Product Description

As a glassmaker and a magician-in-training, Opal Cowen understands trial by fire. Now it's time to test her mettle. Someone has sabotaged the Stormdancer clan's glass orbs, killing their most powerful magicians. The Stormdancers—particularly the mysterious and mercurial Kade—require Opal's unique talents to prevent it happening again. But when the mission goes awry, Opal must tap in to a new kind of magic as stunningly potent as it is frightening. And the further she delves into the intrigue behind the glass and magic, the more distorted things appear. With lives hanging in the balance—including her own—Opal must control powers she hadn't known she possessed…powers that might lead to disaster beyond anything she's ever known.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #38016 in Books
• Published on: 2009-04-28
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 448 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780778325642
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

From Publishers Weekly
Apprentice magician, ardent glassmaker and spunky Nancy Drew–style sleuth Opal Cowan discovers her latent mystical talents and wins the attention of three gorgeous hunks in Snyder's follow-up to her award-winning Study fantasy series (Poison Study, etc.). In classic coming-of-age fashion, Opal uses her magic powers to help her loved ones and her glass know-how to find the flaws in the Stormdancers' weather-controlling glass orbs, all amid breathless adolescent quivers of romance and jealousy. Snyder satisfyingly fleshes out her youthful main characters, including the brooding Stormdancer Kade and Opal's venomous rival, Pazia, but the two-dimensional supporting cast, especially the simplistic villains, don't bear up as well under close inspection. The wealth of glassmaking lore compensates for the quick-moving but predictable plot, which leaves abundant room for at least two sequels. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author
Maria V. Snyder has been writing since 1995 and has published numerous articles in magazines and newspapers. She lives with her family in Pennsylvania.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
The hot air pressed against my face as I entered the glass factory. The heat and the smell of burning coal surrounded me in a comforting embrace. I paused to breathe in the thick air. The roar of the kilns sounded as sweet as my mother's voice.

"Opal!" Aydan yelled above the noise. "Are you going to stand there all day? We have work to do." He gestured with a thin gnarled hand.

I hurried to join him. Working in the heat had turned his gray hair into a frizzy mop. Dirt streaked his hands. He grimaced in pain when he sat at his workbench, rubbing his lower back with a fist.

"You've been shoveling coal again," I admonished. He tried to look innocent, but before he could lie, I asked, "What happened to your apprentice?"

"Ran off once he figured out how hard it is to turn fire into ice." Aydan grunted.

"Well, I'm here now."

"You're late."

"Sorry, I had a… test." I sighed. Another frustrating, fruitless endeavor. Not only had I failed to light the fire, but I knocked over the candles, spilling hot wax all over my classmate Pazia's clothes and burning her skin. Her expensive silk tunic was ruined. She sneered in disdain when I offered to replace her shirt. Nothing new. Pazia's hostility spanned my entire four years at the Keep. Why would I expect my last year to be any different?

After starting my fifth year of lessons at the Magician's Keep, I had hoped to be able to do more with my magic. Pazia's abilities had grown so much since we sat next to each other during our very first session that the Master Magicians considered allowing her to take the Master-level test.

I'd learned about Sitia's history, politics, how to fight and about the uses for magic, but my ability to tap into the power source remained elusive. Doubts flared and the nagging feeling of being limited to one magical skill churned in my chest. And it didn't help my confidence when I overheard my fellow students calling me the One-Trick Wonder.

"Jealousy," Aydan had said when I told him about my nickname. "You saved Sitia."

I thought of the day-over four years ago-when I helped Liaison Yelena capture those evil souls. She had done all the work, I was merely a conduit. I tried to downplay my involvement, but Aydan remained stubborn.

"You're a hero and those children can't stand it."

Remembering his words made me smile. Calling fifteen to twenty-year-olds children was typical for Aydan, a proud curmudgeon.

He tapped my arm with a blowpipe. "Stop daydreaming and gather me a slug."

I grabbed the hollow rod and opened the oven. Intense light burst from the furnace as if a piece of the sun was trapped inside. I spun the end of the rod in the molten glass and twisted it up and out, removing a taffylike ball before my eyebrows and eyelashes could be singed off again.

