Storm Glass by Maria V. Snyder | Review

Pages: 490

Genre: young adult, fantasy

Synopsis

From the author of the poison study series, it’s a new fantasy book with a world where magic can be stored in glass. The Stormdancers are able to capture storms in glass orbs, but someone is killing them and destroying the storages in order to stop it. Opal Cowan, a glassmaker and magician, is brought in to prevent the disasterous attacks, but her skills might not be enough. Much is needed to be learned about the connection between glass and magic, and it not easy to gather that information with the most skilled magicians dead and the others being rather mysterious. To help and stay safe, Opal needs to learn the reason behind the attacks and how to stop them.

My thoughts

Rating out of five:

I’ve always been fascinated by glassblowing and it was interesting to read a fantasy book that revolved around it. It’s still only an average book in all other aspects; writing, plot, characters, romance … it’s nothing special. Poison study did so well, and both this series and the healer series seems to be trying (and failing) at mimicking that sucess without creating the same story. Instead of a taster for a king, the girl is a glassmaker or healer, the love interests is more bland and the same with the main girl Opal. To not make her easily compared to the original kick-ass Yelena, why not make Opal unsure of herself always. Also, storm metaphors are nice the first five times or so, after 300 more pages with it I’m out.

I’m not giving these series a third chance for now. It’s not for me. I do love the glassblowing aspect though, and have been looking for books with it. Have you read any other books with glassblowing? I remember reading the fiction book “The glassblower from Milano” by Marina Fiorato many years ago (I don’t really remember it at all) and liking it, but I think that’s the only other book.