The Glass Sentence by S. E. Grove (review)

In this stellar first volume of an anticipated trilogy, Sophia just wants her uncle back after he is kidnapped, but the thirteen-year-old quickly realizes that she might have a significant role to play in this world gone off-kilter. No one quite knows what caused what’s known as the Great Disruption, but after a century, folks are at least used to the fact that the continents are all in different eras now, and they have mostly relearned how to navigate through the world. Something is shifting, however, and only a few special people know that things may be changing anew. One of those individuals is Blanca, an enormously complex villain who inspires sympathy even as she horrifies with her actions; she is the reason Sophia and her uncle are separated, and if Blanca is right in what she predicts, much direr consequences await this nineteenth-century world. Impeccable character development and sophisticated, intricate setting details make this a lengthy novel, but there are plenty of action scenes and revelations along the way; with an effective balance of drama and information, the resulting novel is richly layered and emotionally engaging from the first page through to the intriguing cliffhanger end. Readers who find cartography to be cool will be enthralled, and those who had no idea how nifty and intricate maps could be will likely become fans.