Storm Glass has some cracks

After running to Barnes & Noble to buy it last Tuesday, I finally finished Storm Glass, which is Maria Snyder's fourth book and the first in her new Glass series. The book follows Opal Cowen, the Glass Magician from book three in Snyder's Study series. Frustrated at her lack of magical abilities, Opal is surprised and doubtful when asked to assist with a special mission. Someone is sabotaging the Stormdancer clan's glass orbs, killing the clan's magicians. It's up to Opal to figure out why the orbs are breaking. As Opal's involvement increases, the situation becomes more and more formidable for her and everyone around her. She must learn to trust her friends, her newfound magical abilities, and most importantly, herself in order to find a way to resolve the situation.

Storm Glass is a blend of new faces and old favorites. Fans of the Study series will be happy to reunite with Leif, the grumpy younger brother of the all-powerful Soulfinder Yelena (and heroine of the Study series). The remaining Master Magicians are all there, and the affable, snarky super-soldiers Ari and Janco even make a guest appearance (no Valek though, much to my disappointment. I was rather looking forward to hearing more about the Commander's gorgeous assassin). Among the new characters is Ulrick, the fellow glassmaker and Opal's self-proclaimed protector; Kade, the mysterious Stormdancer holding on to a pain that Opal knows all too well; and Pazia, the powerful student magician with a lot of hostility towards Opal. All of the characters, both new and old have their part in helping Opal confront her fears and learn to trust.

Which, to be honest, is part of the problem with this book. What I loved about Snyder's first series (especially book one: Poison Study) is the way her characters came to life before your eyes. Even the more minor characters reached out to the reader in such a way that you couldn't help but laugh, cry, or groan with them. Storm Glass, unfortunately, fails to deliver the same quality of character development. At the end of the book, we don't know much more about Kade, Pazia, or Ulrick as we did at the beginning. It's hard to care about the welfare and prosperity of characters we don't connect with. Most of them appear to be there simply to teach Opal something, or to advance the ever-winding plot.

Ahh, the plot. Or plots. Or tangled maze of plots. Snyder jumps us from one adventure to another with little time in between for readers to dust themselves off. Not all of the adventures are plausible, and some read straight like bad fan fiction. If you haven’t read the Study series yet, you may get lost in the tornado, as many of the events referenced and expanded upon are not adequately explained - it’s assumed that the reader will simply know what’s going on.

Despite its problems, fans of Snyder’s first series will enjoy this book. It’s sort of like going to the movie theater on opening night to watch the newest 007 movie - it won’t be Diamonds are Forever, and Daniel Craig is no Sean Connery, but you go in hopes of recapturing some of that earlier magic (pun intended).

-Jenn C.