The Glasswright's Apprentice
The Glasswright's Saga, Book 1
Mindy L. Klasky
Roc
Fiction, Fantasy
Themes: Girl Power, Religious Themes, Urban Tales
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Description
Morenia is a kingdom ruled by a strict caste system. The "casteless" Touched are at the bottom, beneath the Merchants, the Guildspeople, the Soldiers, and the nobility. Though Jair, the holiest holy figure and originator of the worship of the Thousand Gods, was honored for moving from Touched to prophet, nobody today dares look beyond the confines of their caste. It was a great oddity, then, when Rani Trader's Merchant family pooled their money to buy her way into the Glasswright's Guild to nurture an inborn talent for art and patterns. Now known as Ranita, it seemed her future is assured... until the royal prince is murdered on the day of his coronation, shot through a hole in a glass window the guild has only just installed in the great cathedral. Before she knows what's happening, the Glasswright's Guild has been disbanded and imprisoned, the kingdom is in panic, and Rani - suspected of treason and murder - is on the run. To clear her name and bring justice, she must move through the City and castes, changing names as often as she changes her cloak, following a trail of clues that leads her to a hidden Brotherhood that preaches an end to the castes, justice for all... and unspeakable plans for power.
Review
About halfway through, I was ready to give this four to five stars. It moved quickly, Rani was a clever protagonist, and the world was absorbing. I got from page one to the halfway point before I knew it. Then, almost exactly at the halfway mark, it started unraveling. Rani backpedaled on stuff she's learned in very hard ways in order to further the plot. An ex-Glasswright Master antagonist kept popping up for no apparent reason and with little logic other than to advance or foul up the plot (whichever was more convenient for the author.) At this point, I felt my interest slipping. The final fourth of the book crawled by in a tangle of names and situations that were hard to keep straight, and the ending felt empty and unsatisfactory. Was I supposed to be rooting for an end to the castes in Morenia ornot? Just what was Rani doing in the middle of all this, anyway? If she's so smart, why is she so easily led around by the nose, even when her own instincts try to tell her otherwise? There were several questions unresolved by the conclusion. I know there's at least one more book in the series, but that's no excuse. In the end, I could justify three stars, but nothing more... and even that's pushing it a bit.