Book Review: Magic Under Glass

Title: Magic Under Glass by Jaclyn Dolamore

Release Date: Dec. 22, 2009
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Pages: 225 pages
Genre: Fantasy
Read for the Multi-Cultural Book Challenge

Goodreads Summary: Nimira is a music-hall performer forced to dance for pennies to an audience of leering drunks. When wealthy sorcerer Hollin Parry hires her to do a special act - singing accompaniment to an exquisite piano-playing automaton, Nimira believes it is the start of a new life. In Parry's world, however, buried secrets stir.

Unsettling below-stairs rumors abound about ghosts, a mad woman roaming the halls, and of Parry's involvement in a gang of ruthless sorcerers who torture fairies for sport. When Nimira discovers the spirit of a dashing young fairy gentleman is trapped inside the automaton's stiff limbs, waiting for someone to break the curse and set him free, the two fall in love. But it is a love set against a dreadful race against time to save the entire fairy realm, which is in mortal peril.

Magic Under Glass is a short and sweet fairy tale. The story is told from the first person perspective of Nimira, a dancer and singer who is hired to perform with an automaton that people believe is haunted.

The story is set in a world where humans were at war with fairies in the past and relations with them are still very strained. Nim is an outsider in the country of Lorinar, a brown-skinned foreigner who went there to make her fortune. Nim is treated poorly by most people and jumps at the chance to work for Parry, partly to get out her dead-end job situation and partly because she secretly hopes the rich and powerful sorcerer may be romantically interested in her. All that changes when she meets Erris and finds out that he is not an automaton at all.

I liked the fantasy world the Dolamore created and thought her descriptions of the settings were wonderful. However, I did not connect with any of the characters emotionally and thought they were underdeveloped. I liked Nim and Erris and wanted them to have their happily-ever-after, of course, but I would have loved some more depth from both of them.

Despite my feelings about character development, I am looking forward to the sequel, Magic Under Stone, which was released yesterday. Magic Under Glass is sweet and worth reading, especially if you are in a fairy-tale mood.

Content: Kissing and violence

My Rating: Just Fine