Glass Sword Review: A Necessary (If Slower) Second Chapter

Is Glass Sword worth reading after Red Queen? My honest take on Victoria Aveyard's second book — the slower pacing, the politics, and why it still matters.

8/14/20264 min read

Glass Sword Review: A Necessary (If Slower) Second Chapter

After everything that happens by the end of Red Queen, book two had a genuinely hard job ahead of it. Here's my honest take on whether Glass Sword pulls it off.

This post contains affiliate links. I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

Light spoiler warning: this review touches lightly on dynamics that build on Red Queen's ending. Nothing major is spoiled, but if you want to go in completely blind, read Red Queen first.

Quick Answer

Honestly? I found this one a bit slower than Red Queen, but I don't think that's really a flaw — it felt necessary. After a first book that ends with that much happening, Glass Sword reads like the book where everything gets processed: the planning, the fallout, understanding what's actually coming next. It's not as immediately gripping as book one, but I don't think it was trying to be.

What It's About

Picking up right after Red Queen's ending, Mare is on the run from Maven — no longer the boy she thought she knew, now a vindictive king determined to hunt down every other "newblood" like her before they can join the resistance against him. Mare sets out to find and recruit these newbloods first, all while wrestling with how far she's willing to go, and what she might be turning into in the process.

My Honest Take

I went in expecting the same breathless pace as Red Queen and had to recalibrate a bit — this book is doing different work. A lot of it is about setup: understanding the wider rebellion, the political stakes, what's actually being planned for the fight ahead. I think that's a fair trade-off, even if it means the pacing dips compared to book one.

The romantic tension is more complicated than I expected, in a good way. There's this pull toward what felt like something real between Mare and Maven — and then there's Cal, and the whole dynamic gets tangled in a way that genuinely messes with you as a reader. Without spoiling too much, what Maven feels ends up being shaped by Elara in ways that turn into something much darker than simple romance — more like an unhealthy obsession than anything genuine. It recontextualizes a lot of what you thought you understood about him in book one, and I think that's one of the smartest things this book does.

It's still Mare's story, and I'm still fully attached to her. Even in a slower book, watching her wrestle with what she's becoming — how close she gets to the same brutality she's fighting against — kept me invested even when the plot itself slowed down.

This is clearly a "middle book," and I've made peace with that. Other readers echo this too — several reviews describe Glass Sword as more character-focused than plot-focused compared to Red Queen, essentially setting the stage for book three. I don't think that's a bad thing; I think it's necessary. You can't have every book hit the same breakneck pace as the first without it losing meaning.

What Other Readers Say

I'm not alone in finding this one a step slower — it's a common thread across reviews of this book, several explicitly describing it as "a slower second installment" that trades some of book one's suspense for character development and world expansion. At the same time, multiple reviews describe the back half picking up significantly, with genuinely brutal, high-stakes turns by the book's ending.

What to Know Before You Start

Read Red Queen first — this picks up immediately after it.

Expect a slower pace than book one, especially early on. Go in knowing this is a transitional book, and it'll make more sense why.

It gets darker. Mare's journey in this book pushes into genuinely heavy territory — loss, moral compromise, and real consequences.

Who Should Read This

  • Anyone who finished Red Queen and wants the political stakes to keep building

  • Readers okay with a slower, more setup-focused middle book in exchange for deeper world and character development

  • Fans who want the Mare/Cal/Maven dynamic to get more complicated, not simpler

My Rating

I'd give this one a solid 4/5. Slower than Red Queen, but I don't hold that against it — it did the work it needed to do, and what happens with Maven recontextualizes so much of what came before. Still fully invested in this series.

Amazon link: Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Glass Sword as fast-paced as Red Queen? No, and I think that's intentional — it's more focused on political setup and character development than nonstop action.

Do I need to read Red Queen first? Yes, essential — this picks up immediately after book one's events.

Does this book resolve the central conflict? No, it sets up what's coming in book three rather than delivering full resolution.

Final Thoughts

Glass Sword isn't as immediately gripping as Red Queen, but I don't think it needed to be — it's the book where the planning, the fallout, and the real cost of everything from book one gets processed, and what happens with Maven's storyline recontextualizes the whole series in a way I wasn't expecting. Still fully hooked on this world.