This book just wasn’t a good fit for me, it was an okay book with a good story line but I couldn’t get through it, I felt like I had to finish rather then wanted to.

I didn’t like this one.

It seemed like they used detail more as a page filler than to tell the story. And the way some of the characters were described... well, without any spoilers, it didn’t really seem appropriate to me. The ending also seemed rushed, like it was just thrown together really quick to finish it off. I like the idea of the story and the book cover.

This book really intrigued me. The magic system was unique and the world was interesting. The differentiating of people by Black or White Trader/Black or White Solitaire was off putting because it didn’t really add anything to the plot besides their skin color. If it was a different ranking system, it would be one thing, but why not just describe each Trader as their descriptive features instead of separating them completely by skin color? The author writes beautifully, though I found the plot slow at some points. I found myself skimming at times because I was eager to get done with the book. I think that others may enjoy this book much more than I did, but as I did not find myself fully immersed, I cannot give an honest review of the work.

This is one of those books where the basic premise is interesting but the way in which it's developed fails to bear it out - in short, it's just a clunky, talk-heavy bit of a mess.

The Glass Magician is set in turn of the century New York for the most part, but a New York where there are 3 distinct groups of people - Solitaires, Traders and Sylvestri. Traders are the most financially powerful of the three, as well as being able to change (or Trade) between human and animal forms at will. They look down on the Solitaires for not having that ability, even though they seem to make up the majority of the population. Meanwhile the Sylvestri are the (less-defined) outsiders, a mixture of Native Americans and everyone else not accepted by polite society but with control over the West of the country.

Our protagonist, Thalia, is a stage magician whose parents both died, leaving her in the care of their friend who works as Thalia's manager. They make a reasonable living, travelling from city to city, and the part of the story which actually revolved around them doing this was the most interesting part of the book. During an act on stage, Thalia almost dies and is convinced that she partly Traded in order to save her own life, though her friend is sceptical. Unfortunately, it also causes a massive 'as you know Bob' style conversation between them that acts as an info-dump to set up the world building that had me almost giving up entirely.

Shortly after their arrival in New York, circumstances force Thalia to stop performing on stage and financial needs mean she agrees to take on the tutoring of a young Trader woman in the art of stage magic. This puts her into close proximity with said woman's brother, who's doubtless being lined up as a love interest in future books, but the time she spends in their house (as a visitor and then later, when her True History is revealed, as a guest) is pretty dull in the most part. There's a sub-plot around the murder of their main rival which is much more interesting but gets sucked into the overall one-note of the book.

There's a lot of talking and a lot of explaining, some of which necessary world-building could surely have been done in some other way? It's ironic that a book ostensibly about a stage magician could have spent so much time with that character not being that. Those were the best bits, shame about the rest of the book.

I did not finish this book, I only made it to 36%. I found the world really interesting, it was set in the early 1900’s and focuses on stage magicians in the Vaudeville circuit. But the world had 3 classes of people, the Solitaire which seem to have no magic. The Traders who can change form into animals, and the Sylvetri who have some sort of affinity with nature. There was the start of some great world building and some interesting dynamics. There are some stolen ticks that seemed to be leading to a bigger conspiracy, and I know there is a murder in the future, but I didn’t get far enough in the book to find out what happened.
The reason I didn’t finish the book is the author describes people by color, they are white Solitaire or black Solitaire, a white Trader or a black Trader. At first, I hoped that it was describing if they were good or bad, but as the book went on I was disappointed to find it really was describing their skin color and I found it offensive and therefore did not finish the book. I feel like there was no need for the descriptions based on skin color and it just made the book very un-enjoyable for me.

Thalia Cutler is an up-and-coming stage magician known as The Lady of the Lake. Despite being an ordinary Solitaire (think Muggle), she's good at what she does and her stage manager David Nutall is always ready to protect her in a risky, fiercely competitive profession. When a dangerous trick goes wrong one night, however, Nutall can't save her—so she saves herself. Which is great, except for the fact that her escape forces her to question everything Nutall has told her about who she really is. Not long afterward, Thalia's number one rival doesn't fare as well when his act hits a snag. Even worse, Nutall soon becomes the prime suspect in his death. And Nutall's a Sylvestri, not a Solitaire, as he's told Thalia for as long as she can remember. Her entire life suddenly seems as false as the “magic” she fools audiences with every night.

