The Glass Word

So my major questions were answered and nothing's really nagging at me now. Yay! But it was a frustrating read because I kept getting hints of how it could be better. Sometimes Meyer would take the story in a direction I didn't expect, and I was happy to be surprised. However, the book is plagued with head-hopping, telling instead of showing, elements that were included maybe more because they were nifty than because they were essential, and a host of flat characters. Still, I was impressed that Meyer killed Serafin off, and I did like the absolute end, when Merle and Junipa went off on new adventures together.

This is clearly the best of the three as often happens with the third in a trilogy. Many of the details about the characters were being held until this novel as trump cards to add to the drama that plays out through the story. As a result, the characters convey better depth and their motives become more complex, creating a stronger sense of empathy with the audience. Even the writing itself has become stronger with greater aesthetic details, poetic language, and variance in sentence complexity. As for the overall story, this is surprisingly the least dark of the three, and the ‘mysterious’ aspects of the text begin to unwind, offering a greater understanding to the reader about the world and its history. Ultimately, though, I still show more believe that a hundred pages more per novel focused on the psychology of the characters and the aesthetics of the literature would have made each text significantly stronger throughout. Stories like these, with an interesting concept and mythology, are too often rushed, when they could be considered as long-term treasures for literature if there were more layers of conflict and depth laced throughout the story and characters.-Lindsey Miller, www.lindseyslibrary.com show less

What I Liked. All of the individual story lines make sense now. And I do mean all of them. What this tale ended up being, once you cut through all of the weird world building, was a mystery. A who-done-it and why puzzle full of misdirection and interesting twists. On the whole, I loved the continuing creativity and I enjoyed how it all wrapped up in ways I did not expect. Despite being YA, there was not a sappy, feel good ending either. It was bittersweet, partially tragic but true to the story.

What I Didn't Like. I never did feel comfortable in this world. It was just too all over the place. I understand that an alternate reality is going to develop differently from ours and I accept that. However the mix of technology and ancient show more history wasn't one I could wrap my head around. Sabers and rifles, ancient gods and biblical references, steam factories and magical flying sunbarks, submarines and oar driven galleys, magic working alchemists and laboratory scientists. I also had a bit of a motivation problem. Not involving the grand scheme of things, because that is all explained in this conclusion. My problem lay in the motivation of the protagonists; the choices they made and the ones they didn't make but let others make for them. Alot of the time is was like they were just along for the ride because they had nothing better to do.

Conclusion. In terms of plot and pacing, this was a great book. In terms of creativity alone it was priceless. Unfortunately, the worldbuilding nagged at me though out. I just could not accept the mix of really ancient with fairly modern. Of course, I am not exactly the target audience. Maybe a teen would be more focused on the story itself to the exclusion of the odd mix of magic and technology and less inclined to feel the need to develop any kind of bond with the characters. And I can't rule out the possibility that some things were lost in the translation.

For more detail please read full review @ Dragons, Heroes and Wizards. show less

Reviewed by Carrie Spellman for TeensReadToo.com

NOTE: This is the third book in a trilogy, just in case you were unaware, and if you can make sense of this story without having read the first two... You're either amazing or scary.

Merle, Vermithrax, Junipa, and, of course, the Flowing Queen, have just barely escaped Hell and Lord Light with their lives. Although none of them is, or will ever be, quite the same. Thanks to the stone light, Vermithrax has turned from regular stone to a nearly impenetrable obsidian, and Junipa's heart is no longer human. Merle is not sure who she can trust, and that includes herself. The Flowing Queen, while not absent, is considerably more silent now. But these personal issues are only the beginning of show more their problems.

Winter has made his escape as well. He is on a manic hunt for Summer, his only true love. And a blizzard of snow and ice both follows and precedes him. The deserts of Egypt are covered, and all their inhabitants, including our heroes, are in danger of freezing to death. Well, maybe not Vermithrax. Unless they can locate the Iron Eye, the fortress of the sphinxes.

At the Iron Eye their current "mission" will finally be complete. For better or worse. No one is clear on what specifically needs to be done. (Except maybe the Flowing Queen, but she doesn't seem to want to share.) What is clear is that it will take every one of them, and each of their unique abilities, and even some unexpected help, for them to save the world they know. Survival is a completely different concern.

From the very beginning this book overflows with information, and there is no pause. You, as the reader, are almost as exhausted as the characters! There is no time for back history, so you might want to brush up on it before you start this book.

The characters you have come to love, or hate, are all back. Even some that you thought were gone for good. More then a few of them have surprises for you. You just may find yourself changing your opinion of some of them.

This book is literally so fast and furious that my mind is still reeling from it!

I promised you a view of the trilogy as a whole, and I give it five stars. It's absorbing and intricate and frenetic. But, I'm changing my pop culture reference. I see it more like Lord of the Rings. You could experience it in pieces, and it's pretty good. But the impact as a whole is so much greater. Take a day, or a weekend, if you can, and read them all at once. You won't be disappointed. show less

I finally gave up waiting for the library to get this one in audiobook format. I barely remembered the weird dark magical Venice of the other books, but got sucked into the whirling strange wintery adventure in Egypt on a stone lion's back.

"Das gläserne Wort" bildet den Abschluss der Merle-Trilogie. Wie zu erwarten war werden hier alle Handlungsstränge (Merle-Serafin-Junipa) wieder zusammengeführt: Definitiv ein Fortschritt zu Band 2. Auch werden, und hierfür schätze ich Kai Meyer als Autor besonders, logische Gründe für alles was geschieht genannt (unnötig zu erwähnen, dass die Erklärungen dem Genre entsprechend einen fantastischen Touch haben). Die gebotenen Erklärungen können weitgehend überzeugen, sind allerdings sehr komplex, sodass ich mir gewünscht hätte, sie wären teilweise schon in den Vorgängerbänden angeklungen - so muss man in diesem Band doch viele Informationen verarbeiten.

Das Ende ist durchaus dramatisch und unerwartet, wenngleich der show more eigentliche Höhepunkt etwas lapidar mit einem "welche Rolle spielen schon die Einzelheiten?" abgefrühstückt wird - dafür muss ich 1,5 Sterne abziehen, denn das ist wirklich zu wenig und unbefriedigend. Als würde man den Herrn der Ringe schreiben und Frodos Handlungsstrang im dritten Band durch ein "er schaffte es den Ring zu zerstören. Welche Rolle spielen da die Einzelheiten?" ersetzen. So nicht! Genau um der Einzelheiten willen lese ich Bücher - um der einzelnen Gedanken, Gefühle und Taten der Charaktere, sowie der Details der fantastischen Welten willen. Daher war ich doch enttäuscht vom Abschlussband, obwohl ich auch ihn gern gelesen habe. show less

unerwartetes Ende