Glass Sword: 2 (Red Queen)

Product Information

Maven forfeits his engagement to Evangeline in his marriage to the princess of the Lakelands, Iris Cygnet, a Silver with the ability of water manipulation. Maven married Iris Cygnet to secure an alliance with the Lakelanders. The two of them despised each other and in the end, Iris betrayed Maven and traded him for King Orrec Cygnet's killer, handing him to Cal. Trivia Without giving away spoilers, Glass Sword started right in the action, basically right where Red Queen left off. The main focus of Glass Sword is to search for and recruit others like Mare Barrow for the uprising against Silver Royalty.

As part of the plan, the moment his father was killed, surveillance was restored and Maven screamed in Cal's face he had killed their father - which with the arranged circumstances would fall together as they had planned. Cal and Mare were then immediately arrested by Cal's troops, who turned on him to support Maven, now the new king.Will she crumble under the weight of the lives that are the cost of rebellion? Or have treachery and betrayal hardened her forever? The mild reminiscences of Shatter Me linger, but this time they are coupled with Breaking Dawn and The Young Elites deja-vus due to the expansion of the newbloods' power palette. Nonetheless, there are some characters that have managed to amaze me with their original abilities and I had an overall sense of badassery every time their lot became the focus. I do have one slight regret though -- I would have liked to know each one better, because there was a gold mine of awesomeness for side stories. More and more newbloods are rescued and added to the group. Cal trains them to use weapons and to fight. He also helps them use their powers.

I FINISHED. AND I HAVE MANY, MANY THOUGHTS. Let me try to get them down coherently in GIF's (find my review of Red Queen HERE): Mare plans on making a deal with the Colonel. She plans to start a civil war, by using a news broadcast to display Elara’s body. The Colonel becomes Mare’s ally, and they do a Hunger Games type thing on the TV that is a shoutout for Reds, newbloods, and Silvers to join them against Maven. Sometime in the future, Mare is part of the conflict that follows the dissolution of the Kingdom of Norta, known as the Dancing War. Two decades later, in the War of Red Thunder, she and Cal defeat the forces trying to elevate their two children, Shade and Coriane Calore, to the throne. Both their children broadcast several times "their own abdication, renunciation of rights, and citizen pledges to Montfort several times, hoping to quell any conflicts of succession to the former Nortan Kindom." Nanny transforms into Maven and everyone else waltzes into Corros dressed as masked Sentinels. Our disguised crew is surprised to hear that Queen Elara is there, and their refusal to see her sparks suspicion with the Silver Captain in charge. Here’s our recap of what happened in Glass Sword. Read on for a full plot summary to refresh your memory! in shortI would be more than willing to be the one who shatters you and stomps on your pieces, insufferable lightning girl! Tiberias "Cal" Calore VII: The elder son and heir of King Tiberias Calore VI through his first wife, Coriane Jacos. Though he is engaged to Evangeline, he is in love with Mare, a fact that she uses to further her goals in the Scarlet Guard. He is a Burner, which means his Silver powers allow him to manipulate fire. He doesn't get along with Mare's best friend Kilorn. Honestly, I couldn't be the only one who noticed how there must have been generations of powered Reds living out their lives in secrecy.

The group escapes the island by plane. They plan to find the newbloods on the list before Maven does. At the prison, Mare, Cal, Farley, Kilorn, and the newbloods who chose to go storm the prison. Mare goes especially over the top and kills silver guards who were praying for mercy but Mare says "lightning has no mercy" and kills them. This damaged her relationship with Cal, so he did not help Mare with his fire. At the prison, they kill the queen but Shade is killed by Ptolemus and Mare goes crazy on the flight home making her friends mad. For everything you could possibly be looking for, I can suggest a better book/series than this one. Unless you are actively seeking poor writing and boredom.

Must reads

They reach the area of the prison that Julian is being kept in. Suddenly there’s a load of mist and the group is separated. Mare wakes up inside a cell in the Throne Room, with Queen Elara Merandus standing over her. Elara informs her that she has just finished reading her entire life and that they now must decide what to do about her, a lowly Red servant with Silver abilities. After a short debate, King Tiberias forces Mare to live as the "long-lost" Mareena Titanos and promises her to his youngest son, Prince Maven. The Colonel and Kilorn enter the cell. Kilorn tranquilises the Colonel, and along with Shade, helps Mare, Cal, and Farley escape. Jon, the Eye: Mare & crew arrive at a deserted village where they meet Jon, a powerful newblood Eye who can see the entire future. Jon tells them that Maven and Queen Elara are holding Newbloods and Silver dissenters (including Julian and Sara Skonos, a friend of Julian and the late Queen Coriane) captive with Silent Stone at Corros Prison. Elara wants to study and manipulate the Newbloods to use them to her advantage, so Jon says she must be stopped. No one knows whether to trust Jon, but Mare decides they must take the risk and try to free the prisoners. Jon refuses to join the band of Newblood rebels, but does suggest they make a pit stop at Little Sword Lake where they might find something useful.

And Mare alone cannot carry this story. If, perhaps, her character had been so strong and interesting that it didn't really matter about the one-dimensional other characters, then maybe this book wouldn't have been terrible. But Mare is neither a likable character, nor an anti-heroine that demands your sympathy anyway. She's an immature, often stupid, mess.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. Mare said in King's Cage that she wouldn't dye her hair purple, the color of her electricity like the other electricons; but then, in War Storm, she lets Gisa dye the grayed ends of her hair purple. When they get to Naercey, they see that it’s been evacuated. The group gets shot at, as the Silver soldiers have already arrived. There’s a bit of a battle and Shade gets shot, but Mare manages to escape on a submarine.