Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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42 of 43 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
More like Magic Study than Poison Study, April 30, 2009
First of all, I have to warn any readers that if you've never read any of Snyder's previous novels you will most likely end up becoming extremely confused -mainly because Snyder throws so many characters at the reader that it would become quite overwhelming if you didn't already know who some of them were from the other books. So, view Storm Glass as a stand-alone novel at your own peril. That said, I did enjoy this novel. However, I found it to be more reminiscent of Magic Study or Fire Study than Poison Study.
Opal, the glass maker who has the strange ability to insert her magic into her creations, is asked to travel to the Stormdance clan in order to figure out why the glass orbs that contain a storm's power are breaking. There she meets Kade, a Stormdancer. She's there long enough to learn that a rebel group from another clan is plotting to steal the recipe that is used to make the glass orbs. Opal travels back and forth over several different clans (basically she's in a saddle about 15 of 20 days). Opal stays in the Stormdance clan and in Kade's company for only a very short amount of time before returning back to the Citadel, the magic school. There, she meets up with Ulrick, whose company she keeps for about 75% of the novel. A multitude of sub-plots are added as Opal and her friends try to solve the mystery surrounding the glass orbs and other such things before riding out to another clan to solve some problem and eventually Ixia.
Like Magic Study and Fire Study, the reader is pelted with one "adventure" after the other. Opal travels to about 7 of the clans in magical Sitia and about 3 of the Military Districts in Ixia. That's a lot of traveling -and, of course, not one journey was without being attacked, imprisoned or some other type of dilemma. The non-stop action read just like the last two books of the Study series, giving the reader no time to catch a breath.
Because of this, I feel like character development extremely suffers. You learn a lot about Opal, what drives her, what her fears are, etc. And really, she's the only one you really get to know. Kade pops into the picture sporadically and only for a few pages at a time. He's probably only in about 15% of the book. It's hard for me to view him as a serious romantic contender when he's hardly even part of the novel.
A few good things are that Opal is not a mirror image of Yelena. Opal seems to be unsure of who she really is and unwilling to see what value she has in the magical community. She struggles against herself to find her inner strength without relying on anyone else to protect or solve her problems.
To recap, I would only recommend this novel to those that have read the Study books by Snyder. And, to those (like me) who wished to read another book with the magic of Poison Study, this book is not it. It's good. It's fun to read. The main character is interesting. But it just doesn't have the same sparkling quality as Poison Study. There are too many sub-plots and way, way too many characters that keep the novel from flowing seamlessly.
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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A few cracks in the glass, April 28, 2009
I like Maria Snyder's books (this is her 4th) but she tends to repeat herself. The first three books followed the trials of Yelana Zaltana, a Soulfinder who seemed to attract every sadist within a 100 mile radius of wherever she was standing.
Unfortuately "Storm Glass" continues with many of the same themes. Opal Cowan works her magic through glass not souls, but she is an engaging character with an interesting talent. Unfortuately she has the same sort of luck Yelana has with kidnappers, rapists, torturers and betrayers. Some of these plot devices struck me as a bit much for a Young Adult series.
On one hand, Snyder wants the reader to believe that the central female character is unigue, special and powerful enough to be assigned guards from Sitia's elite magicians. But she also expects us to accept that a lone rogue magician can get past those defenses, bind the heroine in chains and spend weeks torturing her.
I like these books, they're a really good read, but I'm disappointed by so much violence repeatedly directed towards the female characters.
Poor Opal, traumatized in the Magic Study and Fire Study books, shows up here for another round of abuse. After three years of struggling to come to terms with the murder of her sister and her first experience as a kidnapping victim, she is just starting to open up enough to trust her classmates when another blood magician shows up in the body of a fellow glassmaker. Seduction, betrayal and many torture scenes follow.
I recommend "Storm Glass" to older readers of the Young Adult genre, but encourage them to be warned. These books go to some very nasty places.
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13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Flawed, June 9, 2009
I love this author and her 'Study' trilogy was excellent. However, this newest book seemed more thrown together and has some definite flaws. Opal's unique type of magic seems to just adjust to whatever works for the author to push the story and doesn't seem based in any kind of logic. It just seems to change on a whim, being one thing in one situation and another thing in a different situation.
There is a lot of glass making tech stuff, a result of careful and active research on the author's part. Appreciated the authentic touch, but perhaps too much of a good thing. More plot & character development and less talk of making glass again and again. I realize that Opal makes glass, that is her thing, but I don't need to go thru it step by step each time. Once was enough to grasp the process enough for the story to make sense.
As to making sense...Opal's love life?? SPOILER: At the end when she realizes she loves Kade and he loves her, why does she then state that she must give Ulrick a chance and explore their feelings??? What? She needs to let Ulrick go so that he can find someone who truly loves him. This made no sense to me and sort of made me wonder if she really loves Kade or is stillllll confused.
Pazia: were we supposed to get to know her and realize that under her mean witchy exterior there lies yet another mean hateful witch? Exactly why does Opal feel responsible for 4 yrs of being treated badly by Pazia and her cohorts? I'm sure if even one person had joined her at lunch, approached in a friendly manner, or treated her with common decency Opal would have responded in kind. Instead we are supposed to believe Opal was putting off some kind of vibe that made others treat her badly??? This also made no sense.
And was I the only one who thought that people seemed entirely too cavalier with Opal's safety. Sometimes she was guarded, but many many times she was just left on her own. A girl of uncertain magic, little self defense training and previously victimized and tortured and yet they send her on missions and allow her to stand guard alone again and again. How can she guard when she has magic only to make glass animals and very few fighting skills? Not to mention her skills and knowlege put her at grave risk. Hellooo???
And lastly, the whole glass animal communicators. Pet peeve, no pun intended, but why animals? It just seems really silly to have some powerful Magician speaking into a glass turtle or bunny??? Why not a sphere or oval or just some sort of easily packable shape?
I will read the next book, Sea Glass, and I'm looking forward to it. I just hope it is a little better crafted than this one.
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