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joelteon's review against another edition
5.0
Utterly Amazing
If you're looking for deep character studies, people who feel and act in real ways, look no further than Sarah. I'm literally torn apart by what these characters go through and just how raw and realistic the exploration of grief and forging on through adversity was. There is a story there that meanders along as our characters do everything they can to survive. I loved this slow exploration of Shine Territory and was extremely satisfied with the story conclusion.
If you're looking for deep character studies, people who feel and act in real ways, look no further than Sarah. I'm literally torn apart by what these characters go through and just how raw and realistic the exploration of grief and forging on through adversity was. There is a story there that meanders along as our characters do everything they can to survive. I loved this slow exploration of Shine Territory and was extremely satisfied with the story conclusion.
mxsallybend's review against another edition
4.0
Although the middle book, Oh, That Shotgun Sky, was released as a novella, Glass Rhapsody is really the third book of a trilogy that began with Of Honey and Wildfires. It's a continuation of both stories - which pleased me greatly, as I feared we might not see those brave women of Fletcher again - and, if not a true conclusion, a transitional piece that sets the stage for a shift from Shine Territory to Union City.
For most of the read, I was prepared to call this a story of consequences and, as such, it's full of sorrow, breaking, loss, addiction, and regret. Like all of Sarah Chorn's books, it's as emotionally heavy as it is narratively beautiful, and it is quite literally haunted by the ghosts of the past. Ultimately, however, it also proves to be a story of healing, of letting go of that past, and opening one's self to the promise of a new future . . . and the risk of fresh sorrows to come.
Family is once again a key theme here, and that's where Chorn offers us the bulk of the saga's emotional resolutions. Arlen and Cassandra get moments together as siblings, but they also get their moments - both alone and together - as children of Christopher Hobson. They're the heart of the story, but it's the family connections of Elroy/Pearl and Grace/Teddy that gets those hearts beating again. Romance is a key theme again as well, and while it's even more tentative and melancholy than in the first two stories, with relationships held back as much by fear of rejection as feeling unworthy of another's love, it is also responsible for healing those hearts. We are not done with Cassandra and Ianthe, which means we're not done with the tears, and we've barely scratched the surface of Arlen and Elroy, which means we've got a lot of fear and regret to wade into. Bringing it all together is a relationship I don't want to give away, but one which binds family and romance into something sweet and hopeful . . . and very much appreciated.
The only place where I felt Glass Rhapsody faltered, just a bit, was in the plot-driven climax. I understand (and appreciate) where Chorn is taking the story next, but the ending felt more like an avoidance of conflict than a proper resolution to it. I was anticipating something powerful, something to rival the fireworks that closed out Of Honey and Wildfires, but it's a quiet resolution, and one that largely happens off the page, leaving us (fittingly, perhaps) with consequences rather than events. That's a small quibble over the last 5% of the book, though, and certainly does not take away from the emotional climaxes that lead into it.
https://beauty-in-ruins.blogspot.com/2021/07/fantasy-book-review-glass-rhapsody-by.html
For most of the read, I was prepared to call this a story of consequences and, as such, it's full of sorrow, breaking, loss, addiction, and regret. Like all of Sarah Chorn's books, it's as emotionally heavy as it is narratively beautiful, and it is quite literally haunted by the ghosts of the past. Ultimately, however, it also proves to be a story of healing, of letting go of that past, and opening one's self to the promise of a new future . . . and the risk of fresh sorrows to come.
Family is once again a key theme here, and that's where Chorn offers us the bulk of the saga's emotional resolutions. Arlen and Cassandra get moments together as siblings, but they also get their moments - both alone and together - as children of Christopher Hobson. They're the heart of the story, but it's the family connections of Elroy/Pearl and Grace/Teddy that gets those hearts beating again. Romance is a key theme again as well, and while it's even more tentative and melancholy than in the first two stories, with relationships held back as much by fear of rejection as feeling unworthy of another's love, it is also responsible for healing those hearts. We are not done with Cassandra and Ianthe, which means we're not done with the tears, and we've barely scratched the surface of Arlen and Elroy, which means we've got a lot of fear and regret to wade into. Bringing it all together is a relationship I don't want to give away, but one which binds family and romance into something sweet and hopeful . . . and very much appreciated.
The only place where I felt Glass Rhapsody faltered, just a bit, was in the plot-driven climax. I understand (and appreciate) where Chorn is taking the story next, but the ending felt more like an avoidance of conflict than a proper resolution to it. I was anticipating something powerful, something to rival the fireworks that closed out Of Honey and Wildfires, but it's a quiet resolution, and one that largely happens off the page, leaving us (fittingly, perhaps) with consequences rather than events. That's a small quibble over the last 5% of the book, though, and certainly does not take away from the emotional climaxes that lead into it.
https://beauty-in-ruins.blogspot.com/2021/07/fantasy-book-review-glass-rhapsody-by.html
wolfmantula's review
medium-paced
4.0
Sarah Chorn slays again with her prose skills in this emotional story of loss, addiction and regret, but also of healing and redemption. The story focuses a lot on the characters and the flaws they are trying to overcome as Shine Territory has to deal with a new issue that is The Union. Sarah does a great job telling us the stories of each of these characters and their inner thoughts as things happen. The characters are deep and fleshed out, dealing with loss and showing the heartache and emotion they face. Being haunted by their past and going through burnout from substance abuse withdrawal, and also dealing with the trauma of a past life left behind.
“I’ll be waiting for you, right in that spot where the sun rises, where light kisses away all that dark. I’ll be right there, forever, but you need to live.”
While I loved book 1, and was slightly underwhelmed with book 2, I came away a bit underwhelmed again with the third book…
I thought some of this story could’ve been in Oh, That Shotgun Sky instead of in here, and that the plot of Shine Territory dealing with The Union could have been given more time on the pages. It was so character driven that there were a lot of actions that happened off of the page that I felt was a big missed opportunity to delve into the ramifications of what The Union was doing to the people of Shine Territory. Another part of this same issue was the ending, it just felt so anticlimactic because something pretty big happened off the pages instead of us experiencing it from the POV.
“Hope, it turned out, was a heady kind
of wine.”
Something that I didn’t really point out before in my reviews, and doesn’t have any inflection on my grade, is the romance part of this series. While there’s nothing wrong with romance in fantasy, I’m just not a big fan of it and the romance was given even more attention this time around. So if you are a fan of it, you’re in luck!
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