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5.0 out of 5 stars
Strong dark fantasy, Nov 23 2003
This review is from: 02 Glasswrights Progress (Paperback)
"Glasswright's Progress" is an improvement over her debut novel "Glasswright's Apprentice," which was an interesting quasi-medieval/feudal look at royalty, religion and society. Ms. Klasky's writing shows more depth and breadth, and her narrative flows more smoothly than in her debut novel.
One thing I really enjoyed about this book is that it wasn't what I expected. Rani Trader and her companion Mair of the Touched are immediately abducted by Prince Bashnorandi, and carried off to the court of Sin Hazar. Sin Hazar is an enemy of Morenia's King Halaravilli (or King Hal, for short), mainly because his society is quite different, and because Sin Hazar was raised to take anything he wanted due to how _his_ country views castes.
Rani and Mair form new alliances while King Hal tries desperately to find out what's happened to them; Hal must discard old alliances in favor of a new, uncertain future, and the outcome is always in doubt.
As I've said before, Ms. Klasky is superlative at showing moral ambiguity, and how the choices a person makes are more important than they might seem.
All in all, I'd call "Glasswright's Progress" a very strong book, one that succeeds in telling a darkly realistic tale. I would have liked to see more about Rani's quest to rebuilt the Glasswright's Guild, but I suppose that can wait for later books.
I really debated about what amount of stars to give this book; it's very good, and makes all its points. And I really enjoyed Rani and Mair in this book, far more than in the previous book (and I liked them there, too). Which is why I rounded up to five stars.
And I'd definitely recommend it. It's very interesting, and it might even stand on its own (without the first book, "Glasswright's Apprentice"), although it definitely is enriched by reading "Apprentice" first.
Barb Caffrey
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3.0 out of 5 stars
best of the whole series, Mar 22 2004
This review is from: 02 Glasswrights Progress (Paperback)
I've read the intire series and found most of the books lacking. This was the best of all four if only becuase the plot was less the ever told hero overcoming the absolutly impossible and dealed more with believable problems. The other books dealed with political conflict more than anything else and I felt that the main character besides being an absolute idiot was more draged along by the plot than actually a factor in its creation. I liked the character of Crestman and his self conflicts. He had potential to be an actually interesting character who actually made somewhat educated decisions but Mindy just well seemed to want to get rid of him. Untill she had him show up in the Glasswright's Test as a misguided villian which dissapointed me. My overall problem with the intire series was the stupidity of the main character who never seemed to look at things from more than one direction or point of view and seemed really selfcentered.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Even better than the first!, July 14 2002
This review is from: 02 Glasswrights Progress (Paperback)
Rani Trader's life has changed very much since 2 years ago when she was falsely accused of being involved in the crown prince's murder. Now, at 15, she is working very hard to rebuild the shattered glasswrights guild as she lives a privileged life in the court. But everything changes when she and the former touched girl Mair are kidnapped by the ... prince Bashi, and taken away to a northern country. Here lives an old woman who's life is changed forever when she saves a young boy named Crestman who is in fact the leader of the "Little Army," an army of children loyal to the tyrant Sir Hazar. Meanwhile back in Morina, the young king Hal finds himself in a fierce political battle with the Fellowship of Jair, the same fellowship that have protected him and helped in achieved a throne. His loyalty to his country and loyalty to his brothers are put to the test. He soon realizes that he won't be able to remain loyal to both of them for ever, and soon he will half to make an important choice.
While I enjoyed Rani's first story, The Glasswrights Apprentice, I was blown away by it's sequel. In the Glasswrights Progress Rani and her friend's story is more thrilling than ever. While reading it I found myself shocked at the maturity some of the characters now posses. Rani's life has changed a lot since the last book and she shows it. I was also surprised to see a very little romance sneak in towards the end. If you're a fan of dark suspenseful fantasy novels I recommend this to you. I can't wait to read the 3rd book in the series, the Glasswrights Journeyman.
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