“We’re all in charge of our own lives—and we have to live with the consequences of the choices we make.”
I bought this book in October, and I'm just now getting around to reading it. I actually feel quite ashamed, seeing as how Queen Richelle Mead is responsible for bringing the perfection that is Vampire Academy into the world.
Glittering Court was an entertaining read, but filled with flaws and strange time jumps and real-world connections that made it hard to stay immersed in the story.
However, the concept was interesting, and as a standalone novel this has a great deal of potential.
I gave it:
★★★
Spoiler Time! (not actually too spoilery)
Okay, first I must preface this with the fact that I am a huge history nerd. A Canadian history nerd. And any of you that may or may not have read a Dear Canada called Alone in an Untamed Land will certainly be able to understand why I am bringing it up.
Glittering Court is about young girls who are trained and sent off to the "new world" in order to become eligible brides for the men who have settled there. Les Filles du Roi were almost exactly the same as this (and it would not surprise me if this historical element was used as inspiration). However, this book was strange in that it almost seemed entirely based off French-Canadian history. Everything from the initial concept, to the religious tensions to the conflicts with the natives was right out of my Grade 7 history book.
Now, some problems I had with this book. Characters.
I did not like a single character in this entire book. We didn't get nearly enough insight on Elizabeth/Adelaide to really understand her, and there were too many time jumps for us to understand her development. The other characters clearly were relevant to their own stories (and they are getting their own novels), but Mira and Tamsin were plot-changing characters, and they were never in the damn story. Any major things that they figured out, weren't in the book. Any author know that you can leave loose ends, but you can't leave unexplainable ends.
My biggest problem with this book was time. Firstly, time jumps. We skipped eight months, then we skipped a few more months, and then we skipped a few weeks. And all in all, these periods of missing time were so important to the character development, and we didn't get anything.
Then the time period confused the heck out of me. The continent seems to be medieval from the way they describe their dresses, but the new world seems to be almost late 1700s-like in their manner of dress. And then we get an entire section where Cedric and Adelaide/Elizabeth are in the wild west, which was confusing to no end.
There were, however, things that I did enjoy about this book. Cedric was a character with decent motivations, who at the very least I didn't despise.
There was a lack of interactions with her grandmother, and I loved that old lady for the two scenes she was in. She was spunky and it was perfect.
The pirates. Wonderful in every way.
_________________________________________________
I think that just about wraps it up. The Glittering Court was nowhere near my favourite read of the year, or even the month, but it was entertaining. Sometimes that's all you can ask for.
Now... if you'll all excuse me. I must reread Vampire Academy.
“Bad things are always going to happen. There’s no way to avoid that. Our control comes in how we face them. Do we let them crush us, making us despondent? Do we face the unflinchingly and endure the pain? Do we outsmart them?”
★★★
Spoiler Time! (not actually too spoilery)
Okay, first I must preface this with the fact that I am a huge history nerd. A Canadian history nerd. And any of you that may or may not have read a Dear Canada called Alone in an Untamed Land will certainly be able to understand why I am bringing it up.
Glittering Court is about young girls who are trained and sent off to the "new world" in order to become eligible brides for the men who have settled there. Les Filles du Roi were almost exactly the same as this (and it would not surprise me if this historical element was used as inspiration). However, this book was strange in that it almost seemed entirely based off French-Canadian history. Everything from the initial concept, to the religious tensions to the conflicts with the natives was right out of my Grade 7 history book.
Now, some problems I had with this book. Characters.
I did not like a single character in this entire book. We didn't get nearly enough insight on Elizabeth/Adelaide to really understand her, and there were too many time jumps for us to understand her development. The other characters clearly were relevant to their own stories (and they are getting their own novels), but Mira and Tamsin were plot-changing characters, and they were never in the damn story. Any major things that they figured out, weren't in the book. Any author know that you can leave loose ends, but you can't leave unexplainable ends.
My biggest problem with this book was time. Firstly, time jumps. We skipped eight months, then we skipped a few more months, and then we skipped a few weeks. And all in all, these periods of missing time were so important to the character development, and we didn't get anything.
Then the time period confused the heck out of me. The continent seems to be medieval from the way they describe their dresses, but the new world seems to be almost late 1700s-like in their manner of dress. And then we get an entire section where Cedric and Adelaide/Elizabeth are in the wild west, which was confusing to no end.
There were, however, things that I did enjoy about this book. Cedric was a character with decent motivations, who at the very least I didn't despise.
There was a lack of interactions with her grandmother, and I loved that old lady for the two scenes she was in. She was spunky and it was perfect.
The pirates. Wonderful in every way.
_________________________________________________
I think that just about wraps it up. The Glittering Court was nowhere near my favourite read of the year, or even the month, but it was entertaining. Sometimes that's all you can ask for.
Now... if you'll all excuse me. I must reread Vampire Academy.
“Bad things are always going to happen. There’s no way to avoid that. Our control comes in how we face them. Do we let them crush us, making us despondent? Do we face the unflinchingly and endure the pain? Do we outsmart them?”
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