The Glittering Court is the first instalment in a trilogy of companion novels. In each book we follow the story from the perspective of each girl individually. The first book follows Adelaide, the second follows Mira and the third and last book follows Tamsin. At the time of writing the first two books are out, while the conclusion to the trilogy has yet to have a release date.
⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 stars.
To be honest, I had a hard time deciding what to rate this book. The reason is that I enjoyed it immensely, even though the pacing is weird. It’s both very fast and slow at the same time, which I believe is because it’s a long and expansive story crammed into 400 pages. Some parts are great and I really like the protagonist, but a large part of the book is a mess. The thing that annoyed me was how everything works out perfectly at every turn. The Glittering Court is not outstanding in any way, though I am totally hooked, despite the weird pace and excessive use of deus ex machina.
The reason I enjoyed this story so much is because I went into it with low expectations. I’ve never been a Richelle Mead fan. The first time I heard about her was when the vampire academy movie came out, I picked up the book because of the hype, but I quickly put it down. To be fair that was during the long, long years of being unable to finish a single book (other than twilight, embarrassing I know). But I really like The Glittering Court, flaws and all. When I picked it up, I was also unaware of the fact that it’s marketed as fantasy, which is misleading in a way. Yes, it takes place in a made-up world, but there’s no magic. It’s more like a parallel history novel.
My favorite thing about this book is the focus on religious freedom. It’s a fight still very much alive today and it’s nice to see it addressed in a YA book, especially a mainstream one. I have a feeling there’ll be shed some more light on the subject and on the subject of race in the sequel. Midnight Jewel centers around Mira, another girl from the glittering court, a dark-skinned refugee, who seemingly at least has close ties to a form or religion that’s viewed as blasphemous. I’m looking forward to reading her story.
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