The Glass Spare is a semi-steampunk/ fantasy mash-up that is in many ways a retelling of the King Midas story and in other ways very similar to just about any YA fantasy you might find.
I remember when DeStefano first debuted in 2011, her Chemical Garden series was taboo, dark, creepy and IIRC very popular. DeStefano has been churning out books ever since and I hadn’t really heard much about this one except I know it was featured Owlcrate.
Wil is a spare heir, only fourth in line to inherit to her father’s throne. To stay in his good graces she spies for him and bends to his will. Other than that she spends her time with her favorite brothers (One of whom I said “you gon die” out loud as soon as he started talking). One day she discovers she has the ability to turn living things into gemstone with just a touch. Chaos ensues and she finds herself exiled and on the run. Along the way she meets Loom, an exiled enemy prince and they team up to save his kingdom. There is a rebellion, a captain of the guard in love with their charge, eyelashes that create shadows and breathe that were held and forgotten. It was standard fare.
There are some original elements like one of the characters is a teen mom, can’t say I’ve seen that a lot. Ahem, speaking of teen moms there is something about DeStefano’s writing that boggles my mind. In The Glass Spare one of the 25-year-old brothers marries a 15-year-old year old. And like, in the Chemical Garden series a man in his twenties gets like a young teenager pregnant? I guess the teenagers with older men thing just isn’t for me.
If you are a fan of fantasy and adventure and can forgo some loose world-building–this might be the book for you.
1/2 of the blogging duo at Books and Sensibility, I have been blogging about and reviewing books since 2011. I read any and every genre, here on the blog I mostly review Fantasy, Adult Fiction, and Young Adult with a focus on audiobooks.