Reviews with content warning for Violence - The Glass Magician

Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The Glass Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg

9 reviews

renpuspita's review against another edition

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.

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gondorgirl's review

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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

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brickwall27's review

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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

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daniber's review

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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

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sydravioli's review

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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

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ednapellen's review

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adventurous mysterious fast-paced

4.0

Oh. My. Goodness. I absolutely devoured this lovely little book. I literally just finished it and so my brain is busy screaming and unable to write a decent review. I intend to update this with a more proper one at a later time.
But for now, partly because I fear I may fail to update this with a proper review and partly because I know no one else who has read this series and will care but I must gush right now, I will say this:

This book is not perfect, but I'll be stale piece of bread if it isn't wonderful. I had some minor issues with it but it was full of things that I love to the point that I couldn't pay much attention to the things I didn't love. This series is starting to feel like it was designed to have all my favorite things in it.
As with the first book, I adore the magic systems - all of them, but especially Folding (the paper magic system). In all honesty, I think may be my all-time favorite magic system. I absolutely adored the time we spent learning about it at the cottage's kitchen table, or sitting on the floor of Ceony's room as she practiced a new fold, or kneeling in the garden of paper flowers- I really truly would gladly have read this book if it was about nothing but Ceony's apprenticeship.

And the characters... oh dear how I very much so liked them. Both side characters and main characters were a joy to be with for the duration of this story. Ceony has proven to be a delightful protagonist, and Thane is as wonderful as ever.
I do still find aspects of their romance odd. The modern world has made it hard for me to be comfortable with a romance between a mentor and mentee, especially when the mentee is still fairly young (though she is an adult). Still, this book handled it in a tasteful way, bringing up different things that presented the romance in a better way than the first book did.
That being said, the romance was good overall. I raised an eyebrow here and there, but generally it was well done and I am not opposed to it.

The plot was thrilling, with genuine stakes that pulled me into the book almost (almost) as thoroughly as the magic system.

I also greatly liked how well contained this book - as well as the first book in the series - is. I wouldn't say you could read this without reading the first, but with either books you could definitely choose to not continue on with the series (but then, why in tarnation would you?) while still having a satisfying ending.

The true thing I love about this book, though, is the character of it. From the prose to the world to the magic systems to the pacing to the characters to everything else, this book knows exactly what it is, and it's wonderful. Even the aspects I wasn't as big a fan of I could accept because it was so true to the character of the book. I aspire to be able to represent my own stories as accurately and as thoroughly as Charlie N. Holmberg has.

My last thought: I'm hesitant to say that I love this book. As I said, this book is so full of things that I already love that I'm not sure if its the book itself I love, or everything it has incorporated.
But if I do not love the book, then I really, really like it.

As I write this, I have the third book in the series right next to me on the arm of my couch, and as soon as I hit "post" you can bet your buttons I'm going to start reading it. And I hope that you will soon begin reading this series, as well, if only to give it a try.

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