The cherry-red slug on the end of the iron pulsed as if alive. Aydan blew through the pipe then covered the hole. A small bubble appeared in the molten glass. Resting the pipe on the metal arms of his gaffer's bench, Aydan rolled the pipe back and forth, shaping the glass.

I helped him as he created an intricate vase with a twist at the bottom so the piece actually rested on its side yet could still hold water. In his hands, turning glass into art appeared to be an easy task. I loved the unique properties of molten glass which could be molded into such wonderful objects. We worked for hours, but the time flew.

When he finished his artwork, Aydan stood on creaky legs and said the words that were the reason I came to help him after my Keep classes. "Your turn."

He exchanged places with me and grabbed a hollow pipe. While he gathered a slug, I made sure all the metal tools lying on the bench were in their proper places. All I needed was my annoying younger brother telling me to hurry, and my patient older sister helping me to complete the feeling of being in my family's glass factory.

Sitting at the bench was home-familiar and comfortable. Here and here alone, I was in control. The possibilities endless and no one could tell me otherwise.

All thoughts fled when Aydan placed the pipe in front of me. Glass cooled quickly and I had no time to dwell on anything but shaping the molten ball. Using metal tweezers, I pulled and plucked. When the slug transformed into a recognizable image, I blew through the end of the pipe. The piece's core glowed as if lit by an inner fire.

My one magical trick-the ability to insert a thread of magic inside the glass statue. Only magicians could see the captured light.

Aydan whistled in appreciation of the finished piece. Technically his ability to light fires with magic made him a magician, but since he didn't possess any other talent he hadn't been invited to study at the Keep. I shouldn't have been invited, either. I could make my special glass animals at my home in Booruby.

"Damn, girl." Aydan slapped me on the back. "That's a dead-on copy of Master Jewelrose's red-tailed hawk! Did you make that for her?"

"Yes. She needed another piece." I never knew what I would create when I sat down at the gaffer's bench, but my time spent helping Master Jewelrose care for her hawk must have influenced me. The core glowed bright red and called to me with a song of longing. Each of my creations had a distinctive voice that sounded inside me. No one else could hear its call.

"See? That's another talent you have." He bustled about and placed the hawk into the annealing oven so it could cool slowly. "Magicians can now communicate over vast distances with these animals of yours."

"Only those who have the power of mental communication." Another skill I lacked, mind reading. For those who possessed the ability, they only needed to hold one of my animals and they could "talk" to each other through the magic trapped inside. I'd admit to feeling a measure of pride over their usefulness, but I would never brag about it. Not like Pazia, who flaunted everything she did.

"Pah! It's still one of the most important discoveries of recent years. Stop being so modest. Here—" he handed me a shovel "—put more coal in the kiln, I don't want the temperature to drop overnight."

End of pep talk. I scooped up the special white coal and added it to the fire under the kiln. Since Aydan sold his glass pieces as art, he only needed one-a small shop compared to my family's eight kilns.

When I finished, my garments clung to my sweaty skin and strands of my brown hair stuck to my face. Coal dust scratched my throat.

"Can you help me mix?" Aydan asked before I could leave.

"Only if you promise to hire a new apprentice tomorrow."

He grumbled and grouched, but agreed. We mixed sands from different parts of Sitia. A secret recipe developed generations ago. It would be combined with soda ash and lime before it could be melted into glass.

As I tried to trick Aydan into telling me where the pink-colored sand came from, a messenger from the Keep arrived. A first-year student, he wrinkled his nose at the heat.

"Opal Cowan?" he asked.

I nodded and he huffed. "Finally! I've been searching the Citadel for you. You're wanted back at the Keep."

"Why?"

"I don't know."

"Who wants me?"

He glowed with glee as if he were my younger brother delivering news of my impending punishment from our parents.

"The Master Magicians."

I had to be in big trouble. No other reason for the Masters to send for me. As I rushed after the messenger-an ambitious fellow to be running errands for the Masters in his first year, and who'd already decided I wasn't worth talking to-I thought of the mishap this morning with Pazia. She had wanted to get me expelled from my first day. Perhaps she finally succeeded.

