Book #3: Spy Glass, by Maria Snyder

[grav_ity]

Okay, I loved Poison Study. It's probably one of my favourite books of all time. And the other "study" books were pretty good. But for some reason the "Glass" books? Just kept getting worse and worse. And this one? WAS TERRIBLE.

Way too many things were going on, for starters. And it was really two books with a wedding in between them, and the whole thing didn't really hang together very well because there were SO MANY DETAILS that all ended up being "important", but also kind of superfluous.

Oh, god, and OPAL! The girl is a TRAIN WRECK. Usually, when I am reading a book about a girl, I am all "You go girl! You get out there and raise hell and so on!" But Opal mostly made me wish that she would just GROW UP ALREADY and go live in a cave with Kade and raise Stormdancing babies because she fails so badly at EVERYTHING. And she never learns her damn lesson. AND THEN SHE MARRIES HER DAMN RAPIST! Who is a "changed man" (and this according the Special Horses who know these things, but EEEEEEEEEWWW!!!!), but STILL!

The fail in this book, you guys. THE FAIL.

On the bright side, lots of Ari, Janco and Valek. Which just makes me wish I hadn't left Poison Study in Ontario because I want to read it REALLY BADLY.

Objectively, I'd say this book is probably a 7/10. Since I have never even pretended that these reviews are objective, however, I am giving it a 4.

+++

To make myself feel better, I read kuwdora's Sanctuary fic Heroine With A Thousand Faces, which pretty much comes up with the only way in the world The Five could be better than the actually are. ;)

Comments

[emmaorgana.livejournal.com]

Fuuuuuuuuck all that shit.


Should I just cancel my hold now and save myself the anxiety?

[grav-ity.livejournal.com]

Yes. I AM SO ANNOYED.

[emmaorgana.livejournal.com]

UGGGHHH.

WHY DO HER BOOKS GET PROGRESSIVELY WORSE? HOW WAS POISON STUDY SOOOOO GOOOOOOOD AND SPY GLASS SOOOOOOOO AWFUL?


WHY CAN'T SHE GO BACK TO IXIA WHERE THINGS MAKE SENSE?

All I'm getting out of her writing is that Sitia is an awful, horrible place and Ixia is a million times better BECAUSE of the military dictatorship. Give me Ambrose and Valek and the PowerTwins and MAREN and YELENA BEING AWESOME ALL OVER.

I think the worst part about the second book was Zitora's lack of trust and belief in Opal.

[grav-ity.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I hate Sitia a lot it turns out. And we only got ONE FREAKING BOOK in Ixia. *sighs*

I'll grant that Zitora was a big disappointment in book two, but nothing will even be worse than Opal sleeping with Devlen because she thinks he's Ulrick.

OMG, and when she DOES break up with Kade? AFTER HE SAVES HER DAMN LIFE (which he planned to do before he found out she was sleeping with Devlen), SHE CAN'T EVEN TALK. So he's all "You're just too special for me!" and I'm all "I HATE YOU ALL SO MUCH RIGHT NOW!!!!!"

UGH.

[emmaorgana.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Devlen can go die in a fire now.


UGH. KADE. WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU.


I can't...

[grav-ity.livejournal.com]

Honestly, by the midpoint of the book when it became apparent that there were not going to be glass making, stormdancing babies in my future, I actually starting cheering for Kade to get the hell out. Because he is WAY TOO COOL to be associated with what Opal turned into.

[emmaorgana.livejournal.com]

Ahahahaha, I am sad laughing at that. :p

Dammit, Opal had such potential. Whyyyyyyy did this have to happen to her??


RUN KADE RUN. GO MARRY MAREN OR THE AWESOME SEAMSTRESS IN IXIA WHOSE NAME I CAN'T REMEMBER.

[grav-ity.livejournal.com]

Her name was Delia. Yeah, I love her. ;)

[emmaorgana.livejournal.com]

YES!

And then he can leave crazy-ass Sitia behind him and go up to Ixia to Stormdance the winter storms up in MD 1, 2 & 3 and since he'll need a uniform, Delia will come and her softness and sharp wit will help him forget the craziness that was Opal and they will stay up in Ixia forever making wee stormdancing babies and visit with Yelena and Valek and the Ari and Janco.

THE END.

[laura-josephsen.livejournal.com]

I have no idea what these books are, but HOOOOW could they write anyone marrying her rapist!?!?

[grav-ity.livejournal.com]

There's thing with overcoming addiction and personal demons, but mostly: JUST GROSS.

(Also, when she slept with him, she thought she was sleeping with someone she actually was in love with, hence why I think it's a rape, and THAT JUST MAKES IT WORSE.)

[emmaorgana.livejournal.com]

She was sleeping with him while he was disguised as someone else, and she slept with the person he was disguised as willingly so some people (who I would judge way hard) would not consider it rape. But it definitely is, because had Opal knew who he really was, she (theoretically) would not have slept with him. BUT WHO KNOWS BECAUSE APPARENTLY OPAL IS A CRAZY PERSON WHO HAS REALLY DELAYED STOCKHOLD SYNDROME.

RARRRRRR.

[couplechemistry.livejournal.com]

I have never heard of these books, so I went and checked out "Poison Study" over at Amazon. This instantly caught my attention: "Snyder's riveting fantasy that unites the intelligent political focus of George R.R. Martin with a subtle yet potent romance." The name George R.R. Martin, I am familiar with (mostly from the tv show "Beauty and the Beast" but also because my friend has been trying to get me to read some of his books), so I think I will have to give the book a try. Being a huge reader myself (don't judge me by the lack of books I have read (http://couplechemistry.livejournal.com/14925.html) in the last several months), I am willing to give anything a try.

[grav-ity.livejournal.com]

For all this book was a complete and total let down, Poison Study was the opposite. It hit nearly every button I had, and it was also quite original. Just...don't read any further in the series. ;)

[couplechemistry.livejournal.com]

LOL - Okay.

I will let you know what I think!!

[allisnow.livejournal.com]

I remember reading Poison Study several years ago and thinking that it had an interesting concept but lame execution. You're making me think I somehow missed something...

[grav-ity.livejournal.com]

I'm relatively easy to please when it comes to books (though you wouldn't guess that from this post!), so it's entirely possible that Poison Study really wasn't All That. I know I figured it out almost right away, for example, but the thing I figured out at the very last minute (before the reveal) made it even better. ;)

Plus, you know, ASSASSINS.

And Yelena uses her brain a lot, which I also liked.

[allisnow.livejournal.com]

Well, I have a copy so I might give it another shot. Maybe I was just in a bad mood when I read it before -- I seem to remember it was about the same time as I was reading the Decoy Princess books, which infuriated me. ;)

[couplechemistry.livejournal.com]

After reading this comment I went out and asked a few of my friends if they had read the Study books. I was actually surprised by the number of people who had. So, I started reading the first one and could not put it down - finished it basically in one day! Wow, it was unlike anything I had read in a very very long time. Of course, you were not the only one to say that the other books in the series were not as good, but I have to read them. I am so glad that I read this.

[grav-ity.livejournal.com]

The review for Poison Study is in my "books 2010" tag. :)

I adored Poison Study SO MUCH and they just got WORSE. *sighs*