Lately I've been reading mostly mysteries and crime fiction, so a YA fantasy novel set in the Gilded Age seemed like it would be a nice change of pace. Oddly enough, the novel ended up being more of a mystery than a fantasy, which was fine with me. Stevermer's descriptions of the alternate New York City are vivid and well written, especially the scenes that focus on Thalia's magic act. The animal illustrations throughout the book are gorgeous and the characters intrigued me, for the most part. Last but not least, I liked the idea of the three different classes of beings: the underprivileged, hard-working Solitaires, the wealthy, shape-shifting Traders and the peaceful Sylvestri, who are closely attuned to nature. We don't get much background on the classes, but I expect Stevermer may flesh them out in future books if she continues with the series.

What didn't work for me: first, the formatting. This won't affect future readers, but it was God Awful, to the point where I almost didn't finish the book. Though I liked the plot and thought Stevermer did a nice job of weaving separate storylines together, the ending felt a bit rushed, a bit anti-climactic – particularly the section about Thalia's “Ordeal.” That said, it was still a light-hearted, fun, quirky read.

Much thanks to Tor/Forge and NetGalley for providing me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was disappointing, as I've enjoyed Stevermer's work in the past, but this latest offering is kind of ... meh. I liked the setting in turn-of-the-century NY (19th, not 20th). However, the magic world-building left a lot to be desired; humankind appears to be divided into 3 (1/2) races: Traders, Solitaires, and Silvestri. Traders are rich and can change shape - cause and effect here is not fully explained. Silvestri _appear_ to be vaguely first-nations, but, again, it's very unclear. And everyone else is a Solitaire, and what that means is never defined at all except that it seems to be somewhat under-privileged. The 1/2 a race are Manticores, who prey on young Traders. Thalia, the protagonist, thinks she's a Solitaire but turns out to be a Trader and everything she thinks she's known about herself is not true. Things are not resolved at the end, really. There's a certain amount of pleasure to be obtained getting there, but it is certainly not a "must read" and I think could do with a fair bit of revision and reworking.

I was intrigued by the alternate history of this book and what the author does with it, especially concerning Native Americans. The book was enjoyable, but it could have used more world-building and a tighter plot.

Thalia is a young woman working as a stage magician towards the end of the 19th century. She performs her magic tricks, keeps her audience engaged, and looks forward to her next gig. With her parents dead, the stage and her manager, Mr. Nutall, her father's best friend, become her family and joy in life. Until a rival stage magician steals their act and their job. Suddenly, secrets emerge about Thalia's parents' background, and even Mr. Nutall isn't the man he pretended to be. Relying on the beneficence of her new wealthy friends, Thalia must figure out who she is and what she can do, if she wishes to be safe again.

Basically, there are 3 types of people, divided by magical ability (or lack of), that make up the different classes of society. I didn't understand why having the ability to trade shapes between human and an animal usually meant their family was rich. As far as I could tell, there was no correlation between the animal shapes people took on and their ability to earn a living. But that was hardly the most important issue, so I'll let that go.

The mysteries and the stage magic made for a good read. It was a nice light fantasy/mystery book set in an alternate late 19th century America. The characters were interesting. Some of them had some good secrets, but other than that, the side characters felt kind of flat. There's one guy who just kept being too generous against his will, and he was too nice and kind and giving - he basically had no backbone or anything about him I could respect.

Overall, the story was interesting - particularly the secrets that Thalia uncovers at the end about her family. But while it was an ok read with a good alternate world, I wasn't particularly intrigued by the plot or the characters.

I received a copy in exchange for an honest review.

While this book wasn't for me, I do think The Glass Magician by Caroline Steverner entailed what most young readers want in a fantasy novel. An original magic system. A gripping plot that doesn't falter or tease but follows through with it's suspenseful prose. A travelling Magic Show, and characters with a unique history. The writing itself was simplistic and smooth, it felt natural as I read through the chapters.

My biggest issues with the novel were little things: First, the title had seemingly nothing to do with the novel itself or its themes (however, there's the possibility that it's just me.). I also think some of the plot pieces and character arcs could have been better developed but the novel didn't offer the capacity for that to happen (this doesn't speak to the author's ability to weave an amazing sentence however).I think I spent more time wanting more though, and I'm sad about it. This book had everything it needed to be successful, I just needed stronger characters, a better description of the alternate year of 1905 (I didn't feel like I was there), and more description where it matters (such as the manticores.).

I was offered a copy by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review, all opinions are my own.

All in All, 2.5

Sadly this was a dnf for me...

What I liked:
The pictures were beautiful.

What I didn’t like:
I know we’re supposed to read a draft that hasn’t been published yet but the format was absolutely awful.
It stopped me from even having a fluent reading and enjoying the story.

