Customer Reviews

Sea Glass (Glass, Book 2)

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(18)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Opal Cowen has been summoned back to Sita's Magicians Keep by the high council. Never a good sign. After an unsuccessful trip to find her lost friend Ulrick who has switched souls with her long time enemy, Opal heeds the summons and returns only to be put under house arrest. Her new found power of siphoning the magic of others has the Keep on high alert and she must earn back their confidence.

At the same time, Opal is determined to prove that Ulrick is no longer himself, and becomes entangled in a plot to steal control over the glass messengers Opal creates for Sitia. Unless Opal can figure out who is behind the plot, all of Sitia may be in danger from something much worse than just some stolen magic...

You know the old saying that sequels are never as good as the original? Well Snyder has proved that saying wrong. I enjoyed "Sea Glass" much more than I liked its predecessor "Storm Glass." I found that Snyder developed her characters a lot more than in "Storm Glass" and therefore I found them to have more depth and were more enjoyable to read about.

While I found "Sea Glass" extremely entertaining and exciting, I couldn't give it a five-star rating for several small things. First, "Sea Glass" was an extremely slow starter. I was on page 252 before I really started to become interested in the plot and wanted to find out if Opal would succeed in the end. I'm not saying that the first 250 pages of the book were horrible or boring, I just found this part of "Sea Glass" to be very reminiscent of "Storm Glass." Opal gets either lured into a trap or abducted, and fairly easily finds her way out of it again. It definitely gave me a feeling of déjà vu.

Second, I really didn't understand the title. Only more than half way through the book do we understand why the title is "Sea Glass" at all, and just as quickly as the topic comes up, the sub-plot around the "Sea Glass" is dropped like a molten slug of glass. Perhaps there's some sort of metaphor Snyder was going for that I missed completely when titling her book, but if she's going to continue with the "Sea Glass" sub-plot in her next "Glass" book one would think she would have waited and named that book "Sea Glass," not this one. I would have called the book "Blood Glass" but without giving away any of the plot, I won't go into detail as to why.

"Sea Glass" also had a tendency to weave in several sub-plots into the main storyline that to me didn't make a whole lot of sense. I get that Snyder is setting us up for the next book in the series, but it seems like she could have been a little more subtle in her placement of these plots. Instead of finding them interesting and intriguing, I found them a little on the annoying side for two reasons: First, they distracted from the main storyline, and second, they were never resolved in any way so I found myself let down and a little confused.

Now, I can't bash Snyder too hard for the sub-plot thing as I understand this is a second in the series book, and therefore to make her final (I'm assuming it will be a trio) book more climatic she had to put in some "teasers." Thing "Empire Strikes Back" kind of disappointment. You know, you're all into the story and you are on the edge of your seat and then the credits start to roll and you're like: "WHAT? It's over?! No way!" For that I have to applaud her.

Overall, Snyder has crafted yet another magical book and has taken readers into a wonderful land of enchantment. Her characters are deep and stirring, and she has an uncanny ability to make the magic of the characters come to life. For those reasons I can overlook the small complaints I may have formed throughout "Sea Glass" and will be very excited to read the third installment. Too bad we have to wait until 2011. Sad.

Sea Glass by Maria Snyder
Fantasy- Sept 1st, 2009
5 stars

Sea Glass is another magical triumph by the amazing talented Maria Snyder. Her books have the ability to transport me into a world that seems both magical and familiar. Her finely crafted novels pull me into her story and I feel as if I am one of her characters! In Sea Glass, Maria Snyder begins the 2nd installment of her Glass series involving the student magician Opal. What I found so exciting about this story was how the author seamlessly builds tension and thrilled me as the stakes in Opal's life change dramatically.

