Title: The Glittering Court [Glittering Court 1]
Author: Richelle Mead
Genre: Young Adult, Romance
Length: 400
Rating: 3 Star
Series: 1, 2, 3
Description/Synopsis:
Big and sweeping, spanning from the refined palaces of Osfrid to the gold dust and untamed forests of Adoria, The Glittering Court tells the story of Adelaide, an Osfridian countess who poses as her servant to escape an arranged marriage and start a new life in Adoria, the New World. But to do that, she must join the Glittering Court.
Both a school and a business venture, the Glittering Court is designed to transform impoverished girls into upper-class ladies who appear destined for powerful and wealthy marriages in the New World. Adelaide naturally excels in her training, and even makes a few friends: the fiery former laundress Tamsin and the beautiful Sirminican refugee Mira. She manages to keep her true identity hidden from all but one: the intriguing Cedric Thorn, son of the wealthy proprietor of the Glittering Court.
When Adelaide discovers that Cedric is hiding a dangerous secret of his own, together they hatch a scheme to make the best of Adelaide’s deception. Complications soon arise—first as they cross the treacherous seas from Osfrid to Adoria, and then when Adelaide catches the attention of a powerful governor.
But no complication will prove quite as daunting as the potent attraction simmering between Adelaide and Cedric. An attraction that, if acted on, would scandalize the Glittering Court and make them both outcasts in wild, vastly uncharted lands…
Review – MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS
I would like to thank Penguin Random House Australia for sending me a copy of this book for an honest review.
I was so excited when I heard this book was coming out. I loved the other books that I have read by Richelle Mead and when I saw that she was writing a new series I jumped at the opportunity to get my hands on this book.
Plot wise I had heard a lot of talk that it was like the Selection (which I have yet to read), and with that came a lot of negativity because of how people felt about those books. Because I have yet to read those and I had all faith in Mead’s writing I was not deterred despite the fact that the plot only had mild interest to me. I don’t watch tv shows of this nature and have not read any books that follow the same sort of idea, but I had such faith.
I am sad to say that my faith was holding this book up a bit too high. I am not saying that I didn’t like this book, it did have parts which I enjoyed and it was a very easy read to get through. However, the plot was not amazing. I enjoyed myself right at the beginning, Adelaide’s transition from woman of high standing to trying to pretend to be a maid was amusing. However I grew tired of it because nothing was ever taken to the next step. Nothing really got my interest or got my heart pounding. Everything was very mellow, even the romance. More intense romance or twists and turns could very well have saved this book for me.
The writing was all very disorientating. Both the plot and the writing style in this book brought back all the bad memories I have of Ruby Circle. The writing was very messy. While I was reading this book I had no idea that each book in the series would be telling the story another girl’s point of view to the same events. I didn’t find this out until later, and it made reading the book very disorienting. One of the ‘main’ girls in this book, which I now know will get her own book, was barely in the story. We kept getting told that these two other girls were very important but then we wouldn’t get any actual story of them and they just pop in and out at random times. Before I knew the structure of the series, I had no idea why these important people had such little appearance in the story.
I would like to go more into characters, but I honestly cannot remember anything about them. It has been awhile since I read the book, but even then normally I remember things. Scandals, people I like, my ideas on whats to come regarding people… But I have nothing.
So with that I think I need to stop this review here. I had many issues with this book, but they mostly came into play after the girls are taken to the new land. Before then when the girls where in ‘training’ for their new life I rather enjoyed it. If you are looking for the quality or that Richelle Mead that you got from Vampire Academy, I would not pick up this book. If you liked the selection though and haven’t read Mead before then I think this would be a good book for you to pick up.
Till Next Time…
