Glamour in Glass
By Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor, ISBN: 978-0765325570)
Recommended by my daughter
Review by Lawrence I. Charters, March 12, 2016
Recommended by my daughter as part of her ongoing campaign to get me to read Jane Austen. I am a science fiction fan, and occasionally a fantasy fan; I’m not a fan of romances, or 19th century regency literature. But — but — this interesting blend of romance and fantasy in an alternate but still very recognizable world is superbly well done. Well written, logically consistent, and with interesting characters.
Technically, this is a sequel to Kowal’s first novel, Shades of Milk and Honey. The two main characters, Jane and Vincent, travel to Belgium for their honeymoon, only to have things get wildly out of hand when Napoleon escapes from Elba and threatens to undo the peace. The fantasy part: Jane and Vincent are practitioners of glamour, a magic that builds images out of the aether to create temporary (or in some cases, semi-permanent) works of art.
Naturally, this minor decorative magic is now in the service of warfare, and the results are definitely not something you’d find in an Austen novel.
Kowal won the Campbell Award in 2008 for Best New Writer in fantasy and science fiction, and this very original novel clearly demonstrates how and why.