Opal is a magical apprentice who has already gained fame when she helped save her country of Sitia. But as a result she has discovered deadly powers including one that allows her to drain the magic from another magician. Now she is being commanded by the Council to return under their custody. Opal is willing to turn herself in because she understands that people are afraid of her powers but she also realizes that once she does her skills maybe manipulated or used against her. Either way she knows the Council plans to keep close tabs on her and any independence will be cut severely short. To trouble her further, she has discovered that her friend Ulrick was tricked/forced to swap bodies with an evil blood magician, named Devlen Devlen tortured and manipulated Opal and she fears the destruction he will cause in his current disguise as Ulrick. Unfortunately, no one believes her claims. To prove the truth, Opal is determined to find and rescue Ulrick and prove to the Council and her friends that the impossible is possible before disaster strikes.

I highly recommend this extraordinary fantasy. The boundless exuberance of characters like Leif and Janco and the suspenseful storyline will keep you at the edge of your seat! Opal and Janco's adventures as they try to find the real Ulrick, were well worth the price of the book. I love Maria Snyder's endearing characters, their bonding and lighthearted banter made this story a fun filled quest. But Maria Snyder also brings a darker more sinister side to her story that brims with incredible tension.

Opal's admirable force of will and core of decency as she combats seemingly insurmountable obstacles are truly enthralling to read. As Opal tries to prove the truth of Ulrick's true identity she is tested by difficult circumstances. She no longer knows who are her real allies and friends. This adversity transforms Opal into a newer, tougher and more cynical heroine who still manages to keep a good heart. I was captivated by the difficult struggles and sacrifices she had to make to find the truth. And Opal gets much more than she bargained.

This story does resolve the mystery behind Devlen and Ulrick but ends with surprises and changes for Opal that can only lead to a more turbulent and exciting 3rd book. Even though Opal faces an uncertain future, I was happy Opal had friends and family to support her.

This was a fabulous book from start to finish. An indomitable heroine and endearing characters combined with a spellbinding plot make this book a treasure! I can't wait to find out what happens next!

Reviewed by Steph from the Bookaholics Romance Book Club

Sea Glass - by Maria V Snyder

Sea Glass is the second offering in this trilogy about Glass Magician, Opal Cowan, who was introduced to us in Storm Glass. The third Glass novel should be on the shelves autumn of 2010. Opal Cowan is a Glass Magician is able to infuse her glass baubles with enough magic so that if you have any magic you can us these baubles as magical...errrrr...cell phones, I guess you could call them. At the end of Storm Glass we learn that Opal has found a new and horrific talent; she is able to siphon magic away from another magician and claim it for her own. Opal is deemed by the Council of magicians, (the same exact plot devise as in Ms Snyder's first trilogy!!!) to be a danger to herself and others. Thus she must be kept a prisoner for her own good. Throw in some evil Blood Magic users who have found the ability to switch souls in people and there you have it! Actually so much of this "Glass Magic" trilogy is like the first set of books that I am really disapointed and disenchanted. I expected something new and fresh yet that isn't what I feel that I got.

This Fantasy novel is filled with wonderful tidbits of glass making trivia, some mystery and a very, busy and somewhat confusing plot. If you haven't read at least the first in this trilogy you will most likely put this down after the first few chapters. For that matter I read the first book and still had a bit of trouble following along. You may even want to read Ms Snyder's first trilogy just to be on the safe side and to know who is who and get a better grasp on this writer's type of storytelling.

What this book does seem filled with (as does the first book in the trilogy) are excessive scenes of Opal up on her horse, running to try and do a job, being tortured, being betrayed, being held hostage, running for her life, fighting and losing, assassination attempts, back on her horse running hither and yon, having her blood stolen, some more torture and betrayal and very little else. This is a very bleak book in my opinion. There is a kind of romance thrown in for good measure too. Opal can't trust anyone and as I said is betrayed by just about everyone she knows and that level of tension throughout the book made for a very uncomfortable read for me.

Opal comes off as the proverbial TSTL heroine. (To Stupid to Live) Although stupid is perhaps to strong of a word, perhaps naive might be better but it`s still not what I`m looking for.. This book reads more like an old time bodice ripper where the heroine constantly puts herself into danger and into the evil villains clutches, than a fantasy novel with a strong female lead.

