Title: The Glittering Court
Author: Richelle Mead
Series: The Glittering Court #1
Published April 5th 2016 by Razorbill
Genre: YA, Fantasy, Romance
Pages: 416
“Big and sweeping, spanning from the refined palaces of Osfrid to the gold dust and untamed forests of Adoria, The Glittering Court tells the story of Adelaide, an Osfridian countess who poses as her servant to escape an arranged marriage and start a new life in Adoria, the New World. But to do that, she must join the Glittering Court.
Both a school and a business venture, the Glittering Court is designed to transform impoverished girls into upper-class ladies who appear destined for powerful and wealthy marriages in the New World. Adelaide naturally excels in her training, and even makes a few friends: the fiery former laundress Tamsin and the beautiful Sirminican refugee Mira. She manages to keep her true identity hidden from all but one: the intriguing Cedric Thorn, son of the wealthy proprietor of the Glittering Court.
When Adelaide discovers that Cedric is hiding a dangerous secret of his own, together they hatch a scheme to make the best of Adelaide’s deception. Complications soon arise—first as they cross the treacherous seas from Osfrid to Adoria, and then when Adelaide catches the attention of a powerful governor.
But no complication will prove quite as daunting as the potent attraction simmering between Adelaide and Cedric. An attraction that, if acted on, would scandalize the Glittering Court and make them both outcasts in wild, vastly uncharted lands…”-Goodreads
My Review:
I picked up this book quite a few years ago. I got the recommendation either from Sasha Alsberg’s YouTube or her Goodreads page.
Let me just say…it is not worth the read.
Plot wise, this book sucked. The synopsis makes the conflicts in this story seem a whole lot more exciting than it really is. The supposed “plot” is more like sub-plot. Most books have the overarching struggle along with many other tensions running underneath so the story doesn’t get boring.
Well this story only had sub-plot. A whole lot of mediocre sub-plots. Sure, they had the overarching love story (but even that seemed like a small issue). Everything else was just there.
Not only that, everything was so easily fixed. Conflicts, internal and outer struggles were quickly tied up by the end of a few chapters after they were introduced.
The story did not really have a point or have any build up. I saw no development in the characters or in the story.
The end was absolutely ridiculous. They had so much action packed into the last few chapters but it was like “hey omg I am about to be kidnapped. Oh look these random people, who we have only mentioned ONCE as a little world building jumped into to help with no explanation as to why they are here to help me, have come to save me!”
This book was so dumb.
Pros:
- The love interests end up together
Cons:
- Boring
- Weird England/America parallel that I felt was unnecessary
- To fast
- Not well written
- No knowledge of horses (see the part where she leaves a horse tied to a tree because its show comes off)
- Adelaide=dull character
- Arranged marriage being traded for…another arranged marriage
- What was the point of this book?
- Objectifying women while trying to make it seem like we were combating feminism
This book was absolutely ridiculous. I have never read a Richelle Mead book and I think it was steered me away from reading any other books she has authored.
Would not recommend this book to anyone. I am not even going to read the other books in the series to find out if it gets better. I have no faith.
Let me know what you thought in the comments. If you actually thought this book was good, please tell me why. Because honestly I can’t see why.
As always, thanks for reading,
A Bookie
Star Rating: 1.5