A Face Like Glass

Oh this book! cuddles it

I love Frances Hardinge! I loves her to bits. I own and have read every single novel she has published and I've loved them all. Some I've loved more than others, but I still love the least favourite dearly. I came upon the author by sheer coincidence. A friend of mine went to university with Hardinge and all but ordered me to buy Fly By Night, her debut novel. I am glad I did. It turned me into a big fan.

The thing that is so wonderful about Hardinge is her awesome imagination. These are fantasy books, yes, but they're so original. You'd be hard-pressed to find tropes and cliches in her works. No magic swords or battles of the gods or sorcerer queens here. Instead we get things like wine that can erase particular memories and restore them again, explosive cheeses and carnivorous plants that are also a light source. It's so new! I've never read books that had anything like it. (Although I would love to!) And if I have, it's always been done in some crazy way to make these things a humourous addition to the plot. But Hardinge doesn't do that. She writes these things in a way so that while you read the book, they seem to be perfectly normal concepts. They fit within the world she creates, and that's at least half the enjoyment of the books right there.

I took about two weeks to read this book. I could easily have read it in half that, only I had decided that I was only allowed to read it on the bus to and from work. I wanted it to last. I wanted to savour it. I'm not sure yet if it beats my favourite from Hardinge (Gullstruck Island) or if it comes in second, but I am definitely sure that Neverfell is my absolute favourite protagonist.

I would strongly advice everybody to pick up and read a book by Frances Hardinge. Any book. Or all of them.