Ages ago, I purchased this book as an ebook and I started it, got distracted, and forgot I even had it. Harder to know what you own when it's a file on your ereader. But I decided recently, since I wanted to start getting back into YA, to read this book. Enjoy my review of Jenna Black's Glimmerglass.
Summary
It's all she's ever wanted to be, but it couldn't be further from her grasp...
Dana Hathaway doesn't know it yet, but she's in big trouble. When her alcoholic mom shows up at her voice recital drunk, again, Dana decides shes had enough and runs away to find her mysterious father in Avalon: the only place on Earth where the regular, everyday world and the captivating, magical world of Faerie intersect. But from the moment Dana sets foot in Avalon, everything goes wrong, for it turns out she isn't just an ordinary teenage girl, she's a Faeriewalker, a rare individual who can travel between both worlds, and the only person who can bring magic into the human world and technology into Faerie.
Dana finds herself tangled up in a cutthroat game of Fae politics. Someone's trying to kill her, and everyone seems to want something from her, from her newfound friends and family to Ethan, the hot Fae guy Dana figures she'll never have a chance with...until she does. Caught between two worlds, Dana isn't sure where she'll ever fit in and who can be trusted, not to mention if her world will ever be normal again. Summary from www.goodreads.com
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Paperback, 294 pages
Published May 25th 2010 by St. Martin's Griffin
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Review
YA has become my new sci-fi/fantasy niche. I grew up a big fan of this genre on TV (don't ask, I'll get long winded) and YA books have really branched out since I was reading as a preteen/teen. Somehow, I missed that cool development, but I've discovered it now so I guess it's all good!
Glimmerglass is a great read. Mysterious from the onset, world building and just plain fun to read. Dana is your typical teenage girl, conflicted, searching for herself and looking to find out who she is. Young readers will relate to her very easily. That she is part Fae drew me in as a reader, and I admire Dana for having shouldered the responsibility of taking care of her alcholic mother all of her life, and understand why she's finally fleeing from that reality. That she feels guilty about it but wants more from her parent(s) is understandable. And I don't envy her; her Fae father seems little better after all. That they both love her is clear, however they are also clearly not the ideal parents. Nor are they the sort of parents Dana wants or needs.
I hardly expected to find that the world Black has built is so politically huge, but Dana is going to play a major role in the development of Avalon politics as a Faeriewalker. And I have a sneaking feeling that Faerie will also become a major player in this series. As for the the division among the Fae between the Seelie/Unseelie, I suspect these rivalaries are going to play a big part in the next book, as well in Dana's more personal life as I see a love triangle being set up.
Yes, YA has real romance in it these days! Not that I'm so very old, but the romance in the YA I read was far too sublte for a twelve year old to perceive as romance. I could compare it to sex in Thomas Hardy novels. It's there, but not really there. However, I disgress. The romance in Glimmerglass is YA appropriate and just that, light romance. Dana's love interests (and I use that term loosely for this novel is more about set up than establishing actual relationships or even trust between characters) are Ethan, a powerfully gifted Fae that is Unseelie, or the "bad" kind of Fae. Ethan is, according to Dana, super hot and he saves her life at the end of the book, so she is well on the road to forgiving him for having put her in life in danger earlier in the book. Then we have Keane, a Seelie who is training Dana in self defense, and is hot in that bad boy way that girls just love. The Seelie are the "good" Fae, and Dana herself comes from a Seelie family. So I see the possibility for a love triangle in later books. However, since I'm staying spoiler free, I have no idea where this series has gone in the next two books and I'm really excited to find out.
My only compliant about this book is that it was wrapped up way too fast for my liking. However, it is a great launch into a series and a thoroughly enjoyable read.
3 glittering stars
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