Review: Glass Sword (Red Queen #2) by Victoria Aveyard

Glass Sword (Red Queen #2) by Victoria Aveyard 

Published: February 9th 2016 by HarperTeen

 Rating: 4 out of 5

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Available from:  
 

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Synopsis:

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.

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Review:

Now that we have the ground work in place with Red Queen, it's sequel, Glass Sword has a lot to live up to. This is is a book about search and rescue. Plain and simple. The journey is a little more harrowing than Mare, Cal and her Scarlet Guard colleagues envisaged.

The book starts exactly as Red Queen left off. Mare and Cal are with the Scarlet Guard in one of the underground trains. Nobody trusts Cal, a Silver blood Crown Prince, even though he's now on the run like Mare. He's treated like a prisoner but he doesn't mind, he almost accepts his fate. They're all headed for the ruined city they visited in book 1. Only now, as Mare points out, the city is also known by King Maven, when he was pretending to be part of the rebellion. They all come to the conclusion they must evacuate the city of rebel members as soon as they arrive. Only when they do, Maven is already hot on their tails. Cal and Mare, with her once-thought-dead brother, Shade, get the remaining people out by the skin of their teeth. But Maven promises Mare, he will come after her again and again, at all costs. He wants her back.

They escape in a submarine for a little island away from all the action. The rebels have been busy and the island is well equipped to be their next base of action. Mare also finds her family have removed themselves from the Stilts, and her two other brothers, Bree and Tramy, have got away from frontline action in the war. They are all relieved Mare is back safe and away from the palace.

They meet up with a red-eyed colonel who they realise is Farley's father. Mare wants to start on her quest for Newbloods-ones like her with red blood but silver abilities-but the Colonel keeps stalling her. She searches for Cal, instead, only to find him locked away. Mare was always told at the Palace, Trust no one. Here, she crosses wills with her best friend, Kilorn, who is now one of the Colonel's men. Mare gets locked up with Cal. Eventually they find out it's all part of the plan to escape the island from the Colonel's clutches. Farley, Kilorn, Shade, Mare and Cal all fly away aboard a stolen jet and begin their quest.

But Maven knows who they're seeking and it's a race against time to find the newbloods and persuade them to join the cause. Join the cause or die at Maven's hand. The job is difficult and most of the time they find the newbloods already dead. Once Maven even waited for them to arrive so he could capture Mare, but she got away, thanks to her brother.

The tables have now turned and everything Mare once knew about the Scarlet Guard has changed. She thought Farley was in charge, only to find its the Colonel. She thought the Colonel was in charge only to find it's Command. She and Cal get deeper into the web of intrigue that far and away matches the Court. A place Mare really doesn't want to return to.

Her solace becomes Cal. Eventually they make an unlikely team and trust each other enough to watch each others backs. But this isn't a romance. Too many variables are against them. The fact that Cal won't kill Silvers while they're on their hunt becomes a sticking point. One that eventually turns them away from each other. Cal is Silver, Mare is Red. They will never agree.

Glass Sword relies heavily on it's side characters, and they are a motley crew, easily relatable to, and all have their own curves and sharp edges to their personas. Mare's job isn't easy and hardly anyone joins them willingly. Nearly everyone resents her. When they rescue the prisoners, the shock was the double cross from the Newblood Jon, which ultimately led to Shade's death.

Once again, for me, it's the relationship between Cal and Mare that keeps the balance of minds in check. Soon, they all rely on one of these two to help target the Newbloods and their journey isn't an easy one.

The Scarlet Guard has also become an entity with invisible backers that no doubt have some political agenda when it comes to the 100 year war, and the slaughter of Reds versus Silvers. Their motives have not yet been confirmed, other than removing the royals from the throne. Can it really be that simple or are their plans much further down the line than we are lead to believe?

Glass Sword is a solid sequel to Red Queen, with a divide now falling heavily against our main characters. In a doomed finalé, the tipping point is one we knew would come but could scarcely imagine. All compasses now point at Mare, which way will she turn, and will the others survive?

 

-CBx

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About the Author

Victoria Aveyard graduated from USC, where she majored in screenwriting. RED QUEEN is her first novel. She splits her time between Massachusetts and Los Angeles.

You can find Victoria Aveyard here:

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