Wil is the princess of a very wealthy nation. She has three brothers, but her favorite is Gideon who practices alchemy. Gideon and Wil are the "spares" in the family. Their older brothers are the only ones that the King cares about since one of them will be the next King.
The King is ready to go to war with the southern colonies since they are very private and will not trade with any other kingdoms. The King wants their magical plants and minerals. Gideon tries to seek approval from his father by using his alchemy to make deadly weapons to defeat their enemies.
The king uses Wil as a spy since no one knows who she is. One night, she discovers a magical power - when she touches something or someone who is alive, they turn to gemstones. A tragedy befalls the royal family (I'm being very unspecific on purpose here) and Wil is banished. She longs to find a person named Kahn who Wil believes is the only one who can cure her of her deadly touch.
Her travels throw her together with an unlikely young man who has secrets of his own. While Wil is fighting for her freedom and a way to return to her family, she ends up in a fight for her life as well as the lives of her companions.
I'm trying to be as vague as possible about the details because the reader needs to discover the secrets on their own. I found The Glass Spare to be easy to follow, and I liked the characters enough to want them to find happiness.
But they aren't happy yet at the end of The Glass Spare. It does end in a good spot -- a major crisis has been averted -- but there is more to come since this is the first book in a new series.
I'm not always into adventure stories about magical abilities, but I fell for The Glass Spare. It has enough real-life danger (that can't magically be fixed) to keep me turning pages. I think my teens will enjoy this one too.
Published by Balzer + Bray, October 24, 2017
eARC obtained from Edelweiss
416 pages
Rating: 4/5
I'm not usually into magic books either (Harry Potter is an exception), but I like that there is stuff in it that magic can't fix.
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