Glass sword by Victoria Aveyard

Red Queen bk 2. Orion, 2016. ISBN 9781409159353
(Age: 13+) Recommended. Glass Sword picks up directly where the gripping Red Queen left off. Mare is unique; with red blood like the common folk of her home, and powers to rival the silvers who rule them. With the discovery of the other 'new bloods' (people with red blood and silver abilities) and Mare's escape from the palace and the newly crowned and vindictive, King Maven, Mare sets off on her journey to find the other 'New bloods'; the people like her. The question is; will she be able to find them, or will Maven beat her to it?
Aveyard has created a gripping and complex storyline, shrouded in death, heartbreak and a cruel view of humanity. The novel starts off slowly, but quickly builds into a fast paced and suspenseful storyline. Mare Barrow, the main protagonist, struggles throughout the novel with the betrayal of Maven and her inability to feel as if she belongs, neither to reds nor silvers. Glass Sword shows an almost completely different character in Mare than what she was in Red Queen and she was not particularly likeable throughout this sequel. Mare came across quite frustratingly cold and bleak to the reader when compared with her fire and passion in the first novel. This did in return have the positive outcome of making her feel a lot more real as it was easy to see that Mare was struggling to deal with certain aspects of her life, as any real person would in her position.
Overall, Glass Sword is a particularly compelling and gripping novel, and would give rise to discussions surrounding the nature of humanity and many impending world issues.
Georgia Cunningham (Student)