Glamour in Glass

Mary Robinette Kowall’s pitch for her first novel was “Jane Austen with magic.”  And that’s fair.  Not accurate, but it’s fair.  After all, there was the beautiful prose, the manners, the rich characters with their foibles and skeletons in the closet, and of course, romance.  And the magic was not used traditionally; magic, or “glamour,” was used as a type of art, much like sculpting or painting, so it fit very well in this setting.

 And then there was this explosive ending that I can never picture Jane Austen doing, complete with standoffs and gunplay.  Not Jane Austen, but still awesome.

Glamour in Glass is Kowall’s sequel, and is very much not Jane Austen.  I feel like that Kowall’s characters have grown into their own world now.  It takes place in France during the time of Napoleon, and while there is romantic tension, it’s a different flavor.  Instead of trying to get married, Jane (the main character, not Austen) is in the middle of her honeymoon.  It’s not about getting married, the romance is in making the relationship work as newlyweds.  And that is no easy task considering the danger they find themselves in with a war looming ahead.

I read it in two days.  Had a hard time putting it down.  You don’t necessarily have to read her first novel to get into this one; Glamour in Glass stands on its own quite well.

I have two complaints but not about Kowall.  I’m having issues with the marketing.

First is the cover.  I’m an art lover as well as a reader, and I am not ashamed to say that I will buy a book because of its cover.  Maybe you shouldn’t judge a book by it but the truth is, if a good artist took time out of their day to create something beautiful for a novel, it speaks highly of that story to me.

The cover is fine.  Looks gorgeous even… but it doesn’t fit.  The story is about a plain woman in a country at war with itself, trying to create wonderful magic with her husband (you can take that any way you want.)  The cover is a fashion model in princess clothes walking down a flight of stairs and bubbles floating around her.  Completely wrong tone from the outset.

The other is… well, you know what?  I can’t even remember what else was bothering me.  Guess it wasn’t as important.  Check the book out sometime.  You’ll be glad you did.