Customer Reviews

Shatterglass

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Next to the street rat Briar, Trisana "Tris" Chandler has always been my favorite member of the circle. There's something about this fiery redheaded weather witch that just fascinates me. In this book Tamora Piece takes one of my favorite mages and gives her a great book to star in. Like every other book in the circle opens trilogy, Shatterglass deals with the members of the circle finding a mage student, and a crime. Street Magic had gangs. Cold Fire had an arsonist. Magic Steps has the mob. Shatterglass takes it a step father and introduces a serial killer.

Tris is staying in Tharios so her mage teacher, Niko Goldeye can take place in a conference on wind scrying. Tris enjoys Tharios and the glassmakers that live there but she hates the mistreatment of the prathmuni, the lowest class who deals with death and garbage. One day she stumbles upon a glass mage named Keth who, from an experience involving being stuck by lightning, has had his glass magic contaminated by lightning magic. Because of this he can no longer fulfill his job as a journeymen glassmaker. Tris realizes that he is a mage right away but Keth won't believe it, at first. Suddenly, as one of the few lightning mages, Tris finds herself as Keth, a grown man's, new teacher.

Meanwhile a series is murders is taking place in Tharios. The city's entertainers, the yakedasi, are being killed and then displayed in public places. This greatly hurts the Tharian culture which places so much on purity. Tris and Keth accidentally realize that with Keth's lighting and glass ability, he can really help find the killer. Unfortunately in order for him to do this he not only needs to get his new found magic under control, but get rid of his fear of lighting. Can Tris and Keth find the killer before he kills someone close to them?

I absolutely loved this book! Once again Tamora Pierce does not disappoint. Tris and Keth's story is suspenseful and a tab shade darker than the other books in the series. The setting of Tharios is very new and different. It's such a city that considers themselves to be democratic, but only if your int he higher classes does your opinion count for anything. I would highly recommend this book. In fact, the Circle Opens quartet is my favorite series by Tamora Piece so far. It's a shame that we'll have to wait a couple more years until we receive another Circle book. Until then, I can't wait until her new Tortall book, Trickster's Choice, comes out this fall! I hope you enjoyed this book as much as I did!

Shatterglass, the conclusion to Tamora Pierce's "The Circle Opens" quartet, follows in the footsteps of the other three books in the series. I felt some inclination to skim over a bit of the early plot development because I knew that the book would fit the established pattern; that Tris would discover an untrained mage who desperately needs help to establish control over his magic.

That said, I DIDN'T skim any of this book because I enjoy Ms. Pierce's writing so much. It is engaging and even when she chooses a potentially predictable plot, she infuses it with something all her own. I found myself reading this book all the time, even when I had other things-enjoyable things!-to do.

The character development in this book, particularly of Tris and Keth, is excellent, with compelling motivation presented in a way that involves the reader. Some of the more minor characters are not so multifaceted, but it is appropriate in a young adult novel of this length.

Like the other books in the quartet, this book delves right into murder and mayhem. I would direct most younger readers to start reading "The Song of the Lioness" quartet and move on to these later, because there are some darker parts in this series.

This particular book is set in a very interesting culture. The language and the setting seem to have their roots in ancient Greece, but with some interesting emphases. The class system is in full effect here. Tris and Keth, both foreigners, cannot understand the culture's obsession with spiritual and physical cleanliness, and consider most of it folly, but the author does a good job of presenting the other side of the story as well.

The main reason I didn't give this book five stars is that, at the end, I felt that there were still some significant mysteries to be cleared up. That is not to say that I have to have everything neatly tied up at the end of a book (indeed, that usually makes the book seem fake), but there were some fundamental questions that are never answered. (For instance, WHY does Keth's magic predict crimes? The question is brought up but never seriously addressed. Perhaps it's a subject for another book? Well, for the sake of the fans, I hope so.)

Despite this one complaint, I found the book fast moving, intriguing, and generally enjoyable. I'll be recommending this and Tamora Pierce's other novels to the patrons I work with, and of course continuing to read everything new she releases. Hope you enjoy the book as much as I did!

Shatterglass, the fourth book of the Circle Opens Quartet, follows the trend of the previous three by lacking a firm connection between substanative literature and magic. In Shatterglass, Pierce takes on difficult characters and situations, writing at length about the times when we cannot do anything, and descisions between human compassion and justice.

However, the parts of the book that are not character development are lacking. The teaching of magic is stretched a little thin, and the rare parts where magic is used in a large way fail to enchant the reader as well as the first quartet did. One aspect of the magic that should have been interesting is Tris learning new powers to scry on the wind, yet not only did this not add to the plot, it did little to captivate the reader. Perhaps this was only introduced so that the 2005 novel The Circle Reforged or the 2007 novel about Tris at Lightsbridge can have it in their plots.

For a fantasy novel to be successful, the plot and character development must work together with the magical elements. On the rare occasion when this happens, the genre is better than any other at portraying humans. Although Pierce has fallen short with Shatterglass, I was still drawn into the novel and read it in half a day. Altogether, it is not a brilliant book, but it is an enjoyable one.

Shatterglass was an excellent followup to the prior Circle Opens quartet. I guess I identify most with Tris, even though I am much, much older. I've had a wicked temper I've fought all my life, and it is interesting to weave temper control into her magic. Actually, I'm a huge fan of Tamora Pierce, even though I'm a 50+ year old woman...her books in many ways remind me of the best of Andre Norton. They are suitable for younger folk, but interesting and somewhat intriguing for us older readers. There isn't a book in any of her series that I would rate below 4 stars! And her determination to make her characters strong, but flawed, and with emphasis on females in uncharacteristic roles is a great way to give role models to our young readers.

