Ratings
Content Warning: Strong Language, Violence, Emotional/Psychological Manipulation
Introduction
Glint picks up right where Gild left off. Auren is taken prisoner by Fourth’s army and they set off to confront Midas in Fifth Kingdom’s capital. We don’t know what kind of rift the two kings have besides Midas using Fulke to invade Ravinger’s borders, but we do know that Auren will be used as a bargaining chip.
However, as the days pass, Auren is forced to open her eyes and face the truths about herself and Midas. Her walls are crumbling and her secret is on the verge of being exposed.
How will Auren handle the truth? Will it break her or will she grow?
Pros
- The Wrath team
- Auren’s character development
- Commander Rip
Cons
- No map
- Stagnent location
WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD
Plot
Recap
Auren’s Plotline
Glint picks up right where we left off in Gild. Auren, the saddles, and the rest of Midas’s guards are now prisoners of Fourth’s army. But the army isn’t heading back to the kingdom, instead, they are heading for Fifth’s Kingdom where King Midas is to confront him.
During their travels, Commander Rip pushes Auren for answers about herself and not Midas. Which Auren doesn’t understand. She thinks that he is playing mind games with her, trying to find her weakness, and reveal things about Midas. So, she fights back by not answering and looking for a messenger Hawke to warn Midas of Fourth’s impending arrival.
As the days tick by, Auren gets to know some of the members of Fourth’s army— Lu, Keg, and Hojat. She also sees how the soldiers interact with each other and how they mind their own. All of these experiences are direct opposites of what Auren has heard of Fourth’s army.
They actually treat her and the saddles well.
On one occasion, Auren sees a fighting circle and the young boy is pitted against an older man. Pissed that the army would make a child fight a man, she storms into the rink to stop it, not realizing the rules of the game.
After being told that the boy wants to fight and that he doesn’t need her protection, she is then forced to fight before she can leave the circle because the rule is: that anyone who enters the fight circle must fight.
Commander Rip dismisses the rest of the army besides Lu, Osrik, and Judd, and takes the chance to force Auren to use her ribbons. They go back and forth with Rip prodding Auren about why she doesn’t use them, why she’s holding back, etc. But eventually, Auren strikes and finally admits that she is fae.
As the army continues to travel to Fifth Kingdom, Auren eventually finds the messenger Hawke and writes a warning to Midas, warning him of Fourth’s plan. However, soon after she returns to her tent, she is confronted by Rip. This confrontation leads to a kiss that confuses Auren and Commander Rip’s intentions.
Eventually, the army reaches Fifth’s capital. Before negotiations are held, Midas demands Auren’s return in good faith, which King Ravinger obliges. Once Auren is back with Midas, things don’t go as Auren hoped.
Auren attempts to convince Midas that she doesn’t need the cage anymore because she’s not scared, however, Midas is adamant about her submission to her previous life. This argument leads to Auren accidentally turning her double into solid gold and breaking the much smaller cage door Midas was trying to force her into.
So, Midas leaves her trapped in his closet with the broken cage and well guarded as he goes to negotiate with King Ravinger. It is sometime after negotiations and Auren’s attempts to escape the closet, that King Ravinger appears, takes down the guards and opens the closet door.
However, King Ravinger is not whom he seems, as he has the ability to shape shift, and reveals himself to also be Commander Rip.
Queen Malina’s Plotline
While King Midas is ruling Fifth’s Kingdom, he leaves Queen Malina behind in Sixth Kingdom. Although he has demanded all decisions and changes be sent to him, Queen Malina decides enough is enough.
She starts taking back over her kingdom, as the Colier family has always ruled the Sixth Kingdom. She does this by getting rid of all the gold Midas has required everyone to wear. Instead, Malina opts for the traditional white and opal crown her family donned years before her.
Malina then starts gaining the support of noble women because they whisper into their husband’s ears. The goal is to have the full support of the noblemen, and eventually the commoners, to overrule Midas upon his return.
However, this doesn’t fair too well to the commoners because they blame her for their current hardships. Maline never stepped in to take care of the people either, as Midas’s rule neglected them and focused on the noblemen only.
With her gifts to the commoners awry, Queen Malina retreats back to her castle. However, before doing so, her carriage is blocked by a man. This man offers to show Malina how to achieve her desires in gratitude for her patience.
