United By Pop received a free copy of Quinsey Wolfe’s Glass Vault and Bride of Glass in exchange for an honest review, all opinions are our own. This post may contain affiliate links.
Title: Quinsey Wolfe’s Glass Vault and Bride of Glass
Author: Candace Robinson
Purchase: Available in the UK and the US
Overall rating: 4/5
Great for: Fans of Marissa Meyer, Rosamund Hodge and Jackson Pearce
Themes: Young adult, fantasy, paranormal and contemporary
Review: Candace Robinson’s series began in an entirely predictable fashion and, for the first quarter, I felt there was nothing inspired or unique about the plot. But, my gosh, did all that change!
Perrie Madeline’s hometown is plagued with mysterious disappearances. After both her best friend and ex-boyfriend join the names of the missing, she vows to discover what secrets her town is hiding. During their search Perrie, along with the new boy in town, August, discover the museum of a mad creator and get sucked into a world of magic and mayhem when the doors close behind them. But will this adventure lead them any closer to discovering where the missing have gone? Or will they just become names added to the list of the lost and forgotten?
The first novel is one bizarre and peculiar adventure I did not see coming! The first quarter is set up to deceive the reader into believing this book to be something predictable, but it soon becomes evident that it is far from true! From Jack the Ripper, to ‘The Legend of Sleepy Hollow‘, to ‘Snow White and the Huntsman‘: this book encroaches on a plethora of famed historical figures, fairy tale heroes, and villainous legends. And all are seamlessly interwoven into this horrific mystery, that sees both the reader and the characters sucked down the rabbit hole and into Wonderland.
The second book continues with the thrilling adventure of the first. Perrie Madeline is officially stuck in Wonderland. About to become the bride to Frankenstein‘s monster and condemning souls to hell for fun, she has lost all touch with the person she was before this horrifying and twisted adventure commenced. Lucky for her, her tenuous link to reality is about to be reinstated when rescue comes in the unlikely partnership of best friend and ex-boyfriend! Together the three must find a way to fight the forces of darkness that wish to encroach on the peace that remains in the world and to restore their town to its previous solitude.
The tale of good versus evil is a classic fantasy trope and yet Candace Robinson has brought something entirely unique to the events that take place within this well-used formulae. The immersion of fantasy inside the contemporary genre is also not something I have previous success with reading and yet, here, the two genres collided in a thrilling and exciting amalgamation that had me begging for more after each book’s close.
Infamous historical, mythological, and literary figures continued to make their appearance, throughout the series, and it made for such fun reading attempting to recognise their characters before they were properly introduced to the reader. This addition reworked the known and made the unknown accessible.
Former side characters were also given a larger focus, in this second book, as their back-stories were introduced to the reader giving the events from the former instalment more authenticity and credence. With the rounding of previous events and the thrilling affixing of new ones, this series continued to grow in strength with each unprecedented horror and recognisable evil that was defeated.
