Glimmerglass by Jenna Black

Target Audience: Teens/Young Adults
Genre: Faerie/Fantasy

I finished this the day before i went on holiday and so haven't had a chance to review this until now, so ive had a week to forget a lot of the very fine details because I've had a lot to think about this week. But i will do my best.

To summerise, Dana is a teenager who has to deal with her mothers drunken state nearly all of the time and she has never met her father who apparently is a very dangerous Fae lord.

Sick of having to look after her mother, she leaves and goes to find her father in Avalon, but little does she know she posseses abilities that will ultimately make her a pawn in a battle for supremecy of the fairie world.

Needless to say theres a lot more to it than my own brief description and there were several things that made this book stand out from the other faerie novels i've read. The first of these was the merging of the fae and human world.

The idea that humans know about the existence of the fae and that there's a place where the two overlap was fascinating. It was amusing to see people buying t-shirts stating welcome to avalon, like they were visiting New York or London, i cracked up imagining it.

As well as being original in setting and ideas, i especially loved the mystery parts of the story and trying to figure out who was plotting with who and against who. It was confusing at times, but i loved it all the same, and i truly didnt see ending coming.

With regards to the characters, i thought Dana was awesome, not too strong as to be unrealistic, but able to handle a lot of what is thrown at her, a skill she obviously learned from dealing with her drunk mother.

She also isn't afraid to admit she is wrong, another trait i found refreshing as so many lead characters out there are way too egotistic and unable to back down.

Ethan i took a dislike to until the very end (the reason will become obvious once you get to the end, but i totally loved his sister Kimber who was awesome, girly and very gutsy.

In all honesty, i think this is one of the best fae books i've ever read, right up their with The Iron King, and i found the dialogue, plot and characters wonderfully different and witty in just the right parts.

Full Marks!