SPY GLASS is the sixth book in Maria V. Snyder’s CHRONICLES OF IXIA and the third and final book in her GLASS TRILOGY. In SPY GLASS Snyder concludes Opal’s conflicting emotions about the men she loves and her own magic. Opal has come a long way from the girl we meet in FIRE STUDY (review) and it has been a really interesting journey.

Maria V. Snyder does a brilliant job in concluding Opal’s story in SPY GLASS. On the whole I found it to be a really interesting read, but the plot of the book is quite convoluted and I would put the book down and be uninteresting in picking it back up for a couple of days. The book was quite slow and the plot never really seemed to pick up, but I did enjoy seeing how Opal’s journey finished.

SPY GLASS opens with Opal still coming to terms with the consequences of her actions at the end of SEA GLASS (review). She is staying with her parents and is unsure about what to do with her life, as her whole future has changed. Her mother is driving her crazy planning Mara’s wedding; Yelena sends Valek to offer Opal some guidance – after his visit Opal decides to return to Fulgor. From this point the plot of the novel should take-off, but whilst there are some interesting revelations it mostly fell flat for me.

The thing that I think Snyder did the best in this book, and in fact did really well, was the interactions between characters. I really enjoyed how Snyder wrote and handled Opal’s many friendships. I also think that Snyder did a compelling job with the love triangle – seeing Opal’s conflict about who to choose, and what one choice could mean. I also enjoyed reading Opal figuratively fight the bad guy, although the bad guy himself appeared quite late in the book and felt a little two dimensional.

Snyder brings Opal’s story to a conclusion in SPY GLASS, and although it is not as compelling as the previous books in the series it is a good read.

Originally posted on The Flutterby Room.

SEA GLASS is the second book in Maria V. Snyder’s GLASS series and the fifth book in her CHRONICLES OF IXIA series. SEA GLASS continues the story of Opal Cowan as she deals with the consequences of events in STORM GLASS (review), like the revelation that she can use her glass magic skills to take another magician’s magic, and struggles with who to trust – even herself.

I found SEA GLASS to be a very frustrating read for most of the book. Not because the story wasn’t interesting and compelling, but because I found some of Opal’s choices and responses maddening. It was like she hadn’t learnt from her experiences in STORM GLASS. Although, to be fair to Snyder, the choices and responses were very in character.

SEA GLASS follows Opal as she tries to locate Ulrick and return his soul to the correct body. Unfortunately for Opal this isn’t an easy task, which is made all the more difficult as it means defying the Sitian Council who have ordered her to return to the Citadel. Opal’s dilemma is laid out from the first page – does she obey the Council’s directive, or does she follow her instinct and try to locate Ulrick? The plot of SEA GLASS revolves around the choice that Opal makes, and the consequences of her choices and the choices of others.

As I mentioned earlier, quite often I found Opal’s choices maddening – especially her inability to ask for help – but it made for a really complex plot. Snyder did a really good job at making the plot of the story both complex and messy, whilst at the same time not overbearing and difficult to follow because there were too many threads. There are a lot of plots and subplots in SEA GLASS, so if that isn’t your thing then you may not enjoy this book.

Character-wise we’ve already met the main players, and apart from a few minor characters no new ones are introduced to the story. I really liked the fact that Snyder didn’t introduce a new character to the mix, that instead I got to enjoy reuniting with Devlen, Kade, Leif, Janco, Yelena, and Zitora. It was nice not to be drowning in characters. I also thought it was an interesting experience to have an idea of who the bad guys were, and to see how Snyder played with these expectations.

Originally posted on The Flutterby Room.

STORM GLASS is the first book in the GLASS trilogy, and the fourth book in the CHRONICLES OF IXIA. It tells the story of Opal Cowan, who first makes an appearance in FIRE STUDY (review). STORM GLASS takes place five years after the events of FIRE STUDY and sees Opal at Sitia’s magic academy, where she is unsure of her place and powers. Opal has a special ability with glass, and events see her travel with a Master magician to discover what is causing the Stormdancer clan’s deaths.

At this point in the CHRONICLES OF IXIA Snyder chooses to switch narrators, which allows the focus of this narrative to switch from Yelena Zaltana to Opal Cowan. By doing this Snyder shows us another side of Ixia, and we get to learn more about another area of magic – glass magic. Although I really enjoyed Yelena’s story, I found Opal to be a really interesting character. She’s very different to Yelena and I think that worked well to separate the narrative voices. Opal is very unsure of herself and her powers, but at the same time she’s very clever and resourceful.

The basic plot of STORM GLASS is that for some reason the glass orbs the Stormdancer clan uses to control storms are breaking, killing members of the clan. If the Stormdancers cannot harness the storms, then people will be killed. However, there is a lot more going on than that. All of which could cause a lot of trouble for Sitia and Ixia, especially as there is rebellion in the air. Snyder does a brilliant job at showing Opal’s unease at the academy, and her growing self-confidence as the story continues. I also liked the fact that although we have a new narrator, there was the return of some familiar faces in this book – and hopefully in the rest of the trilogy.

If you have followed Yelena’s story and enjoyed it, then you should definitely consider exploring more of Ixia with Opal’s story. I’m really looking forward to continuing the story with SEA GLASS.

Originally posted on The Flutterby Room.