The Glittering Court

Big and sweeping, spanning from the refined palaces of Osfrid to the gold dust and untamed forests of Adoria, The Glittering Court tells the story of Adelaide, an Osfridian countess who poses as her servant to escape an arranged marriage and start a new life in Adoria, the New World. But to do that, she must join the Glittering Court.

Both a school and a business venture, the Glittering Court is designed to transform impoverished girls into upper-class ladies who appear destined for powerful and wealthy marriages in the New World. Adelaide naturally excels in her training, and even makes a few friends: the fiery former laundress Tamsin and the beautiful Sirminican refugee Mira. She manages to keep her true identity hidden from all but one: the intriguing Cedric Thorn, son of the wealthy proprietor of the Glittering Court.

When Adelaide discovers that Cedric is hiding a dangerous secret of his own, together they hatch a scheme to make the best of Adelaide's deception. Complications soon arise - first as they cross the treacherous seas from Osfrid to Adoria, and then when Adelaide catches the attention of a powerful governor.

But no complication will prove quite as daunting as the potent attraction simmering between Adelaide and Cedric. An attraction that, if acted on, would scandalize the Glittering Court and make them both outcasts in wild, vast uncharted lands.... - excerpt from book.

The Glittering Court by Richelle Mead is a story about a girl who escapes her arranged marriage and went into hiding. Sadly this book was a disappointment for me. I expected the plot to be more rich after reading the summary of the book. I felt that the world that was built was lacking in some places, there wasn't enough depth. Secondly, her time in the school was a little bit too brief for me as I wanted more incidents to happen in there. 

The plot can be boring and slow paced at times and then suddenly there was so much happening but still lacking depth in those twist and turns. It was quite a let down and I was having a hard time to finish this book. I did put it aside for another book as this did not capture my attention at all. Towards the last 100 over pages I just merely skim through reading only conversations and it was enough to let me know about the story.

One thing I would say that was not too bad in the book is the character growth. I really felt that Adelaide changed a lot and grow a lot as a person. Her struggles did indeed contributed to it and also her friends. Her friends were interesting people but the author still kept a lot of mystery on those characters, not willing to reveal much. There were quite a number of side characters in the book as well to drive the story forward but some characters were just merely there for one role and it felt lacking again. The role that the characters played were crucial to the story but their presence weren't strong enough.

Sadly this is one series that I would not continue at all. The ending wasn't enough to excite me for the next book at all. There was too much mystery but it wasn't captivating enough. This could be one of the worse books I've read this year. It was just an okay book and I think I was lenient and gave it 2 stars on Goodreads. Well, if you're a fan of the author I would say you can try this. This author did not make a good impression with me so I'm going to steer clear of her books. I do not recommend this book.