I really enjoyed this. I can't think of anything else I've read that was similar. The epilogue really got me!

While this book had an interesting and original premise, I felt disconnected from the characters and could have used more world building

There was so much I liked about this book and, really, only one thing I didn't--the pacing. The characters are so well-drawn and the world building is phenomenal. The mystery kept me reading but it took me a long time to get to the end. There was a lot of detail--excellent detail--but it slowed the story down quite a bit. Overall, I really liked Neverfell and will definitely recommend this book. .

*Will link review closer to publication.

So new and fresh and wow. It was everything I was hoping it would be! Character development was great and chemistry was excellent.

This is not the book for me, but I would recommend it to readers who would like to try something different.

Face Like Glass is all about world building and the underground world of Caverna is fascinating. Babies are born without facial expressions; the Court will do anything to gain favor of the Grand Stewart; there are Cartographers who will make anyone insane if you talk to them longer than five minutes; and on and on. All of the characters were great in their own way, it had moments of humor, and I really craved cheese and wine while reading it. There were no tropes or silly romances. The world building is by far the best thing about the book and the reason for the rating. The plot on the other hand…

This book jumps all over the place. I thought I had it figured out at least five times and every time I was wrong. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing but it was frustrating. The reason for the low rating is Neverfell and the length. Neverfell was a good character but she lived in isolation in a cave for seven years yet she’s smart enough to beat everyone at their own game? She does spend her time reading and she’s quite the engineer but COME ON! My biggest problem was the 488 page number. Hardinge tends to take pages to make one simple point thus making this book 100 pages too long.

The Lie Tree was by far Hardinge’s best book and I realize it’s because it’s her latest book meaning that she’s either grown or has hired a better editor. If it’s the latter, for the love of rainbows please keep this editor because A Face Like Glass needed someone to tighten it up.

I enjoyed the story and the concept. It was definitely different from what I've read in the past. Reminded me of Phantom of the Opera. While also reminded of the one personality systems of the Divergent series.

I loved Francis Hardinge's MG books and am delighted by her YA offerings as well. This horror book will be a great addition to my library... my teens are always looking for scary reads, they're going to eat this one up!

Super interesting and definitely recommended. I loved that the story itself was a riddle of reveals and revelations. I think the way she used the world of Caverna to write it's own story was wonderful and I really grew quite attached to these odd little people and this odd little world.

Original rating: 3.5 Stars
This is the second book I read by Frances Hardinge. The first one was The Lie Tree which was awesome. Hardinge has managed it again to create a world which I have never encountered before. I was intrigued and happy to start this new adventure with an author who can create not only words and sentences, but art.

The story is about young Neverfell one day appears in a cheese maker's tunnel. Tunnel, you ask? Well, you see this cheese maker does not live in our world, but below ground, in Caverna, where babies can't form facial expressions by themselves and nobody knows why, where wine can make you forget, anc cheese can kill you on the spot. In this strange and wonderful world, the Emperor and court are never to be crossed, and yet...

Read more…

A Face Like Glass was an extremely intriguing story with many twists and a unique plot that had me hanging on and never wanting to stop reading.The characters were special and sinister and good like angels, deceptive, paranoid, opportunistic and naive. You could find them all in this and where every expression is well-crafted and prepared in advance.

Ii thought the main character was sometimes a little too naive, but she learned her lessens eventually I think. I liked being part of the adventured Neverfell has and the dangerous situations she faces. The book made me smile and laugh and be afraid for our main character.

Why then give 3.5 RIbbons? Well, the thing was, even though I liked the story I would have liked the story to progress a little faster. I enjoyed reading it but I didn't have much time on my hands and it took me about three days to read this book, not because I couldn't spare the time but because it simply wasn't so thrilling that I would stay awake longer to finish it. This might not seem like a big thing, but I can measure my excitement for a book pretty well on how fast I read it.

I enjoyed A Face Like Glass a lot and aI can recommend it to everyone who wants to read something new, magical and unheard of.

*I received an ARC from Netgalley in lieu of my honest review.

What a fascinating idea of a book and it is executed so well! I thoroughly enjoyed it and will be looking for more of the author's work in the future.

I LOVED this story. The only reason I didn't give it five stars was because it's derivative of City of Ember and Alice in Wonderland...

This is the story of Neverfell, a young girl discovered in the tunnels of Caverna by master cheese maker Grindible. When she falls into a giant vat of curing, magical Neverfell cheese, he rescues her and makes her his apprentice. But she must wear a mask always, because Neverfell's face shows everything. And those who live in Caverna must be taught expressions by Facesmiths. Grindible knows his ward is an outsider and his goal is to protect her from harm.

But Neverfell grows up and yearns to see the city just past the cheesemaker's tunnels. When a pet rabbit wriggles free through a crack in the wall, Neverfell follows. She's immediately recognized and seized as an Outsider, then rescued from death by a prominent family. They have their own reasons for keeping her, and Neverfell soon realizes she's a pawn in a complicated political game. Her inability to hide anything - even a lie that saves lives - is both her greatest liability and assets in a city filled with deception. Caverna's magic lies not with spells and wands but in food, perfume and clothing. I found the descriptions of these items endlessly entertaining and original, and as the plot and world building deepened, ended up reading the story all in one sitting.