Her desires provide a map that leads to Seventh Kingdom, a kingdom that no longer existed. Or so everyone thought.
Analysis
My prediction was 100% correct!
Auren is fae, knows it, and Midas has used her for her power. She’s the one who turns things to gold, not Midas.
This makes everything so much more complicated, along with her budding relationship with Rip. But I’m so excited to see where this leads and I have so many questions!
- What’s in Deadwell?
- What is Slade’s end game?
- Are the fae coming back? And if so, what does that mean?
- How is Slade both King Ravinger and Rip? There were 4 guards + Ravinger at the meeting.
- What role will Auren play in all of this?
But let’s get back to Glint.
I enjoyed Rip poking holes in Auren’s walls and beliefs in Midas. He was exposing exactly what she had been hiding all these years. Auren changed herself and hide her true self away in order to appease Midas and stay “safe.”
I also love how slow the plot is and how much care is taken in showing Auren’s changing views. We really get to see her perception and beliefs unfold the more she interacts with the soldiers and Rip.
Characters
Auren
The character development we saw in Auren is wonderful. I’m happy that she is finally seeing that Midas is using her and that he doesn’t actually care about her.
I hate she has to go through it, but I think it’s for the best. Midas is a dick and Auren deserves better than that.
Outside of her perspective being changed and questioned, Auren is still roughly the same socially awkward but kind person.
She desperately wants the saddles and others to like her, and she is set on protecting those who have been in similar situations as her. For example, her standing up for Twig.
She’s stupidly brave, but I love that about her character. Auren wants safety and peace for those around her, something she never had. And she will put herself out there just so others can have that.
Commander Rip
Hmm, how do I describe how Commander Rip is? For the most part, he seems to be all hard edges and business, but we see glimpses of him that say otherwise.
For example, when Auren first realizes Rip, Judd, Osrik, and Lu are all friends. He’s laughing and seems at ease. Then, we see him on the shores of Fifth as peaceful. No brooding energy, no cryptic words.
Outside of the instances when he’s trying to break Auren’s walls, we don’t really see too much of who he actually is. It also makes me question why he was so adamant about breaking those walls. What did he see? Why did he do it?
I’m interested to learn more about him in the next book. Especially since it seems he has the ability to shapeshift. I’m curious as to how that works and his persona when he’s King Ravinger.
Side Characters
Queen Malina
Malina is a badass. Or so I thought at first. She started out as a determined and empowered woman taking back what is hers. But once she started talking about the commoners and the way she acted around them, I can’t help but slide off her support wagon.
Malina is very self-centered and only wants what is hers, regardless of how many people she steps on. I’m kind of hoping we will get a downfall of her rule as well because she doesn’t seem like she’d make a good ruler either.
Writing
There isn’t really anything about Raven’s writing that I didn’t like. The grammar improved, and the themes were great, along with the foreshadowing and the super slow burn going on.
Themes
There is a lot of woman empowerment going on in this book. From Auren reclaiming herself and Malina reclaiming her kingdom, these women aren’t laying down and taking shit from men. I love it.
Most of the men, especially Midas, think they can own and control everything and everyone. They are greedy, possessive, and only take advantage of those around them. I can’t wait for them to be taken down a few notches.
I hate that Auren is objectified by her skin and who she is to Midas. But at the same time, it is vital in showing us the themes of the book and Kennedy does a great job at portraying this narrative.
Poem
Again, I enjoyed the poem at the end of the book. It’s a nice way to sum everything up and provide a smooth conclusion to the book. On top of that, it is beautifully written.
I can’t wait to read all the poems together.
Final Thoughts
I enjoyed Glint. Even if the book mainly revolved around Auren being in Fourth’s army as a “prisoner.” I think this book was vital in breaking down Auren’s walls and giving us the character development that she deserves.
I also enjoy seeing King Ravinger’s and King Midas’s conflicts play out through Auren’s eyes. It places us at arm’s length from the real plot, but it’s done so well that I don’t mind getting bits of information here and there.
I’m excited to see where the next book takes us as I have a lot of questions!
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What did you think of the book? Did you like it or could you have done without it? I’d love to hear your thoughts!
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