Going into it, this book had a lot of things going for it, for me as a reader. It's set in the same world -- with some of the same characters -- as Snyder's earlier trilogy, Poison Study / Magic Study / Fire Study, which I absolutely *loved*. Those books pull me in again and again with how much I truly like the characters, with the sizzling tension, and the vivid settings. This next series is truthfully missing out on some of that, but I still really enjoyed the first book, Storm Glass. And although that book didn't pull me nearly as much as the original trilogy, I still found myself really growing to like Opal, the main character. And both Storm Glass and Sea Glass do a great job of really building on the unique ways in which magic works in this world, and I love the creativity with which Snyder approaches this.

But the things that bothered me in small ways about Storm Glass more or less explode in Sea Glass -- enough so that I really wish I had never picked this book up. For while Sea Glass certainly isn't *all bad* (hence the 3 star rating), there are parts of it that bother me so much that it has probably ruined the series as a whole for me. Yes, kidnap, rape, and torture are often part of the plot in fantasy novels like this. And it's not unheard of in these novels for the perpetrator to start developing romantic feelings for the heroine -- "You held up longer than any other women I've ever tortured!" is something I've seen more than once. But here, it's the heroine's response to this that really left me feeling sick.

That said, this is a relatively small part of the book as a whole -- for me, it was still enough to flavor how I felt about the rest of it, but I'm guessing from the other reviews here that it doesn't hit everyone that way.

I have not run into a main character in a book (of any genre) this irritating in quite some time. The only one I can think of off the top of my head that might be MORE irritating is Anita Blake, and that is saying quite a bit!

Opal is supposedly a powerful mage - but she spends all of her time being kidnapped (usually a result of something dumb she has done), being imprisoned (usually the result of something stupid she has done), being tricked (because she's not bright enough to ever figure anything out), and whining, whining, whining. When she is not whining, she engages in constant self-criticism. <shudders> The other characters (cardboard cutouts all) kept telling her how nice she is, but I saw little actual evidence of that...

If you ever wanted to read a book where you wish to be able to reach into the pages and shake some sense and intelligence into a character, this might be the one!

I really enjoyed Maria V. Snyder's first trilogy (POISON STUDY, MAGIC STUDY, and FIRE STUDY). This new trilogy about glassmaker Opal Cowan, however...not so much.

Although the characters cross over between the STUDY series and the GLASS series, the main characters in the STUDY series are much more interesting to read about than in this one. Opal is immature; she makes mistake after mistake and then whines about how no one ever believes her and really, she lacks Yelena's spunk. I'd kind of like to smack Opal, and I'm saying this as someone who is around Opal's age. I'd rather much rather hang out with the STUDY characters, who on the just more vibrant.

But I think what annoys me the most is how everyone in this book sounds like someone from the twenty-first century and not a character in a high fantasy novel. Their use of sarcasm and other colloquialisms just don't ring true for the novel's setting. For example, in one part, the character Kade tells Opal that she should leave a note, and they joke about how they could just create a form with check boxes. It's not the kind of humor I expect to find in a fantasy novel; it's just jarring. Another jarring thing is all the fragments that Snyder uses in her writing; they're awkward and could have easily been made into proper sentences to eliminate the weirdness.

I don't think that STORM GLASS stands alone, although to be honest, I can't say. The first time I read it, I read it soon after finishing STORM GLASS, the first book, and I was confused by what was happening. The second time I read SEA GLASS, I did not reread STORM GLASS, and somehow, the book made more sense. Also, I definitely think reading the STUDY series before reading the GLASS series is a must.

Still, I enjoyed reading the book. It's a pageturner and decent light reading. I do love the world that Snyder has created in her two trilogies, after all. I'll read SPY GLASS when it comes out, but I don't consider the GLASS series to be must-reads the way I'd recommend the STUDY series.

Also, I'm sick of love triangles.

