Title: Magic Under GlassAuthor: Jaclyn Dolamore
Publication Date: Jan 2010 but was available in Dec 2009
Genre: YA Fantasy
Age: 12+
Pages: 320 (approx.)
Series: maybe?
Publisher's website: Bloomsbury Children's Books
Author's website: Jaclyn Dolamore
Book Acquisition: ARC from publisher
Nimira is a foreign music-hall girl forced to dance for pennies. When wealthy sorcerer Hollin Parry hires her to sing with a piano-playing automaton, Nimira believes it is the start of a new and better life. In Parry's world, however, buried secrets are beginning to stir. Unsettling below-stairs rumors swirl about ghosts, a madwoman roaming the halls, and Parry's involvement with a league of sorcerers who torture fairies for sport. Then Nimira discovers the spirit of a fairy gentleman named Erris is trapped inside the clockwork automaton, waiting for someone to break his curse. The two fall into a love that seems hopeless, and breaking the curse becomes a race against time, as not just their love, but the fate of the entire magical world may be in peril.
(from publisher's website)
I was amazed by this book! I haven't come across a true YA fantasy in a long time and Magic Under Glass filled a great big reading void in my life. Nimira's world is utterly unique. We have magic, fairies, evil sorcerers, true love, forbidden love and - an automaton!
Seriously, I enjoyed this book immensely. I was hooked within the first couple of pages and if it weren't for those pesky things in life (work, food, bathing) I would not have put this book down for a second. Fantasy is my favorite genre and Jaclyn Dolamore has created a wonderful fantasy world in Magic Under Glass.
Just so you don't think I've gone all fangirl on you let me share with you a few dislikes.
Nimira herself wasn't my favorite. She seemed a little one dimensional. Very - everything on the surface type. I didn't feel like there was much to Nimira that we didn't know. But, with that said, what I did learn of her, I liked.
Also, I needed more. I would have been happy with twice as many pages :) I really did fall in love with the fantasy world Jaclyn created. I would have loved to have had more history into this world and into the characters themselves.
The ending of Magic Under Glass left the way open for a sequel and I'm really hoping there will be one!
I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good YA fantasy.
5/5 stars
Linkage Love:
Jaclyn Dolamore's blog
Other Reviews:
Ramblings of a Teenage Bookworm
The Hiding Spot
The Book Butterfly
Fantastic Book Review
I've heard splendid things about this book and want it so desperately! Thanks for this great review. I'm glad to see you liked it.
ReplyDelete~Briana
Fab review! Love the layout.
ReplyDeleteWillow,
ReplyDeleteThe book clearly states:
Nimira is a performer, dancing and singing in search of fortune, after migrating from Tassim, in the far East... in Lorinar, she is nothing but a dark-skinned amusement, a novelty “trouser girl” who earns nothing but pennies and whose number comes after acrobats and trained dogs in the music hall she is employed at. ... Nim was a breath of fresh air. For starters, she is dark-skinned and from a different culture;
2) The book trailer shows a person of color
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFvAq2lgrZ4
3)See the review at Stella Matutina
http://xicanti.livejournal.com/173376.html
The summary you have posted, Color Online, is actually from a review - not from the book itself.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the trailer link - I hadn't seen that before and you're right, Nimira is show as a person of color.
The author has also stated that she wished the cover had portrayed a darker girl.