A Face Like Glass, Frances Hardinge
Review from November 24th, 2012
I’d never heard of Frances Hardinge before, and I have no idea how I came across this on the Kindle store, but I’m so very glad I did. It’s an enchantment of a book — I think I said something similar, recently, about Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus, and I can see the similarities there: the long games being played in both plots, the dazzling strangeness of the worldbuilding, the magic of it all. But at the same time, they’re very different stories: it’s just something about the flavour that’s similar.
A Face Like Glass is marketed as YA, but I don’t think you should see that as a discouragement. It’s not one of those YA books that slots neatly into the ranks of the YA books that’ve come before: it’s something wild and entirely itself. The same goes for the fact that I’ve tagged it as dystopia — it doesn’t follow the current dystopia tropes either. It felt like a breath of fresh air for me.
I got hooked on it from Amazon’s preview, which is worth a look: it’s a slowish start compared to the pace the book gets to near the end, but if you’re intrigued by it, you’re in for a wonderful ride. I loved every scrap of it, to the extent where I’m almost afraid to look for Frances Hardinge’s other books in case they aren’t as good. I love Neverfell and I love the bizarre details of the world and all the weird concepts like people being unable to perform expressions without learning them and…
Basically, it’s a heck of a ride. Best impulse buy of my year, up to and including my big plush Moomin. Possibly excluding only the ticket I bought to the screening of Avengers Assemble that got me hooked.
Rating: 5/5
Which Moomin do you have?!
I have the small, medium and large versions of Moomintroll himself! I don’t have any of the others…
And I have no Moomins at all! 🙁
But I have heaps of other Cuddlies to look after me, so it’s OK. I’m curious as to how your Moomintrolls range in size, now.
I must read more of the books…
Darn, I forgot to take pictures before I left this morning like I meant to. Anyway, the smallest is a keyring, so about the height of the palm of my hand. The next size up is maybe 15cm? And then the biggest is over a foot high. (Sorry about the mixed measurements. I’m guessing.)
Waterstones often has them…
Thanks – pics would be fun if you get opportunity.
I’ll try and remember when I get back after Christmas!
I really loved The Lost Conspiracy this author a lot. But then I tried Fly by Night and was disappointed. Not awful, just didn’t click for me. Really interested to hear how much you liked A Face Like Glass. That will definitely make it my next title by her to check out.
I really liked it. Also Cuckoo Song, which I read earlier this year and reviewed somewhere on here. I haven’t read any of her others yet.