Book 2 in Red Queen
Glass Sword is the second book in the Red Queen series by Victoria Aveyard. If you haven’t read my review for Red Queen, check it out here!
A Spoiler-Lite Summary
Glass Sword picks up nearly immediately where Red Queen ends. Readers are dropped directly back into the action as Mare fights for her survival alongside the Scarlet Guard. Reeling with the knowledge that (SPOILER) she is not the only of her kind – with both red and silver blood – she sets out to find others like her and to rescue them before Maven gets to them.
What I Liked about Glass Sword
- Characters remained consistent and faced growth.
- We get to know some new characters better (including Mare’s family).
- We get to explore more of the world and places within it.
- I still like the overall world built, with both magic elements and technical elements woven together.
- I did not expect some of the twists and turns, including the ending!
What I Liked Less
Truthfully, I had a hard time getting into Glass Sword. Considering it was so action-packed, I’m not sure why that was the case. Here are a few disjointed thoughts:
- Too much action: Is it possible? Yes. It felt like we were on the run/in danger so much it started to lose impact for me.
- Too many new characters: I liked getting to know some of these guys, but as a whole, we met so many new faces. Too many new faces. And I started to lose track of who was who.
- Too many new places: Didn’t I just say I liked the new places? Well, I did! But we traveled around so much in Glass Sword I often had to take a minute to reorient myself whenever I sat down to read!
- Dark at times: The story felt a little unnecessarily dark at times. I felt the intensity of what Mare and her “team” (not sure they’re friends…) were facing. But sometimes it felt like plot points happened simply for shock factor.
- Mare: Mare continues to be a very morally gray character. I don’t mind this typically. I myself have written a morally gray character in my own novel. However, her inner dialogues and thought processes seemed to hit on this a little too much.
- Really sad: There was rarely a reprieve to the heaviness of the plot, the loss the characters faced, et cetera. I could’ve used a few moments here and there for lightness.
Final Thoughts on Glass Sword
This one only gets three stars from me. Overall, I had no major qualms. But I did struggle to get through it. It was very long and the nonstop action began to wear on me.
I appreciate that language and sexual content was kept to a minimum, as this is marketed as a YA novel.
I definitely want to read the next novel in the trilogy (King’s Cage), but I just didn’t enjoy Glass Sword as much as Red Queen.
Content Rating: Moderate
for some mild language, intensity, and (non-graphic) violence
Copyright Victoria Aveyard and HarperCollins. Image from Amazon.