Back in my teen years I was absolutely in love with Amelia Atwater-Rhodes’ vampire novels, and I still am, so I was pretty geeked when I learned that she was coming out with All Just Glass, a sequel to Shattered Mirror, the story of a vampire hunter and the vampire she falls for. In spite of being written ten years apart, All Just Glass picks up right where Shattered Glass left off, filling curious fans in on the aftermath of the choices made in the previous book.
The entire story takes place over 24 hours and is told from the perspective of several of characters, some new and some old, from the vampires to the vampire hunters tracking them down. While I don’t usually like when an author attempts to balance so many characters at once, in this case it added to the suspense while providing the reader with a deeper insight to the situation. That is, it did in the beginning. Later on in the novel you are left with a big, confusing mess that is only made worse by jumping from one character to the next.
Like all of Amelia Atwater-Rhodes’ books the story is fast-paced and action-packed, which is fantastic. However, unlike her previous books you don’t feel that connection with the characters, mainly because the perspective changes so often that you never get a chance to really know them.
I’ve followed Amelia Atwater-Rhodes since her first book and have been pleased to see how much she has grown and matured as an author over the years, but she really dropped the ball with this one. Fans of Shattered Mirror will be happy that All Just Glass answers a lot of old questions, but that happiness will be crushed once they get to the end and are left with ten times more questions. What the hell is going on with Sarah, Kristopher and Nikolas? What will happen to Dominique and to Adianna? And what about poor Zachary? On and on…
Overall, All Just Glass left a lot to be desired, but it did answer the big question – what happens when a vampire hunting witch is turned into a vampire – and I guess that was the whole point of the book.
– Moonlight
