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anyaemilie 's review for:
The Glass Magician
by Caroline Stevermer
Thank you to Tor Publishing for the ARC!
The Glass Magician takes place in an alternate New York in 1905. This version of New York is populated by three different classes of people: The Traders, usually rich people who Trade into animals forms; Sylvestri, who commune with nature and generally look down on the other classes; and Solitaires, who make up everyone else. Thalia, an orphaned stage magician, has spent her whole life thinking she's a Solitaire, until one night a trick goes wrong and something strange happens to make her question everything she's known to be true.
This book was a fun, quick read for me. I don't read a lot of historical fantasy, but Stevermer's world was quite interesting--the details and the side characters really made me feel like I was in this alternate version of New York.
My one issue is that the subject of race was handled in a slightly clunky manner; I mention that only because it distracted me from the rest of the plot. Many characters were introduced as a "white Trader" or a "black Solitaire." For me it was distracting because I wasn't clear at first that these descriptions were referencing the race of the character. I thought there was some other meaning behind it--mostly because this version of New York seems to be made up of ONLY black and white people (besides this, there are a couple mentions of First Nations people, but only in passing). I just thought it was a little strange and it took me out of world of the story a few times.
Other than that this was a fun story, and is clearly set up for a sequel at the end. If she does write one, I'll read it! I would like to see what other adventures Thalia gets up to.
3.5 stars
The Glass Magician takes place in an alternate New York in 1905. This version of New York is populated by three different classes of people: The Traders, usually rich people who Trade into animals forms; Sylvestri, who commune with nature and generally look down on the other classes; and Solitaires, who make up everyone else. Thalia, an orphaned stage magician, has spent her whole life thinking she's a Solitaire, until one night a trick goes wrong and something strange happens to make her question everything she's known to be true.
This book was a fun, quick read for me. I don't read a lot of historical fantasy, but Stevermer's world was quite interesting--the details and the side characters really made me feel like I was in this alternate version of New York.
My one issue is that the subject of race was handled in a slightly clunky manner; I mention that only because it distracted me from the rest of the plot. Many characters were introduced as a "white Trader" or a "black Solitaire." For me it was distracting because I wasn't clear at first that these descriptions were referencing the race of the character. I thought there was some other meaning behind it--mostly because this version of New York seems to be made up of ONLY black and white people (besides this, there are a couple mentions of First Nations people, but only in passing). I just thought it was a little strange and it took me out of world of the story a few times.
Other than that this was a fun story, and is clearly set up for a sequel at the end. If she does write one, I'll read it! I would like to see what other adventures Thalia gets up to.
3.5 stars