Storm Glass (Glass, Book 1) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)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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As a glassmaker and a magician-in-training, Opal Cowen understands trial by fire. Now it's time to test her mettle. Someone has sabotaged the Stormdancer clan's glass orbs, killing their most powerful magicians. The Stormdancers-particularly the mysterious and mercurial Kade-require Opal's unique talents to prevent it happening again. But when the mission goes awry, Opal must tap in to a new kind of magic as stunningly potent as it is frightening. And the further she delves into the intrigue behind the glass and magic, the more distorted things appear. With lives hanging in the balance-including her own-Opal must control powers she hadn't known she possessed…powers that might lead to disaster beyond anything she's ever known.

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