The Palace of Glass

I am thoroughly enjoying this fantasy series for younger readers. Like its predecessors, this was a fast, action-packed page-turner, especially in the second half as Alice and her friends fought the Ouroborean. I have found each book of The Forbidden Library" series to be better than the one before, and I am looking forward to seeing how the end pans out.

In "The Palace of Glass", Alice faced moral dilemmas and new dangers as her powers increased, while old friends were reintroduced and new ones proved their worth. Flicker, the fire-sprite was a terrific character and I loved the dialogue between he and Alice. He often had me chuckling at his comments.

At first I didn't like Alice as much as I had in the previous two books as she was show more angry and determined to seek revenge on her father's death, despite knowing how disappointed he would have been in her actions. However, throughout the book Alice's personal growth was admirable and I liked how she was constantly looking for non-violent solutions. She is a strong heroine and a good role-model for younger girls, in particular. Can't wait to see how Wexler is going to conclude this fabulous series. show less

The series gets more engaging as it advances. Although individual episodes still often come off as straight forward and quickly resolved (e.g., the encounter with the titular Palace of Glass, despite its buildup as a locus of madness and great evils, was handled very quickly), the cumulative story line has become surprisingly gripping. Characters we like actually die, which gives the sense that something important is at stake in the adventures. I'll look forward to the fourth volume.

Not nearly as good as book #2 in the series, but still engaging enough to keep with it. This book is NOT an action-packed adventure like book #2. However, if you liked Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, you might enjoy this.

Much of the books is focused on Alice's journey to the Palace of Glass, building her relationships with new beings, and learning more about Ending, the Old Readers, and the history of the portal books. The pace doesn't pick up until well past the half-way point in the book, when she reaches the Palace of Glass. Note: Once you get to this point, I do NOT recommend reading more unless you have a good chunk of time to do it in because from that point on, it becomes nearly impossible to put down the book.

After Alice show more escapes the Palace of Glass, so many elements coalesce and come to a head. It's a race against time to get home before Geryon, and once home (no spoilers!) she doesn't have a single moment to breathe as she has all new challenges to face.

The only thing that detracted from the story was a consistent repetitiveness. For example, explaining in multiple consecutive chapters how something worked, revisiting ad-nauseam that fire-spirits don't like water, or repeatedly explaining why a particular thought or memory came up. I suppose it wouldn't be so bad if a person were to only read a few chapters at a time, but if you're a marathon reader, this becomes very annoying very quickly.

Other than that, however, the story was very enjoyable and had good forward momentum even though it wasn't as action-packed as the last book. I look forward to reading the last installment of the series. show less