We hurried through the Citadel's streets. Even after four years, the city's construction still amazed me. All the buildings had been built with white marble slabs streaked with green veins. If I was alone, I would have trailed my hands over the walls as I walked, daydreaming of creating a city made of glass.

Instead, I ran past the buildings as the brilliant color dulled with the darkening sky. The Keep's guards waved us through-another bad sign. We vaulted up the stairs two at a time to reach the administration building. Nestled in the northeast corner of the Citadel, the Keep's campus with its four imposing towers marked the boundaries. Inside, the buildings had been constructed from a variety of colored marble and hardwoods.

The administration's peach-and-yellow blocks used to soothe me, but not today. The messenger abandoned me at the entrance to the Masters' meeting room. Hot from my sprint, I wanted to remove my cloak, but it hid my sweat-stained shirt and work pants. I rubbed my face, trying to get the dirt off and pulled my long hair into a neat bun.

Before I knocked, another possible reason for my summons dawned. I had lingered too long at the glass factory and missed my evening riding lesson. In the last year of instruction at the Keep, the apprentice class learned about horse care and riding to prepare us for when we graduated to magician status. As magicians we would be required to travel around the lands of the eleven clans of Sitia to render aid where needed.

Perhaps the Stable Master had reported my absence to the Masters. The image of facing the three magicians and the Stable Master together caused a chill to shake my bones. I turned away from the door, seeking escape. It opened.

"Do not hover about, child. You're not in trouble," First Magician Bain Bloodgood said. He gestured for me to follow him into the room.

With curly gray hair sticking out at odd intervals and a long blue robe, the old man's appearance didn't match his status as the most powerful magician in Sitia. In fact, Third Magician Irys Jewelrose's stern demeanor hinted at more power than Master Bloodgood's wrinkled face. And if someone passed Second Magician Zitora Cowan in the street, that person would not even think the young woman possessed enough talent to endure the Master-level test.

Sitting around an oval table, the three Masters stared at me. I quashed the desire to hide. After all, Master Blood-good had said I wasn't in trouble.

"Sit down, child," First Magician said.

I perched on t...

Customer Reviews

More like Magic Study than Poison Study
First of all, I have to warn any readers that if you've never read any of Snyder's previous novels you will most likely end up becoming extremely confused -mainly because Snyder throws so many characters at the reader that it would become quite overwhelming if you didn't already know who some of them were from the other books. So, view Storm Glass as a stand-alone novel at your own peril. That said, I did enjoy this novel. However, I found it to be more reminiscent of Magic Study or Fire Study than Poison Study.

Opal, the glass maker who has the strange ability to insert her magic into her creations, is asked to travel to the Stormdance clan in order to figure out why the glass orbs that contain a storm's power are breaking. There she meets Kade, a Stormdancer. She's there long enough to learn that a rebel group from another clan is plotting to steal the recipe that is used to make the glass orbs. Opal travels back and forth over several different clans (basically she's in a saddle about 15 of 20 days). Opal stays in the Stormdance clan and in Kade's company for only a very short amount of time before returning back to the Citadel, the magic school. There, she meets up with Ulrick, whose company she keeps for about 75% of the novel. A multitude of sub-plots are added as Opal and her friends try to solve the mystery surrounding the glass orbs and other such things before riding out to another clan to solve some problem and eventually Ixia.

Like Magic Study and Fire Study, the reader is pelted with one "adventure" after the other. Opal travels to about 7 of the clans in magical Sitia and about 3 of the Military Districts in Ixia. That's a lot of traveling -and, of course, not one journey was without being attacked, imprisoned or some other type of dilemma. The non-stop action read just like the last two books of the Study series, giving the reader no time to catch a breath.

Because of this, I feel like character development extremely suffers. You learn a lot about Opal, what drives her, what her fears are, etc. And really, she's the only one you really get to know. Kade pops into the picture sporadically and only for a few pages at a time. He's probably only in about 15% of the book. It's hard for me to view him as a serious romantic contender when he's hardly even part of the novel.

