Rating: 
Summary: Strong dark fantasy
Review: "Glasswright's Progress" is an improvement over her debut novel "Glasswright's Apprentice," which was an interesting quasi-medieval/feudal look at royalty, religion and society. Ms. Klasky's writing shows more depth and breadth, and her narrative flows more smoothly than in her debut novel.One thing I really enjoyed about this book is that it wasn't what I expected. Rani Trader and her companion Mair of the Touched are immediately abducted by Prince Bashnorandi, and carried off to the court of Sin Hazar. Sin Hazar is an enemy of Morenia's King Halaravilli (or King Hal, for short), mainly because his society is quite different, and because Sin Hazar was raised to take anything he wanted due to how _his_ country views castes. Rani and Mair form new alliances while King Hal tries desperately to find out what's happened to them; Hal must discard old alliances in favor of a new, uncertain future, and the outcome is always in doubt. As I've said before, Ms. Klasky is superlative at showing moral ambiguity, and how the choices a person makes are more important than they might seem. All in all, I'd call "Glasswright's Progress" a very strong book, one that succeeds in telling a darkly realistic tale. I would have liked to see more about Rani's quest to rebuilt the Glasswright's Guild, but I suppose that can wait for later books. I really debated about what amount of stars to give this book; it's very good, and makes all its points. And I really enjoyed Rani and Mair in this book, far more than in the previous book (and I liked them there, too). Which is why I rounded up to five stars. And I'd definitely recommend it. It's very interesting, and it might even stand on its own (without the first book, "Glasswright's Apprentice"), although it definitely is enriched by reading "Apprentice" first. Barb Caffrey
Rating:
Summary: Strong dark fantasy
Review: "Glasswright's Progress" is an improvement over her debut novel "Glasswright's Apprentice," which was an interesting quasi-medieval/feudal look at royalty, religion and society. Ms. Klasky's writing shows more depth and breadth, and her narrative flows more smoothly than in her debut novel. One thing I really enjoyed about this book is that it wasn't what I expected. Rani Trader and her companion Mair of the Touched are immediately abducted by Prince Bashnorandi, and carried off to the court of Sin Hazar. Sin Hazar is an enemy of Morenia's King Halaravilli (or King Hal, for short), mainly because his society is quite different, and because Sin Hazar was raised to take anything he wanted due to how _his_ country views castes. Rani and Mair form new alliances while King Hal tries desperately to find out what's happened to them; Hal must discard old alliances in favor of a new, uncertain future, and the outcome is always in doubt. As I've said before, Ms. Klasky is superlative at showing moral ambiguity, and how the choices a person makes are more important than they might seem. All in all, I'd call "Glasswright's Progress" a very strong book, one that succeeds in telling a darkly realistic tale. I would have liked to see more about Rani's quest to rebuilt the Glasswright's Guild, but I suppose that can wait for later books. I really debated about what amount of stars to give this book; it's very good, and makes all its points. And I really enjoyed Rani and Mair in this book, far more than in the previous book (and I liked them there, too). Which is why I rounded up to five stars. And I'd definitely recommend it. It's very interesting, and it might even stand on its own (without the first book, "Glasswright's Apprentice"), although it definitely is enriched by reading "Apprentice" first. Barb Caffrey
Rating:
Summary: Strong dark fantasy
Review: "Glasswright's Progress" is an improvement over her debut novel "Glasswright's Apprentice," which was an interesting quasi-medieval/feudal look at royalty, religion and society. Ms. Klasky's writing shows more depth and breadth, and her narrative flows more smoothly than in her debut novel. One thing I really enjoyed about this book is that it wasn't what I expected. Rani Trader and her companion Mair of the Touched are immediately abducted by Prince Bashnorandi, and carried off to the court of Sin Hazar. Sin Hazar is an enemy of Morenia's King Halaravilli (or King Hal, for short), mainly because his society is quite different, and because Sin Hazar was raised to take anything he wanted due to how _his_ country views castes. Rani and Mair form new alliances while King Hal tries desperately to find out what's happened to them; Hal must discard old alliances in favor of a new, uncertain future, and the outcome is always in doubt. As I've said before, Ms. Klasky is superlative at showing moral ambiguity, and how the choices a person makes are more important than they might seem. All in all, I'd call "Glasswright's Progress" a very strong book, one that succeeds in telling a darkly realistic tale. I would have liked to see more about Rani's quest to rebuilt the Glasswright's Guild, but I suppose that can wait for later books. I really debated about what amount of stars to give this book; it's very good, and makes all its points. And I really enjoyed Rani and Mair in this book, far more than in the previous book (and I liked them there, too). Which is why I rounded up to five stars. And I'd definitely recommend it. It's very interesting, and it might even stand on its own (without the first book, "Glasswright's Apprentice"), although it definitely is enriched by reading "Apprentice" first. Barb Caffrey
Rating:
Summary: Interesting to see this character grow and mature!