HIGHLY recommended for MG readers!

So this book came out in May of 2012 but the new hardcover is coming out later this year. I loved the cover and the summary sounded interesting so I requested a copy from Netgalley. I've also read one of his other books, Cuckoo Song, and I found it incredibly enjoyable so I thought why not give this book a try. In the end, I'm very glad that I did.

When I started this book I honestly thought it was going to be all about a guy and his cheese and that kinda made me less excited to read it. But then I decided to keep reading in the hopes that it would get better, and it did!

This book takes place in an underground city where the citizens have to learn how to show emotions on their face. Those who can make a multitude of faces are among the rich and powerful. I found this concept incredibly interesting and even though you aren't told why they cannot form faces naturally it makes for an interesting plot device.

The main character, Neverfell, is young and it definitely shows. She can be immature and causes disruption throughout the book. If this was done repetitively then it would have been incredibly annoying but the author took care not to make her an annoying young teen. Neverfell is thrust into situations that she has no control over and she handles them just as well as you would expect a 12-14 year old would, if not better.

I'm not going to spoil anything in this review because I think that it will take away from the novel and doesn't really need to be discussed, at least not now. I will say that I found the ending a little predictable. That doesn't mean that I didn't like it, though, it was a good ending to a good novel.

I recommend this book to anyone who likes fantasy and wants a quick read that they don't have to become incredibly invested in. This is the kind of book that you can read while reading another series, which is what I did. It doesn't require much thought and while sometimes that won't work for a book, it definitely does for this one.

A Face Like Glass strangely enough reminded me of the novel Perfume by Patrick Suskind (which I loved). It took me a while to realize this, and when I did, it just fit perfectly in terms of A Face Like Glass focusing on underground master crafters that manipulate wines, cheeses, perfumes, to things that bring humans to a completely different level of being for a brief period.
This wasn’t a necessarily quick read but an engaging one, and at least for me – thought provoking. What would a human look like without having facial expressions? Babies having to learn their expressions from nurses wearing limited masked facial features, humans never leaving an underground world ruled by an insane centuries-old man.
It’s a dark world in the city of Caverna, and Neverfell, a young girl navigating in this world seems to be the only bright spot. Somehow she’s able to cling to her naiveté among murderers, plots, and a world without sun all the while figuring out how to lead a revolution.
I'd definitely read other books by Frances Hardinge.

While this book is very imaginative and creative, I found this book very hard to follow. Because of this, it could not hold my interest. I may try reading it again though so that I can like it.

This book was way weirder than I expected.
A Face Like Glass starts off in cheese tunnels (I kid you not) and it only gets more and more odd from there. With sentences like "the cheeses were Grandible's only friends and family, their scents and textures taking the place of conversation" and "The child was thriving on the perilous splendors of the cheese kingdom", I just couldn't take this book seriously. Maybe it's just me but I couldn't get through one page without laughing at something that was said. It felt like a small children's book about a mouse that loves cheese rather than a Young Adult book.
I've seen tons of 5 star reviews for this book so I'm probably the only one who doesn't love this book.
Honestly, this book just wasn't for me. I loved the synopsis but I just couldn't get past the weird cheese talk.

Oh wow, I liked this one but it started off on a fit of whimsy (and slight confusion) that really didn't seem to end. I liked the author's writing style and the use of prose and word play wasn't unwelcome. I'd say it's almost lyrical in certain ways and points.

It only adds to the whole plot of people having blank faces and being unable to show emotion in Caverna. The words that are used only enhance the plot in this book because the world created is one in which things are consistently distorted and perceptions also change just as easily. Hardinge proves this in her writing all of the characters including Neverfell, Zouelle, and Erstwhile among them in various different POV's which adds to the perception of the world for the reader but most of it is through Neverfell's focus.

It gives off an air of Alice in Wonderland and that's definitely not a bad thing, in fact it was refreshing and welcome.

NetGalley Review
Disturbing.
I could not think of a better word to describe this book.
When I first began reading, I found the plot to be inventive. The characters purchase new faces. How could that <i>not</i> interest you?
Well, let me explain why it didn't interest me. Don't get me wrong, I was completely hooked after reading the synopsis. But my enthusiasm waned after finishing the first chapter.
The main character, Neverfell, annoyed me to the point of wanting to throw her against a wall. But I couldn't because it would only create more damage on my end than her own. I did admire Hardinge for keeping her humble and innocent after what goes down in this book. However, her cluelessness was beyond annoying.
One thing you will definitely want to make while reading this book is a character dictionary. If you don't things will start to get real confusing real fast. Not to mention the new items introduced to us as if we should already have an idea of what they do.
Overall, A Face Like Glass was painstakingly slow. There were too many plotlines to follow and once you did choose one you were lost on the others. In my opinion, this book is a little dark for a middle grader.