The Glass Spare

by Lauren DeStefano

Series: The Glass Spare (1)

Members	Reviews	Popularity	Average rating	Mentions
609	23	41,398	(3.82)	3
The first in a new fantasy duology, The Glass Spare is a gorgeously told tale of love, loss, and deadly power from Lauren DeStefano, the bestselling author of the Chemical Garden series. Wilhelmina Heidle, the fourth child and only daughter of the king of the world's wealthiest nation, has grown up in the shadows. Kept hidden from the world in order to serve as a spy for her father-whose obsession with building his empire is causing a war-Wil wants nothing more than to explore the world beyond her kingdom, if only her father would give her the chance. Until one night Wil is attacked, and she discovers a dangerous secret. Her touch turns people into gemstone. At first Wil is horrified-but as she tests its limits, she's drawn more and more to the strange and volatile ability. When it leads to tragedy, though, Wil is forced to face the destructive power within her and finally leave her home to seek the truth and a cure. But finding the key to her redemption puts her in the path of a cursed prince who has his own ideas for what to do with Wil's power. With a world on the brink of war and a power of ultimate destruction, can Wil find a way to help the kingdom that's turned its back on her, or will she betray her past and her family forever?… (more)

all members

▾Members

Recently added by

alexd77, lisareadinggirl, bee_la, c.a.mcgrath, taliainthetardis, GKITTY, Meghan_Rose, JLynn4579N, MaKenzie88, walshka

▾Tags

▾LibraryThing Recommendations

▾Lists

None

▾Will you like it?

▾Conversations (About links)

No current Talk conversations about this book.

» See also 3 mentions

▾Member reviews

date ▼ | votes

Showing 1-5 of 23 (next | show all)

I really enjoyed the world building in the book. I loved the world. I thought the book at points near the start was predicable but towards the ending some of the plot stuff did surprise me. The characters were the stand out in this novel. I loved the various POV that we got. I loved Will as a lead and am super excited to see book 2! It was a fast pace read! (

)

lmauro123 | Dec 28, 2023 |

)

lmauro123 | Dec 28, 2023 |

Two teens with secrets and similarities meet after the girl is banished by her father, a king in the north. The boy is similarly banished by his father from the southern kingdom. Both are cursed and suffer frightening fates as a result. Their meeting and subsequent travels, first to the south, then to the north, are intertwined with other characters, as well as plenty of action and tension, all creating a book that is difficult to set down. I'm eagerly awaiting the sequel to arrive on my doorstep (

)

sennebec | Sep 16, 2022 |

Maybe I was just in a nit-picky mood while reading this, but I got very annoyed by what I think of as "bad science" science fiction. The story is kind of a fantasy/steampunk thing but a lot of the technology made zero sense. How can they have portable digital displays but no photography? Remote detonation explosive but not radio communications? What seemed to me logical paths of technology were not followed. Also a lot of their tech seemed to be just magic, but most people dont believe in magic so it didnt make sense how that could be explained.

Character motivations were kinda muddled and often their actions were not logically explained (i know humans are not always logical but still it was annoying). Lots of scenes where solutions seemed obvious to me but no one in book could figure out what to do. (

)

mutantpudding | Dec 26, 2021 |

Review in my Merry Bookmas Week 3 Vlog
https://youtu.be/4Fl2gXGuBa8 (

)

Completely_Melanie | Sep 10, 2021 |

date ▼ | votes

Showing 1-5 of 23 (next | show all)

▾Published reviews

no reviews | add a review

▾Other authors

» Add other authors

▾Series and work relationships

Belongs to Series

The Glass Spare (1)

▾Awards and Honors

Notable Lists

Tome Society It List (Tome Society (Grades 9-12) – 2019)

view history

▾Common Knowledge

You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.

For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.

Canonical title

The Glass Spare

Original title

Alternative titles

Original publication date

2017-10-24

People/Characters

Important places

Important events

Related movies

Epigraph

At the heart of all beauty lies something inhuman. - Albert Camus

Dedication

For Aprilynne, who takes ideas and turns them into gold.

First words

On the morning Wil was born, the queen ordered that sheets be hung across every window of the castle.

Quotations

Last words

(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)

Disambiguation notice

Publisher's editors

Blurbers

Original language

Canonical DDC/MDS

Canonical LCC

▾References

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English

None

▾Book descriptions

The first in a new fantasy duology, The Glass Spare is a gorgeously told tale of love, loss, and deadly power from Lauren DeStefano, the bestselling author of the Chemical Garden series. Wilhelmina Heidle, the fourth child and only daughter of the king of the world's wealthiest nation, has grown up in the shadows. Kept hidden from the world in order to serve as a spy for her father-whose obsession with building his empire is causing a war-Wil wants nothing more than to explore the world beyond her kingdom, if only her father would give her the chance. Until one night Wil is attacked, and she discovers a dangerous secret. Her touch turns people into gemstone. At first Wil is horrified-but as she tests its limits, she's drawn more and more to the strange and volatile ability. When it leads to tragedy, though, Wil is forced to face the destructive power within her and finally leave her home to seek the truth and a cure. But finding the key to her redemption puts her in the path of a cursed prince who has his own ideas for what to do with Wil's power. With a world on the brink of war and a power of ultimate destruction, can Wil find a way to help the kingdom that's turned its back on her, or will she betray her past and her family forever?

▾Library descriptions

No library descriptions found.

▾LibraryThing members' description

Book description

After discovering that she has the ability to turn people into gemstones, Wilhemina, the fourth daughter of the wealthiest nation's king, seeks redemption by putting herself in the path of a cursed prince who has his own ideas about Wil's power.

Haiku summary