Sea Glass by Maria V Snyder

Student glass magician Opal Cowan's newfound skills to steal a magician's strength make her too powerful.
Kept under house arrest, Opal dares defy her imprisonment to search for Ulrick, the man she thinks she loves. Thinks because she is sure another man - now her prisoner - has switched souls with Ulrick.
In hostile territory, without proof or allies, Opal isn't sure whom to trust. And now everyone is after Opal's special powers for their own deadly gain.

Back in the fall of 2010 I read the first trilogy by Maria V Snyder. It consists of

Poison Study #1	-	Magic Study #2	-	Fire Study #3
5 stars		4 stars		2 stars

and with Yelena as its main character it details her life and discovery of magic. I loved the first book which I felt brought something completely new and though the writing could feel a little rough and messy it held me tightly. The second book was good too, but the third let me down completely. It was a mess and I was so disappointed. I wanted to love it, but couldn't figure out what was going on half the time, and only the final few chapters pulled it back on track.

In late 2011 I read the first book in the follow-up trilogy to the Study-books. It consists of

Storm Glass #1	-	Sea Glass #2	-	Spy Glass #3
2 stars		Under review		Unread

I wasn't wildly impressed with the first one, barely being able to recall who its main character Opal was and what she'd been up to in Fire Study. The story was once again a bit of a mess and overall I just wasn't feeling it.

A few days ago I read the second book in the series, Sea Glass. It being over a year since reading the first book and over two since the previous trilogy my memory was fuzzy on who was who and why - but it still managed to pleasantly surprise me and I enjoyed the book.

It's still sometimes difficult to keep track of the general story, but Opal was easier to feel for this time around and the pace better. Some of the characters are still paperthin and stuck in a stereotypic version of themselves, but others are back to how things felt in Poison Study. I still think many of the plot points from Storm Glass that are referred to are rubbish though.

It may actually only deserve 3 stars, but it was such a welcome easy read after working my way through literature for my thesis, that I've given it 4 stars. It fit my mood perfectly and it held me captured for hours on end. Despite my negativity about some of Snyder's other books, I'm looking forward to the final book in this trilogy.

Sea Glass (Glass #2)  ISBN13: 9780778303367 472 pages / published in 2010
Review by Iben Jakobsen, BoB, 2013