This book has a dash of The Night Circus mixed with a bit of My Lady Jane! The main character, Thalia, is impressive! She speaks her mind, doesn’t take crap, and she cares deeply for those who are there for her. She is a stage magician that discovers she truly does have magical powers she never knew, which puts her and the people she cares about in danger. It was a fast paced book, not bogged down by unimportant details. I thought the magic system was explained early so I never felt confused. And even though I enjoy a good love interest it was refreshing to read a book without a romance! I would be happy with a sequel to show where some of the loose ends of the story lead.

Thank you to the publisher for allowing me an advanced copy of this book through Netgalley for an honest review.

First things first, this was not a super engaging book for me but it most definitely had some good aspects to it. I could tell almost immediately that the actual writing was excellent in terms of a glowing narrative. Thalia was also a nice character who definitely developed as the story went on. The idea behind this was excellent, but I'll also admit I'm a sucker for anything that's historical fantasy. The magic system/hierarchy had so much potential, but I felt like that lack of development of that bogged the story down a little bit. So, overall a story that's a solid read, it just unfortunately didn't wow me.

I was disappointed by this one. It has a cool concept, with significant potential, but there was so little world-building and so little action that I found it difficult to truly fall into the story. The characters are not terribly well developed, the whole thing feels like you've been dumped in the middle of a life story, without much background, stage setting, or explanation of the various categories of citizen that exist within this magical world. It's an unusual thing for an author to present her own magical society and then not spend a lot of time laying it out or explaining its structure, and the story suffered for it because it made it difficult to understand the magnitude of the struggles Thalia encountered. The story dragged and I just never engaged with it...

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan-Tor for sharing this ARC in exchange for a review. The opinions in this review are totally my own.

I found this to be a likable story about Thalia Cutler, who has followed her father into a career as a stage magician. It takes place in an alternate universe of 1905 New York with a basis in magic. There are three types of beings in this universe. First there are the Sylvestri which aren't given a much explanation in the book. Separately there are the traders, magical beings who are able to shift from human to some animal being at will, and solitaires who are totally non-magical and are also not Sylvestri. This part of the universe isn't explained terribly well although it's mostly enough to understand the story. I think it's possible to be left with lots of questions at the end due to the minimal framework provided.

As the story begins Thalia is involved in a magical act on stage that goes wrong but is suddenly able to escape her situation due to some unknown change happening. The shift in her person is quite brief and doesn't happen again any time soon but she's always understood herself to be a solitaire and thus has questions. Soon her life and those of other traders who haven't been through a trial are in danger.

Essentially this is a coming of age story based within this alternate universe. There's a lot to like of the story and it reads easily and characters are quite interesting. But the framework is a bit weak and for some this might be a big problem. It seems likely there will be other stories in this universe and hopefully this aspect of the series will be strengthened with more background to understand it all much better.

I give this three and a half stars overall. I will publish the review for publication day.

What a fun read!
The excitement starts up quickly with Thalia's Vaudeville act taking a strange twist that changes her life. The rest of this book takes place in NYC during the fast-paced early 20th century.
Full of magic not only in the writing but also in the beautiful pictures throughout the book.
Very enjoyable!

Thalia is a stage magician known as the Lady of the Lake. When a stage performance goes wrong she discovers she’s actually a shapeshifter.

Solitaires and Traders are different names for magical and non magical people, I think this could have been explained in more detail at the start of the book as I don’t think it was talked about in depth till later on.

Thalia’s character development was interesting throughout the book I really had a lot of respect for her as a person. I also liked that the book wasn’t focused on romance.

Overall I feel this was a nice fantasy read, the magic system could have been better explained.

Thank you to netgalley & the publishers for this e-book in exchange for an honest review.

This is an experienced author, and it shows in the smooth and assured writing. Unlike most period pieces, it isn't full of obvious anachronisms (with an exception I'll mention later) or regrettable vocabulary glitches. However, the plot, the characters, and especially the setting all fell a bit short of excellence for me.

There's nothing really wrong with the plot. It's more or less mystery with a chance of romance, though there's a dash of coming-of-age in there as well. The protagonist must deal with the discovery that she isn't who she thought she was, that her family situation is not as she's been told, and that her mentor isn't who she thought he was either. Meanwhile, she's prevented from working as a stage magician, which brings a brief threat of economic difficulties, quickly averted. She ends up the house guest of a man who both attracts and annoys her, caught up in the murder of a rival magician, and under threat from what amounts to a force of nature because of her newly discovered identity.

It's probably a bit too much for a book this length, and some of the elements don't really get the development they need. The denouement to the mystery is a painfully awkward attempt at a villain reveal which, rather against the odds given how badly it's done, succeeds in flushing out the murderer. The pursued-by-manticores plot at least has a level of tension that's largely missing elsewhere. There are a few conflicts ("I must clear my mentor's name, but doing so risks my life") set up by the interweaving plots. It's not outstanding, but it will do.

