Shatterglass

Title:  Shatterglass

Author: Tamora Pierce

Ideal Age Range: Middle School/ Young Adult

Mass Market Paperback: 357 pages

Copyright Date:  March 2003

Blurb: Kethlun Warder was a gifted glassmaker until his world was shattered in a freak accident.  Now his remaining glass magic is mixed with lightning, and Tris must teach him to control it (if she can teach him to control his temper first).  But there’s more at stake than Keth’s education.  With his strange magic, he creates glass balls that reflect the immediate past and expose the work of a murderer.  If he can harness his power properly, he’ll be able to see the crimes as they take place.  Keth and Tris race against time, and the local authorities, to identify a killer who’s living in plain sight.

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My Rating: (★★★★)  I picked up my copy of Tamora Pierce’s Shatterglass at my local Half Price Books for $1.00.  I always rescue Tammy’s books from the clearance shelves if I see them there, even if I already own 2 or 3 copies of the book.  I, however, did not own a copy of Shatterglass, and it is the last of The Circle Opens quartet that I had yet to read, so I was incredibly happy to get it for such a steal.

Tris is probably my least favorite of the Emelan Ambient Mages that star in The Circle of Magic and The Circle Opens quartets, she is a weather mage and has a brusque personality.  However, I felt that her character grew on me as I read Shatterglass, underneath her gruff exterior was the meat of the person that her adopted brother and sisters had grown to love, and I found myself to be just like them.  She is a rescuer of lost animals, and a protector of orphans, and a just and stubborn teacher.

I found that Shatterglass held hints of what was to become the world of Beka Cooper in Terrier, Bloodhound, and Mastiff.  There were whispers in the use of winds in Shatterglass and the plotline of a serial killer on the loose.  It was heralding the next books that Tamora was to be working on, it seemed to me anyway.

I enjoyed the magic in the story, and the development of the teacher/student relationship between Kethlun and Tris, and the unfolding chase of the serial killer kept me turning the pages.  Overall I was generally pleased with my choice of book to read after I was so disappointed with Nightshade by Andrea Cremer. 

I’m looking forward to reading Mastiff which is also sitting on my To Be Read pile, but I’m not sure it’s going to be my next reading choice.

I definitely think that if a reader enjoys any other books by Ms. Pierce, that they would most certainly like Shatterglass.  I think the only thing I found, as a negative of this series of books was that it was slightly formulaic.  Each book had the general idea of each mage discovering a new mage, being forced to become said person’s teacher, and a mystery to be solved.   That was a questionable negative in any case since a lot of series’ are like that, aren’t they?

Happy reading all!