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A review by nenya_kanadka
A Face Like Glass by Frances Hardinge
5.0
I'm really starting to love Frances Hardinge. I think my favourite thing about this one was the way the friendships came together in the end--they'd been seeded all along, but you weren't sure who would end up trusting who and whether there would be any kind of victory in the end or not. I also loved the Kleptomancer, who I felt had a good ending too. And the Cartographers were awesome, and all the worldbuilding was aces.
"I can't think straight. But why am I trying to do that anyway? Everybody else thinks straight. That's why nobody expects me to think zigzag-hop."
The protagonist--redhaired, slightly mad, with a tendency to trust everyone (not a safe tendency in Caverna!), full of questions, earnest and bouncy like a puppy, but also full of strong feelings she doesn't immediately know how to identify--I loved her and I think she has a lot more of me in her than many heroines I've read lately. So that definitely kept me engaged. And I know I listed her hair colour first, but it was honestly just the cherry on top of the "oh, I *get* you, kid!" sundae.
Hardinge has this brilliant ability to take adventures with a tinge of horror to them and write them in such a way as to NOT give me nightmares. I don't know if it's because it's YA or just the way she writes, but I found it true about both this one and Cuckoo Song, and I love it.
"I can't think straight. But why am I trying to do that anyway? Everybody else thinks straight. That's why nobody expects me to think zigzag-hop."
The protagonist--redhaired, slightly mad, with a tendency to trust everyone (not a safe tendency in Caverna!), full of questions, earnest and bouncy like a puppy, but also full of strong feelings she doesn't immediately know how to identify--I loved her and I think she has a lot more of me in her than many heroines I've read lately. So that definitely kept me engaged. And I know I listed her hair colour first, but it was honestly just the cherry on top of the "oh, I *get* you, kid!" sundae.
Hardinge has this brilliant ability to take adventures with a tinge of horror to them and write them in such a way as to NOT give me nightmares. I don't know if it's because it's YA or just the way she writes, but I found it true about both this one and Cuckoo Song, and I love it.