* Disclaimer: I received a copy of this novel from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. *

The Glass Magician had a lot of promise and was a decent read, but unfortunately fell short for me. A lot of my issues stemmed from lack of development, exploration, and detail. The bones of the story were present and decent, but there needed to be more depth in the pages. As it was, the construction of the novel felt quite choppy, both in writing style and format. The narrative left a lot of gaps to fill.

Set in the Gilded Age, which happens to be one of my favorite eras, there was a lot of chance for the establishment of posh society vs. poor and the creation of a world that felt magical even in the mundane. There was a little bit of this, but not enough. There was description of some of the more fancy homes and restaurants, some touching on fashion of the era, and obviously the mention of vaudeville, but the time period definitely didn't come through as strongly as I think was possible.

When it came to the magic system, I found myself highly frustrated. While I was interested in the world being created, it wasn't very well-developed and lacked a lot in explanation. I felt like I was dropped into the middle of the story, almost as if I had missed the first book and this was a sequel. There was no easing into things or even a simple info dump to present the world. Instead, I was gathering pieces from beginning to end, trying to figure out exactly what a Solitaire was, along with the other categories. In fact, I still don't understand if the references to white Solitaire and black Solitaire had to do with something other than skin color. And if they didn't, then the constant reference to individuals as one or the other was certainly excessive as they often weren't given any other description. While some revelation along the way is fine and can certainly add tension to the story, this method felt more frustrating than mysterious.

The plot was good and the writing was fine, but everything just felt overly rushed. I feel like things could have truly been exemplary if a little more time would have been taken to flush out details and set up scenes more carefully. The talent is there, just not fully explored. For example, the discussion about an "ordeal" is repeatedly addressed with stress to how important and challenging it is. However, when this event actually takes place, it felt overly mundane -- uneventful and not very harrowing at all. That was incredibly disappointing.

Though the overall story was still enjoyable, there was not enough there to push it into the higher star ratings for me.