Review: Storm Glass by Maria Snyder

Storm Glass by Maria Snyder
Publisher: Mira
Pub. Date: May 2009
448pp

As a glassmaker and a magician-in-training, Opal Cowen understands trial by fire. Now it's time to test her mettle. Someone has sabotaged the Stormdancer clan's glass orbs, killing their most powerful magicians. The Stormdancers—particularly the mysterious and mercurial Kade—require Opal's unique talents to prevent it happening again. But when the mission goes awry, Opal must tap in to a new kind of magic as stunningly potent as it is frightening. And the further she delves into the intrigue behind the glass and magic, the more distorted things appear. With lives hanging in the balance—including her own—Opal must control powers she hadn't known she possessed…powers that might lead to disaster beyond anything she's ever known.

Storm Glass is the first book in the Glass Series. This story is about Opal - a glass maker with magical abilities on her journey of discovery and it takes place 4-5 years after novel Poison Study from the Study Series.

Snyder has done it again! She captures you in her magical world and keeps you captivated. Opal finds herself on an impossible journey to investigate matters that have lead to the deaths of multiple stormdancers. While on her mission, Opal continues to struggle coming to terms with her grief about her past and emerging abilities and she has no choice but to experiment with these new abilities whether she likes it or not. With enemies at every corner, Opal acquires help from Kade – the stormdancer, on her mission to solve the puzzles surrounding the glass orbs used to tame the storms. She meets new companions throughout her journey and runs into some old friends too. Opal’s still not confident in her new abilities and she continues to question her use of magic.

I love Snyder’s writing and all of her characters even the secondary characters are well developed. The imagery with the different clans and their surroundings is unique. I still have the same picture of Sitia’s landscape in my head as I did reading the Study Series and everything was as I remembered it.

I was ecstatic to see some of my favorite characters from the Study Series who had brief appearances in this book. Storm Glass lures you in and keeps you turning pages in the wee hours of the night. I love Snyder’s magical world, full of mystery and it has so many intricate plots woven into the storyline that will leave you begging for more.

I can’t wait to read the sequel Sea Glass which is scheduled to be released in September 2009. Fans of the Study Series will be delighted with Storm Glass.

Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars