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emtees's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Glamour in Glass is the sequel to Shades of Milk and Honey, picking up with Jane Vincent and her new husband as they launch their career as a professional glamourist couple. After finding success on a prominent project commissioned by the Prince Regent of Great Britain, Faerie and Ireland (yes, apparently Faerie exists in this world and is part of the British Empire; no, you will not learn anything more about that in this book), Jane and Vincent take advantage of the fact that Napoleon has recently been defeated and exiled to travel to the continent, visiting a friend of Vincent’s in Belgium who is working on a new glamour technique. The plan is to expand their skills while also finally getting a honeymoon. But in Belgium, Jane begins to have doubts about how smoothly her life is going. Vincent becomes moody and distant, and it is obvious that he is keeping secrets. Jane is increasingly aware that she married a man she barely knew. And there is also a more personal issue to think about - whether the couple intend to have children and, if so, what that will mean for Jane’s career, since pregnant women cannot work glamour.
A lot of the issues I had with the first book continue to show up here. The pacing is odd; the first half is extremely slow, with hints of something happening in the background but most of the focus on Jane going about the daily life of a glamourist, wife and traveler. Then, in the second half, the plot suddenly becomes very dramatic and exciting and there is a big, action-heavy climax. I think if I liked Jane a little better I wouldn’t mind this type of pacing, but as it is, I was pretty bored until about half way through. Jane continues to be a frustrating character for me; she’s practical and kind, which I like, and I enjoyed that she felt out of her depth in this book and had to struggle to assert herself, whether it was her embarrassment over her poor grasp of French or her discomfort with how people constantly dismissed her role as an equal in her work with her husband. But she is also very much a woman of her time and place, and while that might be more realistic than the spunky, rebellious heroines of so many historical romances, it made me want to shake her a lot. She has a lot of prejudices and social assumptions that she doesn’t question, whether it was her acceptance that the Prince Regent’s mistress had disgraced herself or her disquiet with the looser and more sexually equal mores in Belgium compared to England. She also continues to have a lot of insecurity around her looks and lack of traditional feminine attributes, and again, while that’s realistic, it’s also frustrating to read. I was also disappointed in the development of her relationship with Vincent. While I didn’t think their relationship was very well set up in the first book, I did like that they came together as equals. In this book, however, while Vincent gives surface-level attention to treating Jane as his partner - insisting that others recognize her as a professional glamourist in her own right - he also keeps a huge and dangerous secret from her, for completely unsatisfying reasons, and honestly just acts like a jerk about it for most of the book. It was disappointing.
There were aspects of the book I liked, though. The magic system was my favorite part of the first book, and I was glad to see Kowal expand here on the potential implications of glamour that were hinted at in the previous book. The scientific approach that Jane takes towards figuring out how to “trap” glamour was fun to read; I like magic systems that treat magic like science. Vincent and Jane nerding out about the technical aspects of their craft is entertaining. I also really liked the storyline around the question of whether or not Jane wants to have children. I’m not usually a fan of stories where pregnancy interferes with women being able to do magic or otherwise participate in the plot, but it was really thoughtfully handled in this book, and Jane’s ambiguity about the whole thing was an interesting character choice. And it meant that I didn’t hate it when the book pulled in a plot point that I usually don’t enjoy: the convenient miscarriage that allows the story to have the drama of a pregnancy without having to actually deal with a baby. Instead of simply a way to keep Jane and Vincent free and childless, here it felt like the miscarriage, and Jane’s mix of grief and relief over it, and the guilt she felt about that relief, were all very realistic and very well handled.
Like the first book, this one ends with a whole lot of plot and drama that comes out of nowhere. I really liked the way the plot was woven into the real-world history of Napoleon’s last defeat. And Jane once again stepping up and breaking free of the strictures of her gender and class when it was necessary was great.
I’m going to continue this series for the elements I do like: the magic system, the alternate history, and the hints that Jane is going through real character development and may eventually become a heroine I like.
A lot of the issues I had with the first book continue to show up here. The pacing is odd; the first half is extremely slow, with hints of something happening in the background but most of the focus on Jane going about the daily life of a glamourist, wife and traveler. Then, in the second half, the plot suddenly becomes very dramatic and exciting and there is a big, action-heavy climax. I think if I liked Jane a little better I wouldn’t mind this type of pacing, but as it is, I was pretty bored until about half way through. Jane continues to be a frustrating character for me; she’s practical and kind, which I like, and I enjoyed that she felt out of her depth in this book and had to struggle to assert herself, whether it was her embarrassment over her poor grasp of French or her discomfort with how people constantly dismissed her role as an equal in her work with her husband. But she is also very much a woman of her time and place, and while that might be more realistic than the spunky, rebellious heroines of so many historical romances, it made me want to shake her a lot. She has a lot of prejudices and social assumptions that she doesn’t question, whether it was her acceptance that the Prince Regent’s mistress had disgraced herself or her disquiet with the looser and more sexually equal mores in Belgium compared to England. She also continues to have a lot of insecurity around her looks and lack of traditional feminine attributes, and again, while that’s realistic, it’s also frustrating to read. I was also disappointed in the development of her relationship with Vincent. While I didn’t think their relationship was very well set up in the first book, I did like that they came together as equals. In this book, however, while Vincent gives surface-level attention to treating Jane as his partner - insisting that others recognize her as a professional glamourist in her own right - he also keeps a huge and dangerous secret from her, for completely unsatisfying reasons, and honestly just acts like a jerk about it for most of the book. It was disappointing.
There were aspects of the book I liked, though. The magic system was my favorite part of the first book, and I was glad to see Kowal expand here on the potential implications of glamour that were hinted at in the previous book. The scientific approach that Jane takes towards figuring out how to “trap” glamour was fun to read; I like magic systems that treat magic like science. Vincent and Jane nerding out about the technical aspects of their craft is entertaining. I also really liked the storyline around the question of whether or not Jane wants to have children. I’m not usually a fan of stories where pregnancy interferes with women being able to do magic or otherwise participate in the plot, but it was really thoughtfully handled in this book, and Jane’s ambiguity about the whole thing was an interesting character choice. And it meant that I didn’t hate it when the book pulled in a plot point that I usually don’t enjoy:
Like the first book, this one ends with a whole lot of plot and drama that comes out of nowhere. I really liked the way the plot was woven into the real-world history of Napoleon’s last defeat. And Jane once again stepping up and breaking free of the strictures of her gender and class when it was necessary was great.
I’m going to continue this series for the elements I do like: the magic system, the alternate history, and the hints that Jane is going through real character development and may eventually become a heroine I like.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pregnancy and Miscarriage
Moderate: Sexism
Period-typical sexism, both from and directed to the main character. A major plot line centers on pregnancy.
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