Review: Glimmerglass (Fariewalker, book 1) by Jenna Black

Glimmerglass by Jenna Black

Dana Hathaway doesn’t know it yet, but she’s in big trouble. When her alcoholic mom shows up at her voice recital drunk, Dana decides she’s had it with being her mother’s keeper, so she packs her bags and heads to stay with her mysterious father in Avalon: the only place on Earth where the regular, everyday world and the magical world of Faerie intersect. But from the moment Dana sets foot in Avalon, everything goes wrong, for it turns out she isn't just an ordinary teenage girl—she's a Faeriewalker, a rare individual who can travel between both worlds, and who can bring magic into the human world and technology into Faerie.


Soon, she finds herself tangled up in a cutthroat game of Fae politics. Someone's trying to kill her, and everyone wants something from her, even her newfound friends and family. Suddenly, life with her alcoholic mom doesn't sound half bad, and Dana would do anything to escape Avalon and get back home. Too bad both her friends and her enemies alike are determined not to let her go . . .
Thoughts:

First off let's get my minor complaints out of the way.

Black's Morgans Kingsley series is sensational, fantastic world building and character depth up the yin yang!! Safe to say I had very high standards for such a hot writer, maybe even too high of standards. The world building was slow, and it took a long time for any real information to be dealt out. I felt like instead of giving the reader information about the current life or death situation unfolding around Dana, the majority focus of the book is a terrible love interest.

The love interest, Ethan, is a huge flirt. His sister even hints to Dana that he sleeps with anything that's female. Dana wisely decides he's bad news and doesn't need that drama. Of course events put them in a jam and the next thing we know is the two are alone. Let the making out begin. Dana eventually gets a hold of herself enough to tell Ethan that nothing beyond kissing is going to happen. So things resume, more spit swapped. Then Dana is on her back and we find out Ethan is basically date raping her with magic. Letting the magic relax her, but it wouldn't be relaxing her if she “didn't want it.”

At this piont I'm begging Dana to forget the shmuck. For a while she does, but almost at the first opportunity Dana forgives and forgets Ethan's transgressions. This is after the the magic date rape, Ethan holding back information from her, and even sending evil fairies after her so he can “save” her.

There was another sore point for me, Dana's mom is an alcoholic. When Dana realizes her mother left the only home she had ever known to take Dana away to be safe she blames herself for her mother's drinking problem. That was absolutely ridiculous! If her mom was so great to leave Avalon to protect her daughter, then she should be great enough to stay sober and raise her daughter. In the end of the book Dana's mother sales her out for alcohol. Dana's upset, but she still manages to feel like it's some how her fault.

All of this can almost be forgotten with the rest of the book. Especially when Ethan gets dumped out of the story line for a bit!

Avalon is where our tale takes place, a place that connects earth and Fairy. Avalon balances out the technologies of earth and the magics of fairy. If a fairy wanted to leave Avalon and go to earth they'd basically be a ghost there and unable to use magic. Human technologies can't cross over into Fairy, but humans can. This is were Dana comes in as an invaluable asset. She's a Fairiewalker! That means if a fairy accompanies her over to earth, staying within reasonable distance, they won't turn into ghosts. Plus that fairy can use magic while they're on earth. Fairiewalkers can also take human technologies over into fairy.

Upon finding out that Dana is Fairiewalker many Avalon fairies want her for there own agendas. Soon both queens of fairy, the Seelie and Unseelie court, want her dead. After all, a gun could kill them if she brought it in. Dana has to figure out if she can trust her father, if his loyalties to her out weigh his agenda. Her own Aunt has other devious ideas for her. Plus, Ethan's father wouldn't mind having Dana on his side. Which leads to her being kidnapped and then kidnapped again!! Let's just say it's a riot.

Dana is a very grownup girl. Sure at times she acts like a teenager, (cough, Ethan, cough) she's a teenager after all. Dana realizes she can't take care of her mom anymore, she deserves something better. So Dana goes out to make things better. Unknowing of her importance as a Fairiewalker. She takes action and makes decisions in a world she has know idea about. Even when her life is on the line she shows herself capable. At one point she even decides to get some self defense lessons. Even if she can't physically best a fairy assassin, she won't go without putting up some kind of a fight.

Black shows off some of her character skills with her colorful cast. Such as Kimbar, who happens to be Ethan's sister. She seems like a snobby ice queen, a real Mean Girl. In Black's books characters are never how they appear, so it's no surprise when Kimbar turns out to be an awesome gal. She's living under the shadow of her magically talented brother. All Kimbar has to her name is super smarts, which is not valued in Avalon next to magic ability. Plus, Kimbar is a riot as the keeper of possets. (Some type of European mesh drink with alcohol tucked in. Kind of a “cure all” for ailments.) Dana also gets a hot fairy body guard to protect her, of course she gets him to warm up a bit. She gets herself into some embarrassing situations when she tries to embarrass him. This hot body guard just happens to have a hot rebellious son, who is teaching Dana self Defense. May I say he might turn into a very, VERY, promising love interest!

Bottom Line:

This is not the best of Black, I know she can do better. Once she gets rid of Ethan—the dreaded ladies man/almost date raper—and focus on that other love interest I mentioned, we'll be on track. Black has a fantastic world and idea here that needs to be explored. The end of this book leaves Dana trapped at her father's mercy as her “guardian.” However, Dana has a new secret weapon to explore, which will make her even more dangerous to the fairy. The Fairiewalker series is going somewhere, and I'm itching to follow along.

Sexaul Content: Some smooching that escalates into a bit more heavy make out sessions. As mentioned above Ethan uses some of his magic to relax Dana, kind of a magic date rape.

Rating: 3/5- Good, I liked it.