Okay. This wasn’t my favorite book in the world (I guess it was okay), but I know that it has the potential to appeal to certain audiences, especially those who liked The Selection.
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This entire story is kind of predictable. You could pretty much tell what was going to happen with the characters and the plot. Like, yeah Elizabeth (or whoever) is going to end up with Cedric. The entire story leads to it, and you can predict it from the very beginning of the book. Of course Elizabeth won’t end up with anyone chosen for her. That would go against the entire point of the book. Sometimes I am okay with predictable romances, but I didn’t enjoy this one. Even with this, the plot is just predictable as a whole. You could tell what was going to happen out of the fact that the author wants everyone to have a happy ending. The book may try to bring in doubt, but everything ends up fine. It’s like the book laid out the entire plot out for the reader at the very beginning, while attempting to take it away when you already know that it’s going to happen.
The characters are quite dull as well. Elizabeth is your typical royal princess who doesn’t appreciate her royal life, and wants freedom. There’s nothing more to it. Elizabeth is desperate for the chance to “choose” who she will marry (despite the fact that the Glittering Court offers very limited options), and decides to enter the Glittering Court under the name of her maid, a place where common people are trained to become elite women. Now, Elizabeth knows everything she needs to succeed (because she is royalty), so oh no, she has to put in so much effort to keep it a secret. Then, Cedric suddenly realizes that Elizabeth isn’t Adelaide, but it isn’t a big deal. But, oh no, something happens and she suddenly succeeds out of nowhere, giving everyone a reason to question her. Her friendships are in shambles, and nobody trusts her anymore. After that, it’s all a long pushed romance between Elizabeth and Cedric.
Tamsin and Mira are kind of just there. I mean, Tamsin wants to succeed at everything, and Mira is that supportive friend. That’s all you need to know. I mean maybe it could be better if the characters were developed more, especially since we don’t see much of Tamsin throughout the book. I think that if they had more of a point to them, it would have led to a better book.
I do agree with a lot of other reviews saying that this isn’t a fantasy, because it isn’t. I definitely think that this should be classified as some other type of fiction, as there is no indication that it could be fantasy. It sounds a bit like historical fiction honestly. If you were to give me this book and ask me to classify it, fantasy would be something that I would not give you. Yes, there are some made up lands, but there is no magic or defined world that makes it a fantasy book.
Going back to my The Selection comparison, I think that this book is similar to it in different ways. That might be why I didn’t enjoy it, because I disliked The Selection. Basically, the only main difference between the two is that in The Selection, the prince is the rich one, but in The Glittering Court, Elizabeth is the rich one. Both main characters try to fight for a better life, and both fall in love with someone that is in the literal opposite social class. The two books also try to maintain the romance despite any big events that happen that may destroy it.
Overall, I would recommend this to those who enjoyed The Selection, or want a book that has a similar feel to it that The Selection has. Also, I would recommend this book to those who want an easy read, or for those who want to read about a simple romance.
I received this book from Penguin Random House in exchange for an honest review.