Title: The Glass Queen
Author: Gena Showalter
Series: Forest of Good and Evil #2
Loved it more than book one
I would like to thank Justine Sha for inviting me to read a free ARC, as well as Gena Showalter, Inkyard Press, and NetGalley for allowing me to read it in exchange for an honest review.
When I received an email inviting me to read this book, I was interested, but starting in the middle of a series makes my eye twitch, so I hit the library. Luckily the wait for the audiobook of the first book, The Evil Queen, was short. I listened to it, fell in love, and immediately downloaded the galley for Glass Queen and read it as soon as I could.
I loved it even more than the first book. Evil Queen saw Everly Morrow stumbling from the mortal world into Enchantia, meeting Prince Roth and Co. and having to discern who was friend and who was foe—as well as where they all fit in the Snow White “prophecy”—while learning about her powers, her true background, and the world she now called home. In Glass Queen, we remain in Enchantia, this time focusing on Saxon, the avian crown prince as well as one of Everly and Roth’s best friends, and Princess Ashleigh, who fights possession while Saxon plots to take control of the kingdom. The prophecy of the Little Cinder Girl, in which they both supposedly play roles, looms over them.
I love nothing more than funny, endearing, and charismatic characters I can relate to and care about, and that’s what Showalter creates. I was so invested in Saxon and Ashleigh—especially Ashleigh—and all the others (<3 Pagan and Pyre!!!) that the book’s flaws barely registered. I was so eager to gobble up the story that I didn’t even take the time to make any notes, but I recall a few issues nonetheless.
It never felt so slow that I grew exasperated, but the middle did seem to drag a bit as we were kinda-sorta-not-really paying attention to the tournament, and Saxon and Ashleigh were trying to figure out what the fuck Leonora was and what could be done about her. I finally started to lose patience with the playing house stuff in the stable; I skipped and hopped through some of that. The inner monologue could ramble and be redundant at times. Overall, it probably could have been a slightly shorter book and a slightly tighter narrative, but otherwise it seemed pretty well paced.
The timeline. I got pretty lost toward the end. The past lives were as clear as they needed to be, and I followed time at the beginning of the novel okay, but the further we got into the story, the more I got confused. First of all, when Asha first arrived at the palace, she wasn’t supposed to begin acting as Saxon’s liaison until after the first battle. Yet he took her straight from the throne room to his tent and she was his liaison from minute one. I’m not sure if that was an inconsistency or if Saxon just made the arrogant decision that she would start now instead of later and it wasn’t quite made clear to the reader.
The bigger problem was that, to my understanding, the tournament was supposed to go for three weeks, one big battle each week with little contests in between. It was after the second battle that Saxon’s mom and sister attacked Ashleigh, and it takes her seven days to recover. So I assumed the third battle was supposed to be that same day. Instead, another entire week passes while they play house in the stable. Did I miss something—always possible—or was there really an entire extra week between the second and third battles?
Saxon’s struggle with wanting to dislike Ashleigh despite being attracted to her from the moment they met was handled well and developed naturally, but once he gave up on trying to dislike her and was all-in on finding a way to be with her, he got a touch annoying as he swung between macho posturing (Touch her and die!) and sickly sweet fawning over her (I have a present for you. And another. And another. And another. Have I told you how much I love you? I love you more than this kingdom. I love you more than anything. Blah blah blah barf). Otherwise he seemed like an okay hero. Not sure I liked him as much as Roth, but he was fine. Oh, and it was nice that Showalter had him get pretty beaten up during the battles; he may have even lost if Noel and Ophelia hadn’t had a hand in things and he hadn’t trained through three lifetimes. It kept him from being a Gary Stu.
I loved Ashleigh. Other readers might find her annoying at times, but I didn’t. The only time I started to lose patience with her was when she needed to admit to Saxon that she’d figured out what Leonora was but kept putting it off, or something happened at the right moment to prevent her from telling him. That can be as annoying as the “five minutes of earnest conversation could have prevented the entire plot” thing.
Last thing, a bit random: It really bothered me that the rose was a motif throughout the story. I get that roses are considered romantic and that Fleur is the “flower kingdom,” but when I think “rose” + “fairy tale,” I always think Beauty and the Beast. And since B&B is and always will be my favorite fairy tale, I couldn’t help but feel disappointed whenever I read about roses here, because it reminded me I wasn’t reading a B&B story.
Overall, I loved this book and can’t wait for the next one. I already want to read both 1 and 2 again. I’m not sure which fairy tale will be retold next—if the clues are there, I missed them—but I assume it’ll have something to do with Farrah, thanks to Hartly’s—warning? Prediction? Foreshadowing, at any rate. Since book 1 was released June 2019 and this one is out Sept 2020, I would guess book 3 arrives Winter 2021 or maybe even Spring 2022 if she experiences delays. I shall be waiting eagerly!