Shatterglass is the fourth and final book in The Circle Opens quartet written by Tamora Pierce. Like all the other books in this series, it focuses on young mage (Tris) who discovers an ambient mage and ends up teaching him/her. However, this book is different than the others because Tris must teach a grown man. At the same time, a murderer, nicknamed, the "Ghost" is killing yaskedasi and Dema must find the culprit. How are these events related? Read the book and find out!

Even though Tris is the least likeable out of all the mages, she is my favourite character. Tamora describes her very well and her sarcastic comments often make me laugh. Chime, the glass dragon Tris adopts, is another perfect example of Pierce's skill. Chime was such a strong and vibrant character that I immediately fell in love with her. Another great asset was that the book deals with social classes, which made it very realistic.

However, I didn't like the fact that we heard very little of Nikaren Goldeye, Tris's teacher. He was rarely present and Tris and Niko didn't really seem to bond and their friendship didn't seem to evolve. I was very excited to find out more about wind scrying, but I found the concept was very badly described and uninteresting. I was also hoping that the murderer's personality would be as complex as that of the arsonist in Cold Fire, but I found he lacked dimension.

I supposed I was just excpecting Shatterglass to be as good as Cold Fire, or even Tris's Book, but I was disappointed. However, if you have read the other books in the series, I suggest you purchase this one anyways to complete the quartet.

Warning: Spoilers may be within text

This fourth and last book of the Circle Opens by Tamora Pierce has really ended the series quite nicely.

Trisana Chandler (Tris) and her teacher, Niko Goldeye, travel to Tharios for a convention of mages. While her stay in Tharios promises to be exciting, Tris finds that the city is not at all to her taste. While the music, performers, and glassmakers are superb, she finds that the way society is defined is offensive and repugnant. For instance, prathmun, the city's lowest member of society, are unable to participate in most city functions, are treated with scorn by the people, and must handle the worst jobs in the city. At times, they are even considered bugs by the people.

Tris, being a fair and kind (although sometimes hot-tempered) mage, is outraged. But her troubles are far from over when she discovers a glassmaker, Keth, who has the power of lightening magic as well as glass magic. Finding no other teacher in the area to instruct him in magic's proper use, she undertakes his training. The problem? Keth is an adult, whilst Tris is a 13 year old adolescent still struggling with her own powers.

To top matters, a murderer is stalking the city, killing the actresses and the female performers (the yaskedasi) of the city and then displaying their corpses in public places. Enraged by the contamination of the city, the government officials use every one of their resources to track down their killer.

Keth and Tris both utilize their powers to track down this killer in the hopes that the deaths will stop. The rest...you'll have to read for yourself.



As for my opinion on this novel, it's great. The characters are wonderfully written and the personalities are written with great detail. For instance, Keth, an adult violently objects to a teacher for his powers fearing change as many adults do. Pierce is even able to accurately portray the emotions that plague Tris, who after all, has not had much experience in the world.

The suspense is also a key factor that is well played. Each page keeps in a trance such that you'll never want to put down the book. Pierce even ties in problems in our own societies into the book including the treatment of those less fortunate (i.e.: the prathmun are a relation to the "untouchables" in India or the slaves in colonial times.)

Pierce also understands that no good novel is without its touch of strong emotion. She builds the feelings by killing off a character and creating situations where characters are torn with indecision.

Overall: This is a wonderful read that will certainly capture your imaginations. However, this is a book that composed mostly of fiction and the world of fantasy. Should you be opposed to the idea of magic, I strongly suggest that you do not pick up this book.

This is a good, entertaining book. The reason I didn't give it five stars is because Tris has never been my favorite character. The plot is good though and the cultures that the author comes up with is really interesting.
Tris and her teacher, Niko, are visiting Tharios, the capital of the city-state of Tharios. Tris goes exploring and discovers a glass maker who appears to be sucking all the surrounding magic in to his glass. Tris discovers that he has glass magic warped by lightning magic. Too bad for her, she is the only mage in residence with lightning magic, which means SHE gets to teach him. Teaching a new mage is not something the prickly, stubborn, and anti-social Tris ever wanted to do. As if things couldn't get more complicated, there is a serial killer loose in the city!

Shatterglass is an exciting fantasy by Tamora Pierce whom in my opinion is one of the best authors in the world! In this last book of the quartet Tris, a fourteen year-old mage with extrordinary powers ends up meeting a man named Keth. Though he is older than her in atleast his mid-twenties Keth has no idea that he has a magical gift that has to do with both glassmaking and lightning mixed. When Tris discovers his power it is her job to teach him how to controle his magic. As she works with her new student a murderer arrives in the city and is killing women performers almost everyday. Keth and Tris must combined their powers to catch the criminal before its too late!
-Hannah M.

While I have enjoyed seeing Tris get herself into trouble and work on getting herself out of it, it's definitely nice to see that there is someone out there who is worse tempered than she is. It's also refreshing to see her in a different light than before. She has perhaps grown more, and can relate to the Glaki, which is nice to see!

This book was very exciting. Unlike most of the other books in the Circle Opens, it does not tell what the bad guy is thinking or planning. This is the last book in the Circle Opens quartet. This time, it's Tris's turn to help teach a mage. Kethlun Warder used to be a glass maker, until he was struck by lightning and lost his gift for glass making. Keth soon learns he can stop the murders of residents of Khapik, by making glass globes in which you can see the murders as they take place. It's up to Tris to help Keth to not only master his magic, but stop a killer.