Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Glass Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg

10 reviews

renpuspita's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

 Gue selama baca buku ini pas adegan Ceony grudak gruduk konfrontasi musuh SENDIRIAN be like...

CEONY, KAMU ITU....BEGO

Seriusan gue bener - bener ga paham sama bagian pas Ceony ngadepin Grath Cobalts sendirian, kayak Ceony nih jumawa karena di buku pertama di ngalahin Lira?

Eniwei, The Glass Magician adalah lanjutan buku The Paper Magician. Ceritanya mulai 3 bulan dari kejadian di Paper Magician, jadi wajib baca buku pertama ya karena ceritanya semua berkesinambungan. Kalau di buku pertama sihirnya lebih fokus sama pengendalian kertas, di buku ini sesuai dengan judulnya, juga berfokus sama pengendalian kaca. Tapi, pengendalian kaca ini walau hebat juga bikin ngilu. Karena kaca kalau pecah kan bahaya ya, pecahannya itu lho nusuk sana sini. Jadi jangan heran kalau di buku ini Ceony bakal lebih banyak terluka apalagi musuhnya, Grath Cobalts yang juga pengendali kaca itu ga segan - segan buat nyiksa Ceony sama pecahan kaca. 

Di awal gue bilang kalau gue kesel sama tindakan Ceony dan emang Ceony bener - bener ngeselin di buku ini. Di buku pertama gue bisa nerima tindakan Ceony yang langsung ngejar Lira buat nyelametin Emery yang jantungnya diambil Lira. Gue menganggap Ceony saat itu desperate karena ini nyawa gurunya. Di buku ini, Ceony malah bersikap sok pahlawan. Kesel karena ga dilibatkan buat melawan Grath, akhirnya Ceony taking matters in her own hand. Masalahnya, dia juga ngajak temennya yg siswa magang Penyihir Aviosky dan seorang pengendali kaca yaitu Delilah. Gue beneran kasihan sama Delilah karena kecerobohan Ceony dalam menghadapi Grath. Si Emery bahkan sampai bilang kalau Ceony ga mikir panjang soalnya dah ngalahin Lira di buku pertama, padahal Lira kalau dibandingkan Grath dan salah satu penyihir pembelot yaitu Saraj, Lira tuh cuma pemula. Jadi emang ada kayak luck factor pas Ceony ngalahin Lira. Walau disisi lain gue applause sama authornya karena sukses bikin Grath jadi villain yang lebih membahayakan daripada Lira.

Bicara romansa, gue ngerasa si Holmberg mungkin pengen nulis kisah cinta tiba - tiba aka insta-love, cuma cara dia nulisnya di buku pertama itu terkesan maksa. Ga ada chemistrynya! Kalau di buku ini, jadi kelihatan kalau Ceony ya bertepuk sebelah tangan karena Emery ga terang - terangan ngebalas perasaan Ceony. Walau gitu, akhirnya sedikiiit ada perkembangan untuk kisah cinta Ceony dan Emery. Ya gue bilang sih sedikit yang bener - bener hanya sedikit tapi minimal ada kans buat cinta bersemi lah, hahaha. Menurut gue, karena ini novel kedua Holmberg ya mungkin beliau belum mahir nulis adegan romansa yang alami. Yang selama ini ngejek genre romance catet ya, ga SEMUA author bisa nulis adegan romansa yang bisa dirasakan sama pembacanya tanpa terasa terburu - buru :P.

Magic systemnya masih unik dan selain pengendalian kertas dan kaca, kita diperlihatkan pengendalian material karet dan juga besi. Untuk pengendali besi, mau ga mau ya gue inget allomancy yang ada di Mistborn (dan ya, Sanderson kan mentornya Holmberg), bikin gue jadi mikir untuk pengendalian logam apa hanya terbatas besi saja. Mantra - mantra pengendalian kaca dan kertas juga unik. Holmberg sendiri juga menjabarkan gimana cara penyihir material jadi penyihir pembelot tapi ini malah jadi pertanyaan lagi karena gimana caranya Lira yang awalnya asisten perawat itu jadi penyihir pembelot ya? Meski gue kesel sama tingkah laku Ceony yang sok pahlawan, bab-bab terakhir tentang kebenaran di balik penyihir pembelot dan apa yang dilakukan Ceony untuk mengalahkan Grath cukup bagus ditulisnya. Terjemahannya rapi tapi typonya BUANYAK. Banyak banget sampe gue ga yakin buku ini ada pemeriksaan akhir sama proof reader ga sih? :/

Sayangnya, Elex cuma nerbitin Paper Magician dan Glass Magician aja. Padahal masih ada buku 3, The Master Magician dan buku 4, The Plastic Magician yang ceritanya terpisah. Kesel juga kenapa buku 3 ga sekalian diterbitkan padahal buku 3 itu jadi konklusi cerita Ceony. Pun gue mayan penasaran bagian Ceony dan Emery apa bakal jadian. Ya pasti jadian sih, cuma kan gue pengen tahu proses kesananya gimana :'). Gue benernya bisa aja baca dalam bahasa aslinya, tapi ya moga - moga aja Elex nanti beneran nerbitin buku 3 karena nanggung banget cuma buku 1 sama 2!!

Oh ya, gue kira di cover edisi terjemahan Indo itu gambar Ceony sama Emery. Gue jujur agak syok masa Emery kelihatannya kayak Tom Selleck padahal di buku ga dibilang kalau dia kumisan dan benernya Emery itu berantakan. Tapi setelah baca buku ini, gue baru ngeh kalau itu Grath Cobalts karena dia pegang kaca dan Grath kan pengendali kaca XD. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

gondorgirl's review

Go to review page

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

brickwall27's review

Go to review page

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

aspiereads33's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful lighthearted mysterious sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

daniber's review

Go to review page

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

sydravioli's review

Go to review page

dark sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

kat1105's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

lucinotlucy's review

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

whirl's review

Go to review page

adventurous medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

annettewolf's review

Go to review page

adventurous medium-paced
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

It's such a shame that the magic system and writing skill are so solid in this book. The descriptions are great, the pacing is quick and adventurous, the story beats are all hit pretty darn well. And the romance *would* be really well written and fun to read if it wasn't for the whole, age and power disparity thing. Mentor/apprentice relationships are a major no-no, and our main character doesn't give a f*ck.

Add to that the continued emphasis on gendered roles. Not even enforced by other characters--the other characters seem pretty progressive and chill. But the main character, Ceony, wonders what her mentor would even do without her, a woman, to cook for him and wash his clothes. She wants to marry off every eligible bachelor she sees, even mentally relegating her peer, Delilah, as a good wife for a man she's never met, simply because Delilah could cook for him. Blegh.

And, definitely worst of all, one of the villains in this book is a character of Indian descent, and our main character literally starts to challenge her own racism in her head when she first suspects him but then HE IS THE VILLAIN ANYWAY and he's arguably the worst, most despicable villain in the book. At one point it's thrown out that he's killed babies. So...yeah. Didn't get enough sensitivity readers giving feedback on the optics of that one, I guess.

The characters are all also pretty flat. Their motivations boil down to...I dunno, insta-love and "well I guess it's time to be a magician" and I just wasn't buying it? I didn't feel what they were feeling. I don't know if they were really feeling much of anything.

If anyone's thinking about reading this series, I might try The Invisible Library series by Genevieve Cogman instead. It's the same fast-paced, adventurous feel, but without so much problematic stuff.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
More...