If you liked Storm Glass, you will like Sea Glass, as the story is nearly identical. I'm not sure if I'd be willing to buy the third book in the series.

I liked the setting, the perspective on magic, and most of the supporting characters. I initially liked that Opal seemed more like an ordinary person struggling to deal with magic, politics, and violence.

Unfortunately, Opal and the situations she ends up in are my biggest problems. Opal is slow to learn not to trust people, but even that doesn't account for how often she is kidnapped or threatened. The self-doubt, which at first felt realistic, continued through the *entire* book. Finally, her love life makes no sense to me. She's involved with one man she doesn't know well, one man she never seemed terribly interested in, and one man whom she knows mainly through days of torture (one reason I may avoid the third book is that if she warms up to this guy, I may be sick). The only good thing about her love life is that not much time is spent on it.

If you loved the Study series then this one is kind of disappointing.

This second book is slightly better than the first but at the same time it's much worse.

Opal here is more angry because of everything that she's gone through and is going through. She's discovered her new powers and is dealing with them and pitying herself. It got to be too much. All that self-hate made me dislike this book.

This book wasn't as good as the first trilogy. Opal is no Yelena. It slogged at times and I never clicked with the characters. I had a hard time getting into the book and it was disappointing. Several times I caught glimpses of the old series in this book. It felt like the aspects of the previous trilogy were being used in this new trilogy. It was still good just not as good as I thought it would be.

I do have to say that the ending has me waiting for the final book.

I was hesitant to read this book after reading Snyder's Study Series. I had fallen in love with Posion Study (book 1), but witnessed the writing and the characters swiftly decline in quality as the series progressed. Nevertheless, I gave Sea Glass a try, and am glad to see that Snyder has somewhat redeemed herself.

Sea Glass was an enjoyable read, set in an intriguing world. I was pleased to see minor characters in the Study Series play a larger role in this one, such as Janco. My one major gryp with this author is she seems to no longer write a heroine that doesn't become slightly daft.

All in all it was an entertaining read, but I'm not sure that I will be continuing on with the series.

"Sea Glass" by Maria Snyder is the second book in the "Glass" series. The action seems to pick up soon after the first book in the series "Storm Glass" ends . Glass magician, Opal Cowan has a powerful, frightening power that everyone wants to use for their own gain. Having been burned in the past from trusting the wrong people, Opal doesn't know who to trust and has trouble trusting her own instincts. She is in love with one man, Kade yet she still has feeling for a former lover, Devlin, who tricked her into spending several nights with him. There is also the threat of the continuing proliferation of Blood Magic and numerous enemies out to get her.

While I understood Opal's anger and confusion that she had been duped and used in the past, her attitude became annoying and tedious. The book wallows in Opal's feelings of distrust, hurt, and confusion. They color all of her actions, so she makes lots of mistakes along the way. After a while, this sympathetic young woman morphed into an annoying, childish character that I had little patience for.

The most interesting character in the book was the "villain", Devlin. His character wasn't the straight arrow that Kade, Opal's lover was. But that was probably why he was fascinating. Sly, charming, smart and devious, his character was filled with layer after layer of gray. It was refreshing to have an interesting character that knew what he wanted and did whatever he had to do to get it. He was featured heavily in "Storm Glass" the first book in the series, but since I skipped that book, I never read about his more unsavory deeds.

Kade, Opal's lover was a nice guy with some common sense. His back-story wasn't half as interesting as Devlin's and I found the story of the glass orbs to be a little boring. But more importantly, I never got a feel for his personality.

Other friends, and enemies come and go throughout this book. Having read all of the "Study" books, I was familiar with almost all of the supporting cast. Even with all that background, I still couldn't manage to care that much about Opal or this book. I just didn't find it interesting. I won't be picking up another one of these books, even though the triangle between Devlin, Opal and Kade has yet to be resolved.

While I didn't read the first book in this series, I think that "Sea Glass" would be easier for readers to follow if they pick up "Storm Glass" first.