Book Review : Storm Glass (Glass, #1) by Maria V. Snyder

Storm Glass (Glass, #1) by Maria V. Snyder

Paperback, 504 pages

Published July 17th 2009 by Mira Books

Untrained. Untested. Unleashed. With her unique magical abilities, Opal has always felt unsure of her place at Sitia's magic academy. But when the Stormdancer clan needs help, Opal's knowledge makes her the perfect choice - until the mission goes awry. Pulling her powers in unfamiliar directions, Opal finds herself tapping into a new kind of magic as stunningly potent as it is frightening. Now Opal must deal with plotters out to destroy the Stormdancer clan, as well as a traitor in their midst. With danger and deception rising around her, will Opal's untested abilities destroy her - or save them all?

Storm Glass circles around Opal Cowan, a glass maker who did not realize her potential for magic at the beginning of the novel. If you can recall, Opal is a minor character in the Study series, the one who lost her sister to a murderous blood magician who tortures and kills his victims before injecting their blood in his skin to increase his own power. She might not be as clever and multifaceted as Yelena, but she has her own talents, which is making glass animals that enables magicians to communicate with each other with the spark of magic trapped within.

In Storm Glass, Opal and her mentor Master Magician Zitora were sent on a mission to investigate the truth behind the failing glass orbs created by the Stormdancer clan as these things, unable to contain the power of the storm, have been bursting and killing a few Stormdancers. She finds herself getting interested with one of the Stormdancers - Kade, but her very presence seems unbearable to him.

The starting is a little too slow according to my standards, but it is still tolerable as facts are thrown in time to time to reveal pieces of puzzle that will finally make up the whole story. The romance between Opal and Kade is not really clear and obvious. It is true that there is some attraction between those two, but Kade always shuts himself off to the world since the death of her sister. Ulrick, the son of a famous glass maker, on the other hand, is a protective bear - he clearly has some interest in Opal, but her mind is solely on Kade.

Storm Glass has all the usual elements present in Maria V. Snyder's books - suspense, intrigue, romance, betrayal, and the ingenious plot twists. Following the adventures of Opal Cowan, this book is a good start to the Glass series. Even though our heroine here is not as clever or multifaceted as our beloved Yelena from the Study series, I still admire her courage and strength. Opal has low self-esteem, she is a little slow (meaning not so clever) and she is indecisive in matters of love. (Not that we can blame her, given Kade's trademark I'm-not-interested-in-you-but actually-I-do actions. Sometimes even I feel like slapping some sense into him.) Opal is definitely a flawed person, but that is what makes her special.

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Born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Maria V. Snyder attended 12 years of catholic school before going to Penn State University to study Meteorology. Earning a Bachelors of Science degree in Meteorology, Maria discovered, much to her chagrin, that forecasting the weather wasn't one of her skills. She found employment in the environmental field as an air quality scientist, and it was during those years that she began writing. After writing many science fiction short stories, Maria started Poison Study, her first novel about a food taster.