Review: I enjoyed the first book in this series very much and the second does not disappoint. Newly made an honorary noble for her part in foiling a traitorous plot, all Rani Trader wants to do is rebuild the destroyed Glasswright's Guild. But again she finds herself in the middle of great events when she is kidnapped by a traitorous bastard prince and taken to be used as a hostage in an enemy kingdom. The devious king of this land is seizing all the children in his nation and turning them into an amoral army of obedient soldiers. At least that is the official story of what it happening to the children. Rani uncovers the fact that he is actually selling them as slaves and has amassed a huge army of mercenaries using the money gained from the slavetrade. And he is poised to invade her own country! She escapes and tries to warn her king with the aid of a conflicted young captain in the children's army. Meanwhile her young king values her far more than she knows and invades the enemy in vengeance for what he believes is her death. This is another book with wonderful characters. I can't wait to see the further exploits of Rani and her King.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting to see this character grow and mature!
Review: I enjoyed the first book in this series very much and the second does not disappoint. Newly made an honorary noble for her part in foiling a traitorous plot, all Rani Trader wants to do is rebuild the destroyed Glasswright's Guild. But again she finds herself in the middle of great events when she is kidnapped by a traitorous bastard prince and taken to be used as a hostage in an enemy kingdom. The devious king of this land is seizing all the children in his nation and turning them into an amoral army of obedient soldiers. At least that is the official story of what it happening to the children. Rani uncovers the fact that he is actually selling them as slaves and has amassed a huge army of mercenaries using the money gained from the slavetrade. And he is poised to invade her own country! She escapes and tries to warn her king with the aid of a conflicted young captain in the children's army. Meanwhile her young king values her far more than she knows and invades the enemy in vengeance for what he believes is her death. This is another book with wonderful characters. I can't wait to see the further exploits of Rani and her King.
Rating: 
Summary: The Glasswrights' Progress
Review: I really enjoyed the book even though it was not writen for people my age. I liked how the plot was deeper then most books for teens. It was nice how Rani was not perfect and she did make people get mad or annoyed at her like she was a real person. I also liked how sometimes what you expect to happen doesn't happen and it's somthing completely different.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Progress
Review: I thought that this new book by Mindy L. Klasky was wonderful. The only thing that disappointed me was the lack of romance between Hal and Rani. At the end of the "Apprentice" I felt sure that their was something developing between the two of them. Somehow they just seem so right for eachother. In this book, Rani is still struggling to find her place in this world, I think. She still has some growing up to do, as many of her actions in this book are immature!!! I was slightly annoyed when, during the course of the novel, Hal pines for Rani and vows with his whole being to avenge her "death". He risks his life and his army for her memory (as he believes her dead). But at the end of the book after the battle when Hal is overcome with grief at the loss of his men etc.. Rani doesn't even go to console him "because he is my king ... and nothing more". Hal practically considers Rani to be his sister and I think he may be starting to fall in love with her, but she is oblivious to it all. Overall, this book was great but I still think that Ms. Klasky should make Hal and Rani fall in love and I also think that Rani needs to be a little more mature. Great Book!!! Happy reading to everyone!
Rating: 
Summary: Not up to spec
Review: I'm sorry, I found this a step down from the Glasswright's Apprentice. That was a reasonably good book, but didn't really warrant a continuation of the story. The characterization is lame and Lasky does nothing to make you like these people, or care what really happens to them.
Rating: 
Summary: best of the whole series
Review: I've read the intire series and found most of the books lacking. This was the best of all four if only becuase the plot was less the ever told hero overcoming the absolutly impossible and dealed more with believable problems. The other books dealed with political conflict more than anything else and I felt that the main character besides being an absolute idiot was more draged along by the plot than actually a factor in its creation. I liked the character of Crestman and his self conflicts. He had potential to be an actually interesting character who actually made somewhat educated decisions but Mindy just well seemed to want to get rid of him. Untill she had him show up in the Glasswright's Test as a misguided villian which dissapointed me. My overall problem with the intire series was the stupidity of the main character who never seemed to look at things from more than one direction or point of view and seemed really selfcentered.
Rating:
Summary: Even better than the first!
Review: Rani Trader's life has changed very much since 2 years ago when she was falsely accused of being involved in the crown prince's murder. Now, at 15, she is working very hard to rebuild the shattered glasswrights guild as she lives a privileged life in the court. But everything changes when she and the former touched girl Mair are kidnapped by the ... prince Bashi, and taken away to a northern country. Here lives an old woman who's life is changed forever when she saves a young boy named Crestman who is in fact the leader of the "Little Army," an army of children loyal to the tyrant Sir Hazar. Meanwhile back in Morina, the young king Hal finds himself in a fierce political battle with the Fellowship of Jair, the same fellowship that have protected him and helped in achieved a throne. His loyalty to his country and loyalty to his brothers are put to the test. He soon realizes that he won't be able to remain loyal to both of them for ever, and soon he will half to make an important choice. While I enjoyed Rani's first story, The Glasswrights Apprentice, I was blown away by it's sequel. In the Glasswrights Progress Rani and her friend's story is more thrilling than ever. While reading it I found myself shocked at the maturity some of the characters now posses. Rani's life has changed a lot since the last book and she shows it. I was also surprised to see a very little romance sneak in towards the end. If you're a fan of dark suspenseful fantasy novels I recommend this to you. I can't wait to read the 3rd book in the series, the Glasswrights Journeyman.
| 
