Glamour in Glass by Mary Robinette Kowal

One problem with having an insane TBR list is that it can make the best-laid plans can go awry. After enjoying Shades of Milk and Honey last year, I was determined to read Book 2 of the series shortly after. Unfortunately, an unmanageable TBR list and new book finds intruded on that and I only got around to reading the second book, Glamour in Glass, recently.

Glamour in Glass moves away from the sly Austen references and England to Belgium, where Jane and Vincent are having their honeymoon (and looking for new ways to use glamour). Unfortunately, Napoleon's shadow rears its ugly head and Jane and Vincent find that they aren't spared from the coming war.

I don't know if it's because there was such a long gap between Shades of Milk and Honey and Glamour in Glass, but I didn't enjoy this as much as I did the first book. I felt that it took a fairly long time for the war action to start, which was weird because the blurb had me thinking that most of the story was about the coming of Napoleon.

Character-wise, I felt like Jane was a lot more insecure in this book. Sure, she was always comparing herself to her sister in the previous book, but it feels like her self-worth is tied up in glamour so much more now and she has absolutely no trust in Vincent, despite the fact that they are married and he has given her very little indication to doubt him (of course, he's hiding something but it's not very big). That said, I did like how Jane pushed against the convention that had Vincent taking all the credit for the glamours that they made together.

But don't get me wrong, even though I'm not as happy with this book as the previous one, I did enjoy it. I like that Jane is a proactive character and that she's every bit as capable as Vincent instead of being a damsel in distress. Speaking of the damsel in distress trope, it was fun to see the tables turned and have Jane be the one that needs to save Vincent.

Overall, this was a fun story, although not as good as the previous one. I suppose that in trying to establish the series as more than a riff on Jane Austen, or perhaps because this one no longer alludes to Jane Austen to obviously, the book lost a bit of its initial charm. Still, I'll probably continue the series if I come across the third book.