The Glass Swallow by Julia Golding, a review

I probably shouldn't have just read that book. Goodness knows I should be too busy to read an entire book in a day. But I have and so I might as well do a review. So here's what I thought of The Glass Swallow by Julia Golding.

In a way this is the second in a series. It's set in the same world as Dragonfly, another book by the same author, but it's more of a spiritual successor as it doesn't relate to the other book beyond a few references. Even the surroundings are different as it takes place in a newly discovered country, which is quite different from the others we've seen before.

Like the previous book it focuses quite a bit on systems of government and how they should be. In Dragonfly we saw how an invading presence which only cares about control can hurt an economy and the people. Here we see how a government too self contained can flounder and consume itself. As before Julia Golding tells us that governments should be there to take care of the people, not the other way round.

This book is a lot darker as society breaks down completely, leaving pockets of people to take care of themselves. It's your typical zombie apocalypse thing without the ravening hordes of undead. The people are also not as nice in this book. Where previously everyone was either evil, a dispensable soldier, dark on the outside while noble underneath or hail-fellow-well-met, here not everyone's in it for selfless reasons. Some have been forced and some act through greed. It gives a bit more depth to the book and some more drama, which is needed as there isn't really an enemy or big bad guy in this, just a shattered state.

The characters themselves are quite interesting. As aforementioned, it's not all black and white. The main girl character, Rain, is a girl trapped in the foreign land, just like Taoshira in the first book. She can't fight or do anything practical but seems to get through everything by mostly force of will. There's also a youngish boy called Retsam, who's level of maturity fluctuates so much you occasionally wonder if he is some reincarnated being as is suggested.

But all that wasn't the reason I read the book. What captivated me about Dragonfly was the romance the built up between the main characters. It was slow, thoughtful and, well, romantic. I was hoping to see a repeat performance in The Glass Swallow.

It wasn't quite like that. While the attraction in Dragonfly was more a sort of slow realisation, in The Glass Swallow it was basically love at first sight. The first kiss came when they'd been in each others company for a combined amount of, at most, three hours. I have nothing against love at first sight but after that reasonably fast start it stalls and moves along very slowly. In Dragonfly there were romantic gestures and, while there is at least one here, nothing seems to come of it, mostly because they don't seem to talk about their feelings, just occasionally kiss. Which is annoying as you keep seeing things from both of their points of view and they're both wondering just how the other feels about them. It's readable and quite sweet but not really comparable to the love in Dragonfly.

All in all it was a very enjoyable book. The main reason I didn't like it more is purely personal; as Dragonfly is one of my favourites The Glass Swallow is just different enough for me to think less of it for that difference. But it is still good and beautifully set out. Each of the chapters are named after coloured shards of glass, which tied in nicely with Rain's profession and added just that bit extra to it. I'd recommend the book to Julia Golding fans and anyone who liked Dragonfly.