[Review] Glimmerglass by Jenna Black

Title: Glimmerglass

Author: Jenna Black

Publication: May 2010

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin

Review Copy: eBook, Paperback

Pages: 300~

My Rating:

Goodreads description:   Dana Hathaway doesn’t know it yet, but she’s in big trouble. When her alcoholic mom shows up at her voice recital drunk, Dana decides she’s had ...more 

Dana Hathaway doesn’t know it yet, but she’s in big trouble. When her alcoholic mom shows up at her voice recital drunk, Dana decides she’s had it with being her mother’s keeper, so she packs her bags and heads to stay with her mysterious father in Avalon: the only place on Earth where the regular, everyday world and the 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 who can bring magic into the human world and technology into Faerie.

Soon, she finds herself tangled up in a cutthroat game of Fae politics. Someone's trying to kill her, and everyone wants something from her, even her newfound friends and family. Suddenly, life with her alcoholic mom doesn't sound half bad, and Dana would do anything to escape Avalon and get back home. Too bad both her friends and her enemies alike are determined not to let her go . . .

My thoughts: Glimmerglass promised a story of faeries, of magic, of adventure, love, betrayal, friendship, and more betrayal, family and what family represents... did it deliver? Yes, in this way, it did. I was not entirely satisfied, or WOWed, however, and that's what brings me to my final decision on the rating. It had the right premise, the overlapping of the human world and an alternate, faery universe. I was slightly disappointed that it didn't live up to my high hopes. I'll give you one thing, though. The novel ends nicely, and left me wanting to read more. I may have had several qualms about it, but I want to know what happens next!

The writing was fairly substandard. Some of the description wasn't well done, there were a few instances where it was done beautifully. {example} I know that the story was written with the intention of the fact that this is Dana's voice, Dana's words, her story. But there was a WHOLE LOT of telling, rather than showing, which I alarmed myself to by the middle of the novel... "My throat and nasal passages burned from expelling all that water from my lungs. My chest ached from taking all that water in. And all my joints throbbed from being a tug-of-war toy between Ethan and the moat monster. I was also soaked through and chilled to the bone, my whole body shivering violently." I felt that there were just TOO MANY WORDS!! Maybe some people like all this, but to me, it just seemed like Jenna was trying to chuck in some more words, and then some more, and a bit more just for the heck of it. It doesn't push the story along, and that's also part of why I didn't enjoy this as much as I'd have liked to. If it's going to be fantasy, there needs to be more action, less description over and over again.

Sometimes the grammar was clunky, or the word choice was awkward. Also, it felt like the pages were dragging me along, rather than me being genuinely interested to "turn the pages". There was a good interweaving between the beginning and end of the novel. Not giving anything away, so I'll remain subtle. The characters evoked some emotion from me, but sometimes I felt like they could have been fleshed out just a bit more. I liked Keane (Brownie points if you can tell me why :P), but most of the others gave me mixed emotions. Maybe that's how Black wanted me to think of them. However, perhaps the next installment will bring upon more reasons for me to really CARE about these characters.

Yes, the cover is pretty. To be honest, that is what compelled me to read Glimmerglass. I'm actually surprised I didn't enjoy this one as much as I should've. I tried to, I really did. Perhaps I was caught reading this at the worst time possible, in between my trial exams, AND I'm reading this one on computer... Perhaps I should give this book another try. Let me know what you thought of it. Maybe I read it all wrong. If you're going to suggest I read it again, you're going to have to send me an actual copy of it, because no way am I going to read this on computer again! >_< Oh, the agony!