Spy Glass by Maria V. Snyder

Title: Spy Glass (Chronicles of Ixia 6/Glass Trilogy 3)
Author: Maria V. Snyder
Genre: Sword and Sorcery, Young Adult
Publisher: Mira Ink (2nd August 2013)
Blurb:

A new legacy is rising . . .

After siphoning her own blood magic, Opal Cowan has lost her powers and been separated from Kade and Ulrick, the two men who divide her heart. Now an insider looking in, Opal spies through the glass on those with the powers she once had.

Until spying through the glass becomes her new power. Suddenly, the beautiful pieces she makes flash in the presence of magic. And then she discovers that some of her blood has been stolen – and that finding it may let her regain her powers for good.

Or learn if they’re lost forever.

Rating: ** (2 stars)
Review:

SPY GLASS is the sixth book in Maria V. Snyder’s CHRONICLES OF IXIA and the third and final book in her GLASS TRILOGY. In SPY GLASS Snyder concludes Opal’s conflicting emotions about the men she loves and her own magic. Opal has come a long way from the girl we meet in FIRE STUDY (review) and it has been a really interesting journey.

Maria V. Snyder does a brilliant job in concluding Opal’s story in SPY GLASS. On the whole I found it to be a really interesting read, but the plot of the book is quite convoluted and I would put the book down and be uninteresting in picking it back up for a couple of days. The book was quite slow and the plot never really seemed to pick up, but I did enjoy seeing how Opal’s journey finished.

SPY GLASS opens with Opal still coming to terms with the consequences of her actions at the end of SEA GLASS (review). She is staying with her parents and is unsure about what to do with her life, as her whole future has changed. Her mother is driving her crazy planning Mara’s wedding; Yelena sends Valek to offer Opal some guidance – after his visit Opal decides to return to Fulgor. From this point the plot of the novel should take-off, but whilst there are some interesting revelations it mostly fell flat for me.

The thing that I think Snyder did the best in this book, and in fact did really well, was the interactions between characters. I really enjoyed how Snyder wrote and handled Opal’s many friendships. I also think that Snyder did a compelling job with the love triangle – seeing Opal’s conflict about who to choose, and what one choice could mean. I also enjoyed reading Opal figuratively fight the bad guy, although the bad guy himself appeared quite late in the book and felt a little two dimensional.

Snyder brings Opal’s story to a conclusion in SPY GLASS, and although it is not as compelling as the previous books in the series it is a good read.