a series, such as Glass Sword. 

Well, what did I like/dislike?

Likes:

• One of my favorite aspects of the first book and I'm glad that it was continued into the sequel, is the similarity to X-Men. So think about it for a second with me. In X-Men, (if you are familiar with the X-Men movies and TV series) those with mutated genetics were sought out to be exterminated. They were different and not understood scientifically, but there was a group that came together to find others like them with the X gene. In X-Men, the group was obviously, the X-Men, while in Glass Sword the group was Mare Barrow and the Scarlet Guard. I really enjoyed Mare and her pursuit of the new bloods. It was really fun finding out what each newblood's power was. It reminded me a lot of X-Men. 

I know that other readers thought that the search for newbloods was boring and did not provide much action, but for me I enjoyed it because I felt like it was setting the basis or foundation for the next book. It takes time to introduce all of the new characters, their powers, and the overall development of the plot. Also, the search for the newbloods provided character development for Cal and Mare. It showed Mare struggling as a leader, connecting with others, and feeling isolated. As for Cal, it showed how his strength as a leader, a strategist, and training all of the newbloods. So in my opinion, the search for the newbloods and bringing the group together, X-Men style, was fun to read about and I really enjoyed. It has been one my favorite things in the whole series. I love learning about all of the different powers. 

• Maven and his mother, Queen Elara, are badass villains. Seriously, Maven is awesome. He is dark and unyielding in his pursuit for Mare, especially with the letters. There is nothing better in a book then a good villain. Someone that really gets into the mind of the hero and breaks them down. It is completely boring to have a villain that is weak and doesn't push the hero, but that isn't Maven or even Queen Elara. Maven scares the shit (sorry for the language) out of Cal and Mare. He is in their head and dreams. That is what makes him a good villain! He is someone Cal and Mare can't escape. They can't move past who they thought he was and who he is now. As for Queen Elara, there is nothing better than an Evil Queen that can get into anyone's head and control them. 

• Mare Barrow is a badass heroine for young women to read about. I really like how Victoria Aveyard wrote Mare Barrow to be so real. She has so many layers to her character and she is not perfect. She is an authentic teenage girl, 17 years old, going through struggles of identity, feeling alone and isolated, without certainty of anything. Is she someone that is always fun to read about? No. There were definitely times when I wanted to shake the girl and tell her to get over her issues. I definitely thought that there were times when she was just self-wallowing, having a pity party, and taking on problems for herself. But then that just brings me back to my earlier statement about Mare Barrow being authentic, she has pro's and con's. But she is still Mare Barrow a 17 year old girl. 

Dislikes:

• The ending. I hate the ending of this book. I don't want to give it away, but I hate the cliff hanger. I feel like I was just left empty-handed. I am completely confused and caught off guard. Part of me feels really angry at Aveyard. Angry at her for not giving us more of an explanation for the ending and what to expect for the next book. It is a completely frustrating ending for the reader and Mare Barrow. What happens to Mare Barrow is awful, annoying, terrible. It is one of those situations that the reader doesn't want to read about or have happen. I know personally, that if something is happening in a book that is terrible for the protagonist, then I don't want to read it. I want to wish it away and not even acknowledge that it is happening. And this is the type of situation that Aveyard put Mare Barrow in. The lightning girl. AND IT IS A CLIFF HANGER! Like I said. It is awful and frustrating. Thus, I am probably going to hate Aveyard until the next book, but it is a cruel thing to do to your readers. 

But what can I do? Wait till the next book and hope that things quickly turn around for Mare Barrow. I sure do hope so. Until then, I will be waiting and follow all of the updates for the next book like everyone else!