The characters are all right. There's nothing really wrong with them either. They're not complete cardboard cutouts or straight out of central casting, not quite. But they don't have an uncommon amount of individuality or depth either. You can describe each of them in a phrase (the rich young man, the rich young man's dilettante sister, the mentor, the monster hunter, the Romany magic shop proprietor, the landlady) and there's not a lot to add to that brief capsule description. The protagonist and viewpoint character has the most to her, of course, and she does develop and change in the course of the story.

There were a couple of things about the setting that tripped me up and challenged my suspension of disbelief. We're in an alternate 1905, similar to our own 1905 in many ways (including some prominent people), but different in many other ways. Firstly, as well as baseline humans ("Solitaires") there are shifters ("Traders") and people who have some kind of nature affinity that's never really made completely clear ("Sylvestri"). The three can interbreed. In order to shift forms, you have to be a Trader on both sides of your family, but if Traders intermarry too much they produce manticores, monsters that can shift into apparent human form in order to stalk young Traders who are not yet in full control of their shifts and eat their magic, killing them in the process.

For some reason that is never made clear, pretty much everyone who is prominent and successful is a Trader, and vice versa. The lack of an explanation for this was one of the things that tripped me up. I couldn't figure out a history in which the ability to turn into an animal (and the loss of human thought and memory beginning around the age of 70) translated automatically into becoming rich and powerful. Several of the actual historical figures mentioned are Traders, and the impression one gets is that nobody can just rise to prominence on their talents (as some of those people did in our reality); they have to be a Trader. Why?

Most Native Americans are Sylvestri, and they have a treaty with the other Sylvestri that has kept the centre of the North American continent theirs, while the coasts are apparently colonised - both seem to be part of the United States, though that isn't said explicitly - and a railway runs between the two. Again, this seems unlikely; it doesn't play a big role in the plot, except that the Sylvestri ambassador is a minor character. (He is stationed in New York. Is New York the capital, then? Ambassadors are posted to capitals, consuls are posted to non-capitals.) And yet the Gilded Age is in full swing on the Eastern seaboard, unsupported by the resources of the central US. (The wealthy in the real Gilded Age often had extensive holdings in those central states.)

It's hard to resist the idea that Native American sovereignty over a large portion of their land is simply something the author put in because she thought it should be that way, especially given other indications. There are black people in this alternate world, but they have a much higher status than was the case in our 1905 (40 years after the Civil War, let's not forget); a black woman is a prominent lawyer, and two other black women form two-thirds of the influential Board of Trade, who rule on certain important Trader matters. (The status of women seems a little higher, too.) Race is something that's constantly highlighted; the viewpoint character is a white woman, yet every person she meets, most of whom are white, is described by their race as well as whether they're Solitaire, Trader, or Sylvestri (which she generally seems to be able to tell as easily as their ethnicity). I'm not a conservative person and am mostly sympathetic to liberal viewpoints, but this does read to me like conspicuous 21st-century white liberalism projected intrusively onto an earlier age.

Overall, then, I found this book fell short of being fully satisfying. The plot, while servicable, lacked the momentum it could have had, and the mystery resolution was painfully bad; the characters stuck mostly to type; and there were, for me, big holes in the worldbuilding that distracted me from the story.

I received a copy via Netgalley for purposes of review.

This story was set in late 1800s to early 1900s, when women’s rights to vocational pursuits was very limited. A girl named Thallia Inherited her father’s magician show business. She was doing great until her supernatural powers manifested during one of her dangerous acts, she would have died had she not found her powers. The problem however is, until she has control over her powers she can be spotted and hunted by Manticores.
On top of that her business rival, more powerful than she, stole some of her act, accused her of the theft. Authorities forced her to halt her work while they battle the issue with the law.
As if that was not enough, her business rival died and Thallia’s business partner was one of the prime suspect.
The rest of the story was focused on proving her partner’s innocence, finding whodunnit and getting her power under control, so she’s not manticore’s lunch. She accomplished her goals, the end.
The storyline was lukewarm, I don’t hate it but I also don’t love it. So it is a firm 2.5 stars for me.

Thanks to Netgalley and the author for the ARC.

DNF @50%. I tried really hard with this one. I stopped at 20, took a break then tried to come back at 40, but I just couldn't get much further. The premise while not original still seemed interesting but the book was just so slow/unimaginative. The characters weren't dynamic and the plot padded on slowly without anything interesting happening and then world was never built out properly. And the writing was kind of off, the language they were going for never really came off as right.