A few good things are that Opal is not a mirror image of Yelena. Opal seems to be unsure of who she really is and unwilling to see what value she has in the magical community. She struggles against herself to find her inner strength without relying on anyone else to protect or solve her problems.

To recap, I would only recommend this novel to those that have read the Study books by Snyder. And, to those (like me) who wished to read another book with the magic of Poison Study, this book is not it. It's good. It's fun to read. The main character is interesting. But it just doesn't have the same sparkling quality as Poison Study. There are too many sub-plots and way, way too many characters that keep the novel from flowing seamlessly.

A few cracks in the glass
I like Maria Snyder's books (this is her 4th) but she tends to repeat herself. The first three books followed the trials of Yelana Zaltana, a Soulfinder who seemed to attract every sadist within a 100 mile radius of wherever she was standing.

Unfortuately "Storm Glass" continues with many of the same themes. Opal Cowan works her magic through glass not souls, but she is an engaging character with an interesting talent. Unfortuately she has the same sort of luck Yelana has with kidnappers, rapists, torturers and betrayers. Some of these plot devices struck me as a bit much for a Young Adult series.

On one hand, Snyder wants the reader to believe that the central female character is unigue, special and powerful enough to be assigned guards from Sitia's elite magicians. But she also expects us to accept that a lone rogue magician can get past those defenses, bind the heroine in chains and spend weeks torturing her.

I like these books, they're a really good read, but I'm disappointed by so much violence repeatedly directed towards the female characters.

Poor Opal, traumatized in the Magic Study and Fire Study books, shows up here for another round of abuse. After three years of struggling to come to terms with the murder of her sister and her first experience as a kidnapping victim, she is just starting to open up enough to trust her classmates when another blood magician shows up in the body of a fellow glassmaker. Seduction, betrayal and many torture scenes follow.

I recommend "Storm Glass" to older readers of the Young Adult genre, but encourage them to be warned. These books go to some very nasty places.

Flawed
I love this author and her 'Study' trilogy was excellent. However, this newest book seemed more thrown together and has some definite flaws. Opal's unique type of magic seems to just adjust to whatever works for the author to push the story and doesn't seem based in any kind of logic. It just seems to change on a whim, being one thing in one situation and another thing in a different situation.

There is a lot of glass making tech stuff, a result of careful and active research on the author's part. Appreciated the authentic touch, but perhaps too much of a good thing. More plot & character development and less talk of making glass again and again. I realize that Opal makes glass, that is her thing, but I don't need to go thru it step by step each time. Once was enough to grasp the process enough for the story to make sense.

As to making sense...Opal's love life?? SPOILER: At the end when she realizes she loves Kade and he loves her, why does she then state that she must give Ulrick a chance and explore their feelings??? What? She needs to let Ulrick go so that he can find someone who truly loves him. This made no sense to me and sort of made me wonder if she really loves Kade or is stillllll confused.

Pazia: were we supposed to get to know her and realize that under her mean witchy exterior there lies yet another mean hateful witch? Exactly why does Opal feel responsible for 4 yrs of being treated badly by Pazia and her cohorts? I'm sure if even one person had joined her at lunch, approached in a friendly manner, or treated her with common decency Opal would have responded in kind. Instead we are supposed to believe Opal was putting off some kind of vibe that made others treat her badly??? This also made no sense.

And was I the only one who thought that people seemed entirely too cavalier with Opal's safety. Sometimes she was guarded, but many many times she was just left on her own. A girl of uncertain magic, little self defense training and previously victimized and tortured and yet they send her on missions and allow her to stand guard alone again and again. How can she guard when she has magic only to make glass animals and very few fighting skills? Not to mention her skills and knowlege put her at grave risk. Hellooo???

And lastly, the whole glass animal communicators. Pet peeve, no pun intended, but why animals? It just seems really silly to have some powerful Magician speaking into a glass turtle or bunny??? Why not a sphere or oval or just some sort of easily packable shape?

I will read the next book, Sea Glass, and I'm looking forward to it. I just hope it is